This weekend I watched 5 videos on creativity, the brain, motivation and changing education paradigms. Each video is linked here, with my main take-aways from watching them. The new culture of learning in a world of constant flux | John Seeley Brown
Key Ideas: John Seeley Brown spoke about the rapid pace at which our world is changing, and he alluded to the fact that there is no end in sight, and how everything that’s happening now has to do with creating new things, rather than delivering old, explicit ideas. It is now essential to be curious- students have immediate access to so much information today. Seeley says that the ability to participate in study groups is the most effective indicator of how well a student will do in college- because these groups make knowledge personal, they allow students to teach each other, explain, analyze, create, problem solve, etc. He spoke about how we are now able to create context and not simply content. We can figure out how to make things go viral. We can blog and have a conversation rather than just writing about what we know. We need to create a culture of lifelong learning for our students, because that is the world we are living in- and we don’t know what more the future will hold. My Thoughts: We as teachers should focus on equipping students with skills and allowing them to explore and create, because anything we could explicitly teach them- any facts, information, connection- is readily available to them at all times via a quick search or download on a mobile device. We should be allowing them all the time they want and need to work together with others. I think we as teachers often think the collaboration skill is important to help develop- but tend to forget what a huge impact study groups can have on student engagement and learning. What I’m wondering about here is the students who are unmotivated to participate in a group learning setting- because as he spoke about college students, this was an elective situation. I wonder if we could make it elective in our classrooms as well- what if these groups were so successful that unmotivated students would get tired of working alone on “text book” work and decide on their own accord to join a group? Five minds for the future | Howard Gardner Key Ideas: Gardner spoke about how in the past people would work hard to get an education and then be done learning- they’d use what they knew to get through the rest of their career. Today however, we are in a culture of constant change and lifelong learning. Gardner places value on creativity, and says something that characterizes creative people is their willingness to fail, try again, and continue challenging themselves. He said that creativity is really a judgement other people make about you- and it has happened after artists have died that others decided their work had value. He spoke about how school is all about content like science and math, and the importance of respect and ethics. In America, we have a situation where we want to be the best and people are often willing to sacrifice honesty to get fame or power in their position. He says the five minds are: Identity, privacy, ownership/authorship, credibility, and participation. These are the necessary skills he believes kids need to survive this ever changing environment. My Thoughts: Howard Gardner is very interesting to listen to, because he has developed the multiple intelligences theory- which I think is going to be very important in education in the upcoming years as I believe it should be right now. In this particular talk I felt that he jumped around to his many innovative ideas, but something that stuck out to me was that in today’s world we really need to be an expert at something, and if not- we are going to always work for someone who is. The importance of creativity and the ethics behind it are incredibly important skills to teach our students- not that we can teach a student to be creative, but we can allow them opportunity that at school we often squander, which brings us to our next talk: Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson Key Ideas: Sir Ken Robinson also touched on the popular notion that we have no idea what the future holds in this quickly changing world. He argues that creativity is now as important as literacy. In school kids are scared of being wrong and making a mistake is the worst thing one can do. He has evaluated a common hierarchy of subjects as follows: Math and language Science and social studies Art and music Drama and dance The last two lines are often completely ignored. We have highly gifted people going through the education system thinking they’re not good enough because their skills don’t match up with the standardized hierarchy that has been created. The academic inflation that has occurred has made many college degrees irrelevant. My Thoughts: This talk made me particularly sad for students who are going through non-changing school systems in an ever-changing world. We have largely ignored so many of humanity’s skills and talents for such a long time in the classroom that we’ve made dancers, artists, musicians, actors, chefs, and many many more groups of people feel as though they are not intelligent. Sir Ken Robinson is such an inspirational speaker, and I hope that his ideas about education keep spreading. In my classroom and at my school we have begun celebrating mistakes as we learn about growth mindset. It is a small but important step in the right direction. I try to incorporate creative projects and opportunities into my classroom, but it is definitely challenging when you have the curriculum and pacing guide in front of you, and standardized testing looming over you- to give time to other activities. After this talk I remember how important it is, and I