It amazes me that when I look through job postings, I see, employers list creative and innovative as required skills, yet society seems to overlook the need to train people in these areas. We are calling out for these skills, and we are hoping that God has made creative and innovative people for us, because many of our schools aren't doing anything to help build these skills. As we cut programs and pull students out of classes where students can learn these skills, we are killing the very thing we are seeking. If our students end up as creative or innovative, it is due to their own efforts or talents, simply in-spite of our culture. There are some wise leaders out there who understand this, and who are realizing how important these skills are, and the schools who have these leaders have strong programs to support the skills of creativity and innovation in our students.
Our society also seems to think that creativity and innovation are something magical, "creativity is when you have a magic moment of genius, and if you have a lot of them, you must have been born creative". Our society thinks there is a creative "type". I will agree that some are more creative than others, just like some of us are better at math than others, but just like all of us can learn to be better at math, all of us can learn to become more creative. Yes, we can build creativity in all of our students.
In my classroom we are building art skills, but we are also building creativity and innovation. Students learn art skills and techniques, but they then use those to create projects they design. Students choose their focus, and are encouraged to create things that have not before existed. Their projects are from their dreams, their ideas, and so they are going so much further than following step by step directions from me. Students are encouraged that in order to go further than they thought possible, they need to reach far, and I encourage them that I expect them to fail, possibly numerous times. Students complete brainstorming exercises, like coming up with new ideas or uses for everyday objects, students meet with other students to talk about projects they are working on, so they can adjust, see different points of view, and possibly change their focus. And most importantly, they keep trying things, failing or adjusting, and trying again, repeating the process they way real artists do. We follow the Artistic Method that I put together after talking with artists, and doing research on creativity to try and determine how artists are able to brainstorm ideas. The Creative method looks like this:
Our society also seems to think that creativity and innovation are something magical, "creativity is when you have a magic moment of genius, and if you have a lot of them, you must have been born creative". Our society thinks there is a creative "type". I will agree that some are more creative than others, just like some of us are better at math than others, but just like all of us can learn to be better at math, all of us can learn to become more creative. Yes, we can build creativity in all of our students.
In my classroom we are building art skills, but we are also building creativity and innovation. Students learn art skills and techniques, but they then use those to create projects they design. Students choose their focus, and are encouraged to create things that have not before existed. Their projects are from their dreams, their ideas, and so they are going so much further than following step by step directions from me. Students are encouraged that in order to go further than they thought possible, they need to reach far, and I encourage them that I expect them to fail, possibly numerous times. Students complete brainstorming exercises, like coming up with new ideas or uses for everyday objects, students meet with other students to talk about projects they are working on, so they can adjust, see different points of view, and possibly change their focus. And most importantly, they keep trying things, failing or adjusting, and trying again, repeating the process they way real artists do. We follow the Artistic Method that I put together after talking with artists, and doing research on creativity to try and determine how artists are able to brainstorm ideas. The Creative method looks like this:
For now I am doing my part to prepare students to enter our society that demands creativity and innovation, even though as a society we do not always provide students the tools they need to build these skills. My students will be prepared, but we need to make this the norm, we need to make sure that students are being exposed to the arts and engineering no matter where they go to school, and we need to make sure those programs are high quality, valued programs...end the hierarchy of subjects, lets support what society is asking for, and they are asking for creativity and innovation.
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