Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity

After watching the video "Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity", I am reminded of how much I myself forget to reach outside the normal curriculum and be creative. Looking back and reflecting on my own educational experience, I feel as if my own creativity was crushed once I was reminded and told what would be lucrative in the job force and what would be useless. I still remember taking art classes in high school and how much I loved to paint and draw-how my skills were just developing. Then I recall how often I heard statements like "You won't make any money going to school for art". After two years of art classes, I then had to tighten up the study load and replace my art electives with courses such as AP History and Economics. High School became a competition--who could take the most challenging courses based on the traditional hierarchy of subjects and successfully receive A's to add to one's transcript for college admissions. This was my educational experience once I reached high school. Memorizing, writing, tests-this is what I recall from my high school experience. Nothing that encouraged us as students to be creative. The closest I came to connecting to my own creativity developed from my involvement with our school's journal publication--and even this seemed to be a half attempt at doing something that I truly loved.

This video triggered not only a reflection of my own educational experience, but a reflection of my own role as a teacher. I thought to myself, "What am I doing in the classroom that in any way helps to keep the creativity alive?" I almost feel as if I have failed my students because I have become so consumed by teaching the required standards and curriculum. I do try to incorporate a variety of activities for my students but it is not consistent enough to keep them engaged. Mr. Robinson's lecture is a reminder to educators to keep in mind that human creativity is just as important as one's academic ability.

Now that summer vacation is here and we have time to breathe, think, and reflect, I truly want to find more ways to help my students discover their own talents. I teach a short story unit that focuses on understanding the term epiphany. Mr. Robinson stated that he is working on a book that researches how one discovers his/her own talent. I want to follow up on this book and try to consider some of his ideas so that I help promote not only student learning but also encourage students to go after their dreams and where they believe their passion and talents exist within their own lives.

After researching Mr. Robinson's work with his mentioned researched, I came across a brief paragraph that explains the basic structure of his new book titled "Element". Click here to read the brief description.