Everyday I hear mention of the lack of one’s own creativity among my colleagues, students, family or friends. Roger VonOech’s 10 mental blocks are all very familiar to me. WIth the majority of my time being spent in an educational setting, the most repetitive of VonOech’s 10 mental blocks that I hear are “The Right Answer, Be Practical, Follow the Rules, and I’m not creative.” Children today are often taught from day one to follow the rules and be practical therefore many of children’s responses are I’m not creative, I can’t do it.” I must admit I am guilty of this idea as well.
How many lessons a day do I plan for one right answer? How often do I allow opportunity for my student’s to explore their own creativity? I need to personally make it a goal to design more lessons based around my student’s exploration of their own creativity. With state designed tests and lessons, many times teachers are limited in the time allowed for student creativity. However, we as teachers must be aware of this idea and design state mandated curriculum in a more creative way. I do believe it is do able and teachers must be willing to commit more time to encouraging a child’s individual creative thoughts and ideas.
I'm glad that you've begun to question your own practices and will work to provide more opportunities for your students. I also sympathize with the mandates on teachers that make it more challenging to stray from the requirements. Think creatively on ways to do this :)
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