plan to include more time for free thinking and various outlets of energy and intelligence into our school day. I already see my 2nd and 3rd graders falling victim to the notion that the kids who are “good at math” (can complete math problems quickly) are the smart ones. I’m trying to change their mindset, but I fear that every time I score their math assessments and help them correct it I am reinforcing this notion. It’s hard to know the right things to do, but I promise to keep the best interests of the student’s futures in mind. The puzzle of motivation | Dan Pink Key Ideas: Dan Pink spoke about motivation, and how we have offered rewards for achievement for a long time- and how science shows that it is not actually effective to offer a reward when someone is working on a creative problem, or one that involves critical thinking skills. He went over the candle problem and how the motivation changed when the problem went from difficult to easy. My Thoughts: We need to be challenging our students and allowing them to think creatively, as this will actually intrinsically motivate them to push themselves harder and learn more. I can reward my students for giving me memorization or task completion, but if I give them more mentally stimulating material- they will be more motivated to participate, problem solve, and take ownership over their learning encouraging lifelong learning skills. RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms My Thoughts: I have seen this video before and I really appreciate Sir Ken Robinson’s ideas about education reform. I would love to teach in a world where students are grouped by interest rather than age, and are not graded on a standard for their grade level. It made me think of activities like gymnastics, dance, baseball, basketball...what if students had a cohort in which they played and learned together? They would have a different type of relationship and I imagine it would be quite effective for their education. When I was on teams throughout school, I was extremely close with the people on my team- we had a bond and shared a big interest. We traveled together and went through hard times together. When I think about classes I have been in throughout my educational career, the feelings I have about the students in my class are much different that those of teams I have been on. I’m imagining a team of students doing what they love together, and learning. It doesn’t have to be a sports team either- there could be groups for movie lovers, chess players, people who love video games, animal lovers...the possibilities for Sir Robinson’s model are simply endless, and I hope that in my lifetime I get to experience even an inkling of the change he is vying for, because I think it would be so exciting and so good for students, teachers, and the global community as a whole. Article: Can Creativity Be Taught? I agree with the author, August Turak, that most of our thinking is linear, and it can be challenging to think in creative ways. I struggle with this often. I see it everyday in my classroom, especially during math time. It seems like some students just tend to think in creative ways, while it is a challenge for others. I definitely see more creativity in some ways in education today than when I was in school- in my classroom, at least, with students asking more questions and creating inquiries, projects, new math strategies, group work etc. It seems that we have a long way to go still, but maybe we are on the right track. It seems to me, that creativity can’t be taught per se, because that seems to go against the very nature of creativity- but it can be encouraged, fostered, grown, built upon and invested into by educators, and people we spend time with. Creativity is all around us. Look for it. Encourage it. Be it.
4 Comments
Lisa Gottfried
11/13/2017 06:22:05 pm
Just a structural comment: You took the time to orient your reader to the blog post! This instantly makes this post shareable and relatable. I also like your use of bolded titles to break up your paragraphs. Don't be afraid to try throwing in some images next. If you are really feeling frisky, try tweeting out a link to your blog and see how many views you get on the post! I'm happy to share on my twitter account if you want to experiment.
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Kayla Bryant
11/16/2017 04:31:44 pm
Yes, I would love that! Sorry for the delayed response. :)
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Maria
11/14/2017 09:44:17 pm
I really connected with your thoughts on "Do schools kill creativity?"
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Marisabel Olguin
11/16/2017 06:00:17 pm
I too would be overjoyed if we could group kids by interest. I have had students that demonstrate high levels of critical thinking they just lack motivation because we as teachers don't have the liberty or time to add those creative projects that would motivate them to a higher level. Sometimes I don't have the time to plan with my grade level and feel that we are all disconnected because we are being pulled in all directions. If us as teachers are feeling overwhelmed with standardized testing imagine our students who are asked to all learn in the "linear" way and not organically as Sir Ken Robinson puts it. I will encourage creativity even if it is in my own classroom!
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AuthorKayla Bryant is an elementary school teacher in Napa, CA. This year she teaches a 2/3 combo class. She keeps a journal with funny quotes from her students, and enjoys learning and laughing alongside them. Some of her main educational interests are related to goal setting, growth mindset, and creativity. Archives
July 2018
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