The Loss of Creativity
In their article “The
Creativity Crisis” (Newsweek, July, 10
2010) Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman reported
that in an IBM poll of 1500 CEO’s, creativity was identified as the number one
leadership competence of the future. At the same time, scores on the Torrance Test,
a long standing measure of creativity, are down.
How can this dichotomy
be resolved? Well, it's not easy when the Common Core is honing instructional content
to a narrow slice of literacy and numeracy. There is little evidence in the
Common Core released test items that creativity is valued. Oh, sure, we can say
that collaborative discussions (SL.1) have the potential for this and writing
narratives (W.3) may allow some creative ideas as long as they align with the
required elements of the standard.
But creativity can be
assessed. Dividing it into its key elements: Fluency, originality, elaboration,
and flexibility makes this possible.So, what’s to be done?
Let’s start “Innovation Fridays”, like they do in the business world. Spend
some time every Friday (or any other day) letting your students imagine, visualize, create their
dreams, and design schemes. Guide them in asking questions and finding the answers. Be
sure to extend every Common Core standard into a 21st century skill.
Make reading and writing about imagination. Don’t stop with the Common Core; rather
use it as the springboard to creativity.
posted by Assessment Network @ 4:14 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Creativity is an essential skill to implement into the classroom, not only because it is necessary for successful employment, but also because it will excite and engage students. I believe that creativity should not only be on Fridays, but every day of the week. Give your students a critical thinking problem to solve as a warm-up where they must use their imagination. Have your students act out a scene from a novel you are reading. Assess your students with performance assessments, with creativity being one criterion for successful completion. We must follow the Common Core Standards, but nobody ever told us we had to stick to a script or could not allow students to use their imaginations. Implementing creative tasks into the classroom and allowing students the freedom to choose what they want to do will not only make learning more exciting for your students, but will also help them in their life after school, where creative and innovative solutions are valued.
With the Common Core Standards, I am finding that many current educators complain that they feel stifled by a rigorous curriculum. Many have complained that they have had to eliminate cherished pieces of literature and creative projects in order to accommodate the demands imposed by their administration to focus on a strict adherence to CCSS aligned programs and resources being implemented in their schools.
Conversely, however, I see the implementation of the CCSS as an opportunity for the best educators to shine. The standards are just what their name implies--standards. Standards provide a guide to what teachers should teach, not how, and therein lies opportunities for creativity.
One benefit of the CCSS is that the standards promote integration across content areas. I think the CCSS provide opportunities for innovative teaching and learning that has the potential to provide deep and enriching learning experiences for students. While I understand that each school will implement the standards differently based on their administration’s demands, the CCSS are not going away any time soon, and so the challenge falls onto the educators to implement activities that foster creative thinking and learning in the classroom. There are countless ways to creatively meet the standards, but it is up to educators to step up to the plate.
Creativity in the classroom is what keeps kids interested in learning the content presented; it is what makes learning fresh and fun. While there are many ways in which a teacher can implement creativity into daily lessons, the demands of National and State Standards often override a teacher's focus in lesson planning and ultimately stagnate his/her creativity classroom teaching. This is unfortunate and avoidable.
Although I am not a big fan of standardized curriculum, it is what's going on in education right now. With this in mind, I think that it is critical that teachers imbue their curricular lessons with creativity and introduce them with enthusiasm. Make the seemingly uninteresting intriguing.
Creativity in education opens-up many avenues for formative assessment, as well. Many fun learning activities can double as a formative assessment tool, which is especially effective for gauging the performance of all students, regardless of learning style.
While I do think that the current standards in education do present some challenges for creativity in the classroom, with a little ingenuity and perseverance by creative teachers, I think that student learning will thrive and the demands of State and National Standards will also be met.
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