Inventiveness

In my high school experience, creativity and imagination was not really a part of the curriculum.  Most of my classes were your typical lecture or discussion based group over a book we were supposed to read.  Why wasn't creativity a part of my experience?  Maybe the teachers weren't creative, or maybe they didn't know how to teach it.  I think creativity is an important skill, even though it is really not abundant in today's society.  As a result, as teachers, I think we need to work on our creativity so we can use it in our lesson plans as we educate the youth of today.

If creativity and imagination is important, then the question arises about how teachers should encourage, teach and reward creative thinking.  I agree with The Third Teacher and its explanations regarding inventive thinking.  So much of today's education is content based and is fact recited by fact in every class.  To teach creativity, we need to stop trying to form careers, and start forming minds.  It's easier said than done, but I think we should come up with ideas in classes to make the students think outside of the box and use their creativity and imagination to complete assignments and daily activities.  We need to encourage students to go outside their comfort zone and go above and beyond.  If students are only completing activities in their comfort zone, they are not going to be creative.  If we ask more of them and go beyond the recital of facts, the students are bound to use the imagination and creativity they had when they were just a little kid.

The rewarding process could be tough as a teacher when it comes to using inventiveness in our schools, but I think it is very possible.  As a teacher, if you see a student trying hard on an assignment to go outside his/her comfort zone, I think that should earn praise, even if it isn't the greatest work.  If you take off points, the student might stop thinking creatively and go back to reciting facts in every assignment.  A student needs to be praised and rewarded when they use imagination and creativity because if the student hears positive feedback, they are going to continue along the same road of inventive thinking, something schools need to strive toward in today's society.

As I mentioned earlier, I think creativity is a crucial skill to have in the 21st Century.  Right now, you see so many businesses and careers in the world that use no creativity at all.  The workforce is getting older in the United States, and the baby boomers from the 1950's are starting to retire, thus it is time to get inventiveness back in gear.  As we get deeper into the 21st Century, younger employees are going to be scattered across the country, and to be successful, I think they need to be inventive thinkers instead of being narrow sighted.  Creativity can drive a society in a positive direction if it is used correctly, thus it is vitally important to teach and encourage inventive thinking in today's schools.