Creativity and Curiosity:My Thoughts-Special Post #12A

Creativity and curiosity go hand in hand and are very important for young children to have. Unfortunately, creativity takes a back seat in schools. Elementary teachers have to plan for every subject, every day. The main focus is to make sure the children are learning the curriculum and often the children's creativity gets forgotten. I am not saying that teachers ignore creativity altogether, but I do not believe it gets as much attention as it should. A child's creativity can be brought out in any subject.
I do not think that schools intentionally kill children's creativity and curiosity. However, as I mentioned above, I do believe that schools and teachers are so focused on making sure the children are learning what they are supposed to that creativity and curiosity often get left behind. I also think that overtime children become more aware of what is around them and what the other students may or may not think about them. When a child is in kindergarten, he or she does not even know what the word shy means. However, as they get older, some children become more inhibited and do not like speak aloud in class. I also believe that the grading system in schools can kill a child's creativity. Tests can be so stressful for some children, therefore, they might not do well on the test. If they receive a bad grade on the test, children can easily get discouraged and think they are doing something wrong. However, most teachers do not rely solely on tests to assess the students. Teachers often use various projects to assess the students. I think using projects for assessment is a great thing because projects allow children to express themselves.

I feel that schools do contribute to children loosing their curiosity. If a teacher is standing in front of a classroom and feeding the students all of the information that will be on the test, why would they need to learn anything else? Unfortunately, that is the viewpoint of the majority of students. They are taught to only worry about what will be on the test, therefore, there is no motivation to be curious and look up things on their own. I think this can be changed if teachers motivate students to look up things on their own and find more information on the given topic. A curriculum that would motivate the student's curiosity is possible. Instead of deciding what to teach based on the test, teachers should derive the tests from what they teach. Also, teachers could allow more class discussions. Also, if a student asks a question about a topic, the teacher could tell him or her to look it up and tell the class the answer the next day in class.
A curriculum to increase student's creativity could be created. The curriculum could include activities which require the students to draw or paint. Also, the new curriculum could include thinking activities. These activities could be writing activities. For example, if the children were learning about the Native Americans in history, the assignment could be "imagine you are a Native American chief, describe what a day in your life would be like". An assignment such as this could spark students' creativity and really make them think about what they are learning.
A teacher is the glue that holds the classroom together. The actions of the teacher can encourage or sometimes severely discourage a student. I believe that a teacher can contribute to the students' creativity and curiosity. Teachers can contribute to the students' creativity by encouraging them to think outside of the box and always reassuring them. As I mentioned above, a teacher can contribute to the students' curiosity by having them look up the answers to their questions instead of just answering if for them.
Now that I am an adult, my creativity has been stilted since I was a kid. Part of that comes from my fear of what others will think. Another part of it comes from the fear of whether or not my creativity is what my teachers are looking for. More often than not, I would rather stick to what is safe rather than think outside of the box and receive a poor grade on an assignment. A downfall to this perspective is when I am told to be creative on an assignment, I have to think long and hard about what to do. I would like to be more creative, but honestly, I am not sure what can make me be more creative. I do feel that the assignments I have had in this class have contributed tremendously to my creativity. I think if all of my classes had more open-ended assignments like this class, I would feel more comfortable with being creative.

My curiosity level is not as low as some. When there is something being discussed in class that interests me, I will go home and look it up and try to learn more about it. However, if the topic does not interest me, I am not curious about it at all; I just want to learn what I have to about it so I will pass the test. Honestly, I am not sure how I can be broken of this habit. I believe it is a result of being in school for so long and always being taught to just worry about what will be on the test. Now that I am in college and taking classes that are relevant to my career, I am more curious about the topics.
When I become a teacher, I hope I can break the cycle of killing students' creativity and curiosity. I will always do my best to encourage my students and let them know that is okay to not always be perfect or just like everyone else.

Who is Elli??
Elspeth Bishop is a writer for GoodMeasures.net. She enjoys sports such as tennis and she also enjoys hiking. She was born and raised in Colorado.