This weeks lecture was with Dairmuid and we looked at “How to avoid killing creativity”. We watched a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson were he discussed “Do schools kill creativity”. Robinson talks about how innovative children are in his TED talk and that all children have tremendous talent but we must treat their creativity with the same importance as literacy and maths. Although the expressive arts are practiced within schools are they held with the same importance as maths and English? According to Robinson they are not. Why if children love to dance and can create beautiful choreography is it seen as an added exercise. Encouraging children to use their creativity in the classroom can have positive developments across all areas of their learning.
Throughout this lecture I had my own realisation that I haven’t considered the arts to be as important as other academic subjects like maths. I think that is a reflection on how it was when I was at school. It was considered “Uncool” to have taken part in the singing groups or art classes when I was younger. Now that I am a mother, I would hate to think of my children not feeling they were able to take part in such activities without being picked on.
As a future educator I want to encourage children to embrace their talents in the arts and become more confident in expressing themselves through art or dance or music. Incorporating opportunities for creativity across all curriculum areas will promote inclusion. I hope that over the years it is far more common for children to be talented in the arts and it be championed instead of frowned upon.
