Ray Bradbury once said, "We never sit anything out. We are cups constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."
I feel this is the definition of creativity. Creativity is a dynamic process, something living, a way of life. An interplay between inner and outer. And so begins a conversation on how creativity is important in teaching and my work with children.
Sometimes I feel people are so stuck on doing what is "right" or "expected." Sometimes, I feel everyone is walking around in their own little bubble and everyone's bubble is exactly alike. I dare to burst those stereotypes. To step outside of what is expected. To teach children to be themselves.
With high stakes testing it's no wonder we aren't always successful in cultivating creativity in students in our schools. The number one rule is this: We must teach the individual students in our classrooms. We never teach to a single unit of a "classroom."
When we integrate Art into our classrooms we empower students to make meaning in the process, to make meaning of their experience. This gives me hope for the future of education.
Dr. Marilyn Narey, author of Making Meaning a book on multi-modal literacy, defines Art and that meaning-making process as one rooted in critical thinking, inquiry, and problem-solving. It is like John Dewy's reflective and scientific approach to learning. We must learn to explore, to search for new connections and outlets for those insights. We must engage in "free play" ourselves as educators if we ever want to share this beautiful process with our students.
"Free play" means that we can connect in to our thought process, to our feelings and arrive at meaning in this lovely process. Awareness is key in all of this, though, but it is a relaxed awareness. Ray Bradbury also keenly discerned that "Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting, or life itself, which is the greatest art of all."
I believe that curriculum specialists, administrators, and policy makers may have missed a simple yet crucial concept here: the value of art in our schools. Students who are empowered want to learn and will always find a teacher. Students who receive positive encouragement in creative environments will never hunker down due to criticism or because they "didn't do something right." Students who learn through the arts in core content areas, such as reading or math will know who they are as individuals and will surely know how to tip themselves over and let all the beautiful stuff out.
Much Peace,
MEGAN
