Both of my daughters are great students, but for very different reasons than one another.
My oldest daughter is classic compliant student- she listens in class, she puts in massive effort toward the defined outcomes, does her homework like clockwork and her grades reflect how marvellously she fits the educational mould.
My younger daughter is a creative student who listens to her rich inner world, pours on the effort when she is inspired, which makes her forget about the structure of class and homework and routines. Sometimes it causes her to be corrected by teachers and sometimes they marvel at her special talents.
To provide an example, both my girls were taught by the same amazing kindergarten teacher. This teacher believed in the value of divergent thinking and encouraged her students to let their imaginations run wild. This was a rich mental playground for my daughter. At a parent-teacher interview, the kindergarten teacher announced that she had something special to show us. She explained that in the decades of teaching kindergarten, she had never seen anything like it. What "it" was was a picture of our family on a pirate ship. That is not so unusual, but the fact that it was drawn from an ariel view was quite unique and unexpected. The teacher explained that she didn't know that kids that age could think in terms of being above the scene and looking below. The best part was that there was bright blue water all around the ship AND when you flipped over the paper you could view the ship and the water below, complete with fish and sea creatures. DIVERGENT THINKING!
It is hard to not get discouraged on my daughter's behalf because her older sister enjoys the perks of fitting the system. She has higher grades and more praise and recognition at school. But, what if the system is bent or broken? Who says that the school system has it right to praise one child over the other? What if divergent thinking is the most important skill for the next generation? What if divergent thinking was given a grade? We have been so lucky that we have had several teachers who "get" my youngest daughter's creativity and understand it's value. I mean, she still needs to learn her times tables, but that doesn't mean she has to unlearn her creativity to do it. She gets that grades aren't everything and I cannot wait to see her shine beyond the box of education.
I posted a reflection of a Ted Talk about Ken Robinson a post or two ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. He asserted that all children are divergent, creative thinkers, but they are educated out of this tendency. It is heart breaking to consider this a true statement. I say heart breaking because it is a loss. Thinking inside the box of rubrics, success criteria, curriculum... perhaps the education system could learn something from a kindergartener.
How can we get our creativity back as adults? How do we inspire children to further their creativity.
In what ways do we need to be cautious when providing student praise, so as to spark creativity, rather than snuffing it out.
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