Creativity

   What is creativity? This is a question that we were asked in class tonight...and I think that it's an important one. Creativity to me is the ability to freely express oneself. When I see the word creativity, my mind automatically jumps to art, music, theater, and dress. I think that these are ways that people express themselves. My family and my best friends are people that I consider to be very creative. My mother always liked art as a young child and used her interest in art to become a master hairstylist. My best friend (A) is an artist who consistenly expresses her creativity through not only her art, but also her clothes and different hairstyles. My best friend (M) is a playwright who uses her creativity of words to write her plays. Not only does this involve creativity of words, but I presume it also involves envisioning who would be a good choice to play the part of her characters if they ever came to life on the stage. My best friend (S) is an artist, photographer, and actress. All three of these qualities together require a lot of creativity. I, myself, am a quiet person who expresses myself through my passion for teaching, music, and the arts. 
    I think that these are mostly intrinsic abilities that flourish when provided the appropriate environments. Since the time that I began school until now, I feel as though schools have made some strides in allowing students' creativity to develop, but there is not nearly enough that has been done. In class tonight, someone stated that schools right now teach the academics so that students can get into college. This is wonderful, yes, but I feel that along with academics, we need to provide students with environments that allow creativity to flow. I say this because as an educator, I recognize that students are more attentive when they are given the opportunity to creatively express themselves.  If lessons capture students' interests, they are more likely to retain the information. As a personal note, I played the violin for 12 years in a district that had no string program. That was my passion. It still is. It taught me a lot of discipline, but I always wished that teachers could have brought more music into the classrooms that I was in. I always had a very hard time with Math right from the beginning, but playing the violin helped me to get a better handle on it because it taught me rhythm and timing. Unfortunately, creativity comes with a price. Technology is coming about so quickly now that people are starting to lose their creativity. Technology is wonderful, but when I am in the classroom, I try to have my students use the technology, but still do activities where they need to think and create their own projects/ pictures/ diagrams/ presentations, etc.
   I am really looking forward to using the tools that I have learned in this class in my own classroom. I think that tools like these will help school districts to see that not all computer programs that will enhance students' creativity are expensive. Maybe then (I can only hope) some people will realize that BOTH academics and creativity are important.
Until next time...