This post was inspired by the course I took with The Art of Education; "Creativity in Crisis"
Creativity is something that is associated with the arts, and it does have a strong connection there, however, creativity is not limited to the arts, but rather transcends all disciplines. Some schools have been teaching creativity; we have known this for a long time, but it's only beginning to show up in a few select schools. Creativity needs to be core in education, not just a nice addition. We also need to define what creativity is, because even within the ranks of art education, we are not clear what we mean.
In Newsweek article The Creativity Crisis by PO Bronson and Ashley Merryman, it was stated that "The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ." They also stated that "Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance's tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers." The Torrance's test is a 90-minute exam given by psychologists and has been taken worldwide in 50 different languages. With the IQ test, generations scores are increasing, but in the US, generations scores on the Torrance are decreasing; we are becoming less and less creative. Our nation is in trouble when it comes to creativity, and yet creativity is one of the most necessary skills looking forward.
In a youtube video by Cindy Foley called, "The Creative Revolution", Cindy says that when it comes to creativity and what we do in our art classrooms, "we need to be on the offensive, not the defensive". She goes on to say that we need to kill some cliches about art that are confusing people about what creativity is.
Some of the issues are:
1. Art Skill= Creativity
2. Creating= Creativity
3. Creative Expression is self-indulgent
4. DBAE, and knowing a lot about art from other learning about cultures and content knowledge, but not being able to have the opportunity to think like those artists does not equal creativity
5. Arts Integration is fusing subjects that aren't always fun, with art, which is fun!
Cindy says that we all need to first come up with a definition of creativity because there is not one that is widely accepted. Once you decide on a definition, you have to share it out! Now, you are changing the conversation and being an advocate for creativity and what it is. You need to be a champion for creativity and it's importance by talking to anyone and everyone about what it is, and it's importance.
Cindy goes on to say that you could host community events so the community can see what you are trying to do and that you need to make your students learning visible (process over product). This is important for people viewing student work, and for students; when students better understand their process, they will grow and become more creative and are more articulate about their creativity. Last, make your language visible in the classroom, hallways, etc. Cindy says that everyone is talking about creativity and what that looks like in the classroom, but that art educators are not at the table; she calls us to step up and be change agents.
One of my favorite quotes about creativity comes from Sir Ken Robinson, "My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." and also that, "my contention is that all kids have tremendous talents. And, we squander them, pretty ruthlessly."
In Ken Robinson's book, "Out of Our Minds, Learning to be Creative" Ken mentions, "Our best resource is to cultivate our singular abilities imagination, creativity, and innovation. Our greatest peril would be to face the future without investing fully in those abilities." Robinson also goes on to quote H.G. Wells, "Civilization," he said, "is a race between education and catastrophe." Robinson responds by saying, "...current systems of mass education are a catastrophe in themselves. Far from looking to the future, too often they are facing stubbornly towards the past."
We as art educators know that creativity is central in importance, yet even some of us fall prey to the cliches or stereotypes our society holds to be true about creativity. We need to define creativity, educate our students, administration, and our community about creativity, talk to anyone who will listen about creativity and become advocates so that we can change the conversation, we can be advocates, and we can help education put creativity where it belongs, at the core of all that we do. The future of our students and our country are depending on us to step up as leaders!
Creativity is something that is associated with the arts, and it does have a strong connection there, however, creativity is not limited to the arts, but rather transcends all disciplines. Some schools have been teaching creativity; we have known this for a long time, but it's only beginning to show up in a few select schools. Creativity needs to be core in education, not just a nice addition. We also need to define what creativity is, because even within the ranks of art education, we are not clear what we mean.
In Newsweek article The Creativity Crisis by PO Bronson and Ashley Merryman, it was stated that "The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ." They also stated that "Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance's tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers." The Torrance's test is a 90-minute exam given by psychologists and has been taken worldwide in 50 different languages. With the IQ test, generations scores are increasing, but in the US, generations scores on the Torrance are decreasing; we are becoming less and less creative. Our nation is in trouble when it comes to creativity, and yet creativity is one of the most necessary skills looking forward.
In a youtube video by Cindy Foley called, "The Creative Revolution", Cindy says that when it comes to creativity and what we do in our art classrooms, "we need to be on the offensive, not the defensive". She goes on to say that we need to kill some cliches about art that are confusing people about what creativity is.
Some of the issues are:
1. Art Skill= Creativity
2. Creating= Creativity
3. Creative Expression is self-indulgent
4. DBAE, and knowing a lot about art from other learning about cultures and content knowledge, but not being able to have the opportunity to think like those artists does not equal creativity
5. Arts Integration is fusing subjects that aren't always fun, with art, which is fun!
Cindy says that we all need to first come up with a definition of creativity because there is not one that is widely accepted. Once you decide on a definition, you have to share it out! Now, you are changing the conversation and being an advocate for creativity and what it is. You need to be a champion for creativity and it's importance by talking to anyone and everyone about what it is, and it's importance.
Cindy goes on to say that you could host community events so the community can see what you are trying to do and that you need to make your students learning visible (process over product). This is important for people viewing student work, and for students; when students better understand their process, they will grow and become more creative and are more articulate about their creativity. Last, make your language visible in the classroom, hallways, etc. Cindy says that everyone is talking about creativity and what that looks like in the classroom, but that art educators are not at the table; she calls us to step up and be change agents.
One of my favorite quotes about creativity comes from Sir Ken Robinson, "My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." and also that, "my contention is that all kids have tremendous talents. And, we squander them, pretty ruthlessly."
In Ken Robinson's book, "Out of Our Minds, Learning to be Creative" Ken mentions, "Our best resource is to cultivate our singular abilities imagination, creativity, and innovation. Our greatest peril would be to face the future without investing fully in those abilities." Robinson also goes on to quote H.G. Wells, "Civilization," he said, "is a race between education and catastrophe." Robinson responds by saying, "...current systems of mass education are a catastrophe in themselves. Far from looking to the future, too often they are facing stubbornly towards the past."
We as art educators know that creativity is central in importance, yet even some of us fall prey to the cliches or stereotypes our society holds to be true about creativity. We need to define creativity, educate our students, administration, and our community about creativity, talk to anyone who will listen about creativity and become advocates so that we can change the conversation, we can be advocates, and we can help education put creativity where it belongs, at the core of all that we do. The future of our students and our country are depending on us to step up as leaders!
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