Creativity & Choice

One of the professors in grad school that influenced me most helped me to understand the value of creativity in the classroom. I knew that creativity was important, and in fact I thought that I was on the right track incorporating creative projects and activities into my lessons.

What I found to be true, for my students and my classroom, was that it wasn't enough. Not only not enough creativity, but more importantly not enough choice. I was not allowing them to stretch their wings and find out what worked best for them because I was keeping too much of the control over the classroom learning to myself. I needed to find new ways to help these students not only learn reading and writing skills, but to find methods that allowed them choice and creativity in their realm of interests and passions.

One of the people who truly inspired me and helped to change the way I think about education is Sir Ken Robinson and his views on creativity and education. If you are as interested as I am in finding ways to reach our students and help them shape their futures in the 21st century, you might want to check out Sir Robinson's YouTube presentation: Changing Education Paradigms