AVOIDING KILLING CREATIVITY
Prior to this weeks Integrated Arts session, I watched the TEDTalk “Are Schools killing creativity?” by Ken Robinson, 2007. In his video, Ken discussed the gaps in education. He highlighted the importance of creativity across all curricular areas. He discussed the fact that we “stigmatise mistakes” in the classroom, which leads to lack of creativity further down the line as children feel less encouraged to explore. I fully agree to this as often in schools, children are too well supported. By this I mean that they are supported to succeed, whereas when children fail, this is when they produce their best work as they have lots to learn from. I believe this is something that I experienced in school.
Although praise is important, if a child is told constantly that what they are doing is brilliant, they might begin to think that mistakes are wrong. I have inserted below a picture quote that I find interesting. It suggests that mistakes are a positive thing, which I fully agree with.
Personally, I believe creativity is a vital part of education, and of life in general. Recently, the UK Government posted the poster below.
This poster went viral across all pairs and social media. This campaign suggested that the arts were not necessary in today’s society. This has been rightly criticised, including by a spokesperson for Boris Johnson who stated that “This particular piece of content was not appropriate and has been removed from the campaign.” (Bakare, 2020).
I find this campaign particularly worrying as if children, of primary or secondary age, saw this poster they may be disheartened. Children need to be inspired to follow their aspirations and for any children this will be to succeed in the arts, however if they see that their government are not appreciating the arts, then the children might be tempted to follow in the same footsteps.
I personally have a great appreciation for creativity, both as an individual and as an aspiring professional. You do not have to be a professional artist or a drama expert to be creative. Everyone is creative in their own way. The infographic below highlights the various myths surrounding creativity. In the future I will make sure to highlight the to my pupils to ensure they do not have these restricted views.
FREEZE FRAMES
Freeze frames can be a beneficial way of learning in schools. This is by simply creating a scene or picture freezing their bodies, to communicate a story or a message (Baldwin, P, 2009).
I watched the following video to view an experience of freeze frames being used in the classroom. The teacher asks several questions such as questioning children on what is happening, why, where and she also challenges the pupils to consider alternative endings. This encourages the children to think creatively, as all pupils responded with varied answers.
I will be encouraged to use this method in future practice as you can see the children are very engages. This method of learning is more fun than traditional textbook work, and could be used all over the curriculum, for example in history or even music.
References
Bakare, L., 2020. Government scraps ballet dancer reskilling ad criticised as ‘crass’. The Guardian, [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/12/ballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad> [Accessed 17 October 2020].
Baldwin, P (2009) School Improvement Through Drama: A creative whole class, whole school approach network continuum pages 136 – 139. [Accessed 23 October 2020]
Education Scotland, 2020. [image] Available at: <https://education.gov.scot/nih/Documents/Creativity/CRE24_Infographics/cre24-debunking-creativity-myths.pdf> [Accessed 23 October 2020].
Gilderson Primary, 2020. Freeze Frame. [image] Available at: <https://youtu.be/LFbqf4v6MKQ> [Accessed 23 October 2020].
TED, 2007. Do Schools Kill Creativity?.
Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY> [Accessed 17 October 2020].
- Mistakes Are Proof That You Are Trying. [image] Available at: <https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/mistakes-are-proof-that-you-are-trying-quote-typography_6333537.htm> [Accessed 17 October 2020].
