Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Thankful for Creativity

I don't think that as a child I was particularly prone to creativity.  Partly it is just my personality.  Even as a child I felt that there needed to be a purpose to my actions, and so much creativity seems pointless.  The fruits of all this creativity seldom end up on the walls or displayed in any way, and do it felt like a waste of time to me.  The other reason was that I was always afraid that I was dong it wrong.  I felt that I wasn't good at art, and, as a child, I refused to even try things I wasn't good at.  So I spent the better part of childhood avoiding opportunities to be creative.

When I first became a teacher I was stunned by how much my students loved to create.  It didn't matter that most of the work they did ended up in the trash at the end of the day.  It didn't matter that the block castle that they spent hours building had to be torn down before lunch.  Most of the time they saw their creativity for what it was, a process.

So when I had children and for some reason decided to homeschool them, I was prepared for their creativity.  I was prepared for the way they alternate between seriousness and whimsy when creating.  It's rubbing off on me too.  We spent hours yesterday making paper snowflakes, and I enjoyed every bit of it. 

Check out this great video about creativity.

Schools Kill Creativitty

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