Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Yes, I do believe that schools “kill” creativity within our youth, though it is not the fault of the teacher or school itself, but a by product of the system that supports the enterprise. The lack of creativity is a huge problem in our schools today. As an English teacher at the middle level, I feel that my my focus has almost completely become that of form over function. Writing has become such a methodical process that is feels like a math equation where students are just mindlessly plugging sentences and phrases into a formula for a predetermined outcome. This push as become even more so due PSSA's and Keystones, and the scary fact that our salaries could one day be tied to student performance. If this does become the case, there will be even less room for creativity as a teacher's livelihood could depend on how well a student can answer an essay question. If we are to prepare students for jobs and an uncertain future, where careers and technology shape the world at an alarming rate, the ability to synthesize, collaborate, and create something new and unique is a must.

The solution? We have to change the way students are assessed. How can we, on the educational level, push constructivist learning, project based assignments, and higher level reasoning skills that WE KNOW will better prepare our students for the "real world", when standardized tests are still based on memorization and recall? I feel as if politicians and policies are becoming so far removed from the principals of good teaching practice that it is enough to drive anyone insane.

A sad side effect of constantly teaching the "five paragraph essay" is that when students are allowed to branch out, they either have no clue what to do without a strictly guided rubric, or they confuse "creative writing" with a story so absurd even Albert Camus would blush. To combat this I teach story-boarding, meta-cognition through writing, fractured fairy tails, and assigned at least one PBL per marking period. So far my school has met AYP, but I fear students lack imaginative qualities needed to advancing in a highly skilled and cognitive world.

I use technology in all of these alternative assessments to help spawn creativity within my students. The chance, and maybe sometimes “need” to design and create, as well as the excitement over using something visual and technology based helps drive these assignments. For the fractured fairy tales project, students watch the move Shrek, analyzing allusions and parodies within the film and then creating their own fractured fairy tale using the web 2.0 too Zooburst; an online digital media tool that created 3-D pop-up books. This is a great tool for writers that desire a more visual outcome to their project.

My students also use Glogster and Voicethread in their Ender's Game learning contract assignment, and learn how to make videos and create commercials during the propaganda unit. In this way I not only attempt to foster creativity, but also help them create skills that can be transferred to real world applications. For now I believe we must "fight the good fight", encourage creativity when and where we can, and teach how we feel will best prepare students for the careers of tomorrow.