Creativity in Education

School of Rock expresses the idea that private schools can restrict a child’s creativity, because of the regimented style of teaching and discipline. The introduction of a new teacher (who happens to be a fraud and tries to use the children to win a battle of the band and the subsequent prise money) with a completely different style of teaching, makes use of each individual’s talents and brings out their creative side. This new burst of creativity also brings out the children’s insecurities and they bring these up with the teacher. He then helps them use their talents to bring out a new wave of confidence.

School of Rock is based on fiction meaning this probably wouldn’t occur in the real world. However, perhaps it awakens us to the possibilities broadening the horizon of creativity in the educational setting.

In Tuesday’s lecture Sophie asked us if teachers in the past had either positive or negative influences on our creative selves. As I searched through the past, trying to remember…I realised that strangely I have absolutely no recollection of either of these influences either in primary or secondary school. I’m not sure if this is because I’m one of those people that was always ‘average’ at everything, and never exceptionally good at anything. Maybe I do have a hidden talent that I’ve yet to find…I hope so!

Ken Robinson suggests in his ‘All our Futures’ report;

“Teachers cannot develop the creative abilities of their pupils if their own creative abilities are suppressed”.

A video featured on Teachers TV; learning through play-creative development, highlighted the effectiveness of play based curriculum in the foundation stage. This was a pilot scheme that effectively displayed how creative development can be encouraged at the foundation stage. Featured on the video were a concession of activities that were a consequence of reading the story ‘Bear Hunt’. These included acting out the story in the conservation area, singing the story and exploring the materials in the book, such as mud and leaves. I WISH my education had been a little more like this, it appears that they’ve got the balance right of cross curricula education; it reminds me of a Steiner Schools.

One blog I’ve been reading How to Develop a Creative Thinker begins by highlighting the common belief that creativity can not be taught and by the effort of one person, another person can not be made creative. However then moves to the research studies that show that teachers can play a vital role in encouraging and stimulating creative thinking and enabling students to be creative. It then gives tips to enable teachers to encourage creative teaching, one of these includes;

“Teachers themselves must be creative thinkers, keeping their curiosity and eagerness alive, which will enable them to stimulate creativity in the young minds”.

Showing some parallels in thoughts to those of Ken Robinson.

The picture above was painted by my friend…as you can see she is an amazing artist. Having been her best friend pretty much all my life, I have seen her just get better and better at the things she seamlessly and effortlessly is able to create. When I asked her ‘How are you so good at art?’, her response was something that I didn’t expect. ‘I did it to get praise from my Mum and Dad, because I didn’t get much otherwise’. It is my guess that this is almost a form of positive reinforcement. Charlotte is still drawing and painting, recently she’s won various competitions for her art.

This made me think: Has she taught herself how to be creative? Forced herself to be creative? Was it an innate skill she already had? Was her creativity developed by extrinsic motivators? Or do parents responses impact on creativity?

David Peat suggests that all aspects of infants are creative, whether its learning to walk, talk, sing, play, and so on. Suggesting the best and most difficult thing to do is get out of the way of creativity and just let it happen. This I definitely agree with.

Recently we have been exploring Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He attempted, but failed to identify fixed personality traits of creative individuals, concluding that there is no fixed ‘creative type’. Therefore, there is no sole contributor to make an individual creative. However, he does emphasise the importance of motivation or determination in creative performance. One of the blogs I’ve read How and why children draw reinforces this, suggesting some motivating factors encouraging children to draw.

One blog that was really interesting was the Mark McGuinness Wishful Thinking blog, questioning ‘What makes a Creative Person?’. This is very useful, he includes other arguments and proposes his own thoughts. He proposes there are three differences between the creative person and other people.

• They think of themselves as “creative”.
• They love doing creative work.
• They put themselves in an environment where creativity is encouraged.

It seems this is an area that has no answers, no limits, no definitives…maybe that’s the beauty of it.

“Yet the plethora of purported experts on creativity suggests that creativity is slippery, porous, and resistant to definition, quantification and, access. Just when one thinks one knows everything about it, one realises one cannot possess it”.

(Featured within The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology. J, L. Kincheloe & R, A. Horn P. 310).

So, after the lecture this week I’ve got way more of an idea of this whole Blogging business! Now I don’t feel like I have to be quite so formal…and that everyone will be judging whatever I put.

I’ve been looking through Blogs this week, one that looked really interesting to me asked; ‘Could a game format work at University?’. This approach used game formats such as Who wants to be a Millionaire, or, The Wheel of Fortune as a means of review. It involves students being separated into teams, and using theme music and electric buzzers to q reponses. Amazingly, some scholars suggest it leads to intellectual benefits, and one International institute thinks this is approach is effective. I’d say definitely worth checking out! Even though I’m not sure I’d like to be put on the spot like that!

Computer games are often given a bad press, so when I saw a blog supporting the benefits of computer games in eduction I thought it offered a refreshing and alternative view.

Last week’s lecture was so interesting that I’m now eager to learn more about the creative side of education and what impact this has on learning. Ken Robinson’s ‘TED Talk’ was really inspirational and I found it particularly intereting  when he relayed  a story about a lady who was suspected to have ADHD. She went on to become a successful ballerina and choreographer. From personal experience, I completely appreciate the benefits and experiences that are offered in a creative environment. During the summer holidays, I was involved in a Summer Play Scheme , held in a Special School.  This gave me an opportunity  to experience how liberating  and empowering a creative environment was for the children.  Some children had very limited communication skills, and struggled to concentrate on a task for more than one or two minutes, but they completely changed when they were participating in creative tasks. For example, when painting, drumming, or dancing the children really enjoyed themselves, I think it gave them a chance to really express themselves.