I feel very fortunate to be teaching in a district that is lead by a woman who ends all of her email correspondence with the above Einstein quote. And, in all honesty, the thing that I admire and value most about the quote is the use of the collective pronoun. Furthermore, by closing every email with it, she reminds herself and her recipient that there are indeed problems that need to be fixed, and we will have to be creative if we are to succeed.
This same superintendent keeps abreast of issues in education and recently shared with me an article at npr.org titled "New Reading Standards Aim to Prep Kids for College -- But at What Cost?" The article discusses declining reading scores, the fact that the new Common Core Standards call for 70% of reading curriculum to be focused on expository rather than literary texts, and how some fear this will lead children away from enjoying literature.
This same superintendent keeps abreast of issues in education and recently shared with me an article at npr.org titled "New Reading Standards Aim to Prep Kids for College -- But at What Cost?" The article discusses declining reading scores, the fact that the new Common Core Standards call for 70% of reading curriculum to be focused on expository rather than literary texts, and how some fear this will lead children away from enjoying literature.
"New education standards place more emphasis on nonfiction reading and writing over fiction works. Some say this could lead students away from a passionate engagement with literature."
So I've got to ask. What have we gained by forcing students to read Catcher in the Rye or Lord of the Flies all these years? And can continuing to teach the same novels to the same standards that we did 50 years ago (when many of our contemporary problems were created) do we really expect to solve any problems? I don't think so. I think we'll have to be very creative to solve any problems at all. And for the record, I'm not all that worried about not being able to teach full-length novels. Short stories work just as well and I for one am getting tired of seeing students fail because they couldn't or wouldn't sustain their interest in a longer text. Do I wish they would read and enjoy a novel as much as I? Of course, but what worked for me isn't what will necessarily work for my students and I'm just not arrogant enough to assume that a "passionate engagement with literature" is what will help my students succeed. Deconstructing and gleaning meaning and knowledge from text is critical, so I'm going to provide opportunities for that. I never liked Holden anyway.
And that was really just a long-winded introduction (because I love when multiple sources just sort of converge and knock me on the head!) to my blog entry on whether or not creativity can be taught. I certainly believe we need it, so now what can I do about it?
My honors students hate me. Well, not me exactly, but the way I teach. I'm a PBL practitioner, and I love throwing problems at students for which I know they can find creative solutions. So it's not me they hate, but the situations I create in which they find themselves scrambling for the A-earning "right" answer. I don't blame them. That's what they've been trained to do by an educational system that all too often rewards conformity. In his article titled "Can Creativity be Taught?" August Turak says, "In business we all know we must do a better job at 'getting outside the box' but very few of us do anything about it. We are so locked in to thinking in a linear way that like a Zen novice we fail to notice that innovative breakthroughs emerge from thinking in a non-linear fashion." And I think that's exactly where we've been in the business of education. Pacing guides, standards maps -- they all try to impose a linear progression on teaching and learning. It's all very "boxy" if you ask me. And this produces teachers and students who are afraid to be creative.
John Seely Brown in his keynote address on a new culture of learning argues that "old ideas work against what we need now" and that we need to be able to "participate on the edge of interesting flows." Furthermore, he argues that the business of education needs to focus on creating the new, rather than preserving the old. Hmm...now we're getting somewhere.
PBL provides an extraordinary opportunity for teachers and schools to achieve this. But how do we convince English teachers who are having a hard time considering teaching literature as only 30% of their curriculum to jump on in--the water's fine? You see, when you teach a novel you've taught for the past five, ten, twenty years you think you know all the answers, but when you assign a problem and invite students to be creative in finding solutions...well, that's a little less comfortable. It means that as teachers we need to cultivate not only our own creativity, but we need to be okay with being wrong.
According to Seely, the skills currently being taught in most public schools half a "half-life of five years." If the new reading standards can prep kids for college, what is the cost? I mean, if the Common Core helps better prepare students for a college education, can anybody seriously complain about these same children not reading the so-called great American novel? Maybