Obviously the connecting theme is creativity. When digging into what Brown, Gardner and Robinson were speaking about, I have drawn the conclusion that creativity is a learned skill, but how to teach creativity is full of tons of mishaps, dead ends and hasn't been done right within our current educational model. Through our educational system, students become less creative because of the specific pathways we inflict on them as they "master" course work in specifically valued content areas. Sir Ken Robinson's story about a girl who just wanted to dance is a great example of this, which happens to feed into Gardner's idea of Multiple Intelligences (which he didn't directly speak about, but the work he is known for). All the while the speakers are talking about increasing, valuing and nurturing creativity, we first must start with Sir Ken Robinson's quote,"...Rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children" because if we are to adapt to what is being asked of the future work force in 5, 10, 20 years, education as an institution must evolve to meet the new demands from our economy. As our classrooms are inundated with technology, we really need to push ourselves to use technology as, "curiosity amplifiers" as stated by John Seely Brown.
I admit, I have a bias towards Sir Ken Robinson. I enjoy watching him speak, find his jokes humorous and timely and think that his attitude on education is spot on. It is not surprise that I find myself nodding my head during ALL of his presentations. In his presentation Do Schools Kill Creativity, he is quoted as saying, "Creativity is as important as literacy". As a math teacher, I can link literacy as the equivalent to basic numeracy skills. As technology helps us correct grammar and spelling and calculators help us perform operations on numbers, what is a skill that you cannot google? Is knowledge a commodity anymore? As we have learned in this course, the 4 C's are the intangibles of being educated. Creativity falls into this category. Recently, I have thought, why do we still break school days into specific content areas such as math, science, english but instead, maybe it would make more sense to create 4 C (or 5 C) specific courses. Period 1 could have a critical thinking focus while period 2 could have a collaboration focus. Course listings then could interweave each emphasis as students grow within each focus area (I can envision using a rubric such as the one created by NVUSD). As Robinson introduces the term, "Academic inflation" I think about what employers want out of educated persons. Perhaps this is because jobs that used to require a BA that now require a MA are doing so because of skills such as the 4 C's skills. Maybe these skills are more developed in Master's programs as opposed to Bachelor's programs? It is fair to say that most of my students come to us with a negative opinion on the educational system. Many have had little success within classes, been told they were wrong more often then they were right and have been relegated to a variety of support courses that alienated them rather than support them. This is a generalization, but serves true for most of our school's youth. Knowing that mistakes happen and it is not always about the (right) answer is a great starting point. I see this correlating with Mobley's 1st and 6th insight of a "Non-linear way of thinking" and "permission to be wrong". Allowing students to be creative and fostering this skill is not only aligning with the majority of Mobley's insights but also with Gardner, Robinson and Brown. How does fostering creativity in a school look like? What does it look like in a math class? These are tough questions and it is even tougher to admit that I am not doing as right as I could be by my students. But, this is why we are all enrolled in a master's program, right?
4 Comments
Lisa Gottfried
11/6/2017 06:30:27 pm
"How does fostering creativity in a school look like? What does it look like in a math class?" I really enjoyed Jo Boaler's workshop this summer and thought about how incredibly creative math can be. There are so many ways to arrive at the same answer! That really excited the artist in me and I wonder how many other artists might be hooked by math if the creative side were really encouraged.
Reply
Jane Gallagher
11/7/2017 04:32:19 pm
Well written Joseph. I could follow your thoughts and appreciate how you wove our past week's video viewing together. I agree about this program. We are all in it to become better educators and I too feel that I am not doing some of my students justice. Creativity should, and could, be part of each area of study. I believe students would be more tuned in if that were the case.
Reply
Alicia Martin
11/7/2017 06:18:59 pm
I find your comment about interweaving courses together and having classes that integrate the 4 C's very interesting. I think that is a good idea in theory. I would be curious to know what kinds of ideas students could come up with if the focus was on the 4 C's. I also agree that teaching students to be creative is very difficult. I have learned that we have to let students make mistakes in order for them to think outside the box. I found your response very interesting.
Reply
Madeleine O'Rear
11/8/2017 04:35:19 pm
I really like your comment about having class days divided into different creativity opportunities. I think I could incorporate that into my planning a little, even if it wasn't an all out change. I could say math is going to be group work related for a week and science will be puzzle related, and then they will swap. Thanks for the great idea!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Joseph WilliamsI have a love for getting students jazzed about math, art and food. Currently educating youth at an alternative high school program in Portland. Archives
November 2017
Categories |