Creating The Right Conditions

This week’s video was really interesting and the speaker Ken Robinson made some points that I agree with. The arts, Ken Robinson talked about how important the arts are to children. I could not agree more. He stated that arts should be a part of the mainstream education. It should be a part of the writing, reading, mathematics, and science. He went on to make a statement that really stuck with me, “We are taking the power of imagination for granted, and we are destroying it in children.” For me this related to what Seth Godin talked about in his book, that we are creating a society that wants instructions instead of creative. Lego recreated their product instead of the all-purpose kits, to predefined kits. What really got to me was the caption that was under the picture. “It failed because it required too much risk on the part of parents and kids-the risk of making something that wasn’t perfect or expected.” (Godin, 77). I don’t understand why this is such a bad thing. I thought that the old approach to Lego’s helped developed the children’s creative side. It allows them to build and create whatever they want. In the all-purpose set can allow them to think outside of the box. They are just limiting them to just one way of thinking, with the pre-set boxes. Like Ken Robinson said, “people do their best when they are doing something they love or when they are in their element.” If we can find ways to make the mandated materials more interesting if we could try and find ways try so it can related to our student lives. I wonder if it would make for a more interesting classroom? Unlike the teacher in stop stealing dreams, I thought did teaching the wrong way, “she intentionally humiliated him, for one clear reason. The message was obvious: I am in charge, and my instruction matter. You will conform and you will meet the quality standards or you will be punished.” This to me is the wrong way to teach, it should not be my way or the high way. There was a line in stop stealing dreams that I liked, “we can rebuild the entire system around passion instead of fear.” I feel that this would make for a great learning environment, where we are not instilling fear into our students. Why put fear about not passing test.Why are we instilling fear into our students and add that extra pressure on them, just so we can show that our test scores are better than different states. School should be a place where plant the seed of growth in our students. Ken made a good point about, “if we create the right conditions growth will happen in our students. It that it is important to find creative way to engage the students, we need to stop putting some much pressure on them, and give them more creative room. Ken also stated that, “we should not be putting them to sleep, but we should be waking them up.” Today we are teaching to the test, which does not allow for creative freedom. We need to allow the students to think outside of the box, give them more room to explore and ask questions that get them more engaged in what they are learning. Get them too ask questions that get them thinking deeply about they are learning in, so they want to learn more.

Creating a safe community can lead to imagination

In the article by Mara Sapon-Shevin, she brought many ideas that I have thought about incorporating into my very own classroom. Every little decision that we (teachers) are going to make “is going to have an impact on how the students will, how they will treat one another, and what the classroom atmosphere will feel like.” (Sapon-Shevin, 99). When I read this a first it was a very scary thought, that everything and any will have an impact on the students. But she talked about many different ways in which we as teachers can create a safe learning community. From my camp experience I have picked up many ideas about how to bring together 10 different children, these campers come from different backgrounds, ages, races, social economic status, family dynamics, and more. On the first day we set up what we call cabin rules. I always give each group the first two rules; 1) have fun, 2) be safe. Then I turn and put the power in their hands. They as a group have to come up with their own rules, and all they have to agree. When then come up with the rule we need to respect each other. I have then have them explain what respect means. When they are done I have each camper sign the paper. This way they are in power of their rules, and don’t feel like I am tell what to do. It gives them power and creating a community of rules. One of my goals as a teacher is to make the classroom feel like a safe place. In my classroom I want to create an environment in which my students can fail. So let me explain this statement, it is not that I want my students to fail, but I want my students to understand that it’s ok to fail. The important part is that they tried something new, they challenged themselves, and even though it did not work ok, it is ok. Today when we tell student they did something wrong or incorrect, it can have very damaging effects. I want to students to understand that when we fail, it when we really learn the most. When we fail we have to go back reflect over or work and see where we went wrong. Failing should not be a big dramatic event, it should be an extra opportunity to learn, and that it’s ok to fail and it happens to everyone. As a teacher it is important to create not only a fun space to learn but a safe space. Where all students feel safe to share ideas, are able to grow, because when the students feel safe, they are more likely to open up, let others in to see all side to the students. After the classroom feels safe, this will hopeful allow for deeper learning to happen. Allowing the children to feel safe can allow their imaginations to grow. There was a quote by Greene on page 36, “Imagination is an important is the lives of teachers as it is in the lives of their students.” We as teachers need to find creative ways to reach our students. As stated by Sapon-Shevin, “imagination can bring severed parts together, can integrate into the right order; can create wholes.” (Page, 38). I feel that imagination is so important for children today. Their play had been replaced with video games and TV. When I was a child I was forced to go outside and create my own play. I used my imagination to create my own worlds. Imagination is so important, it help let children see things in different lights and it can let the creative flow. I feel that it is important to bring imagination back into the classroom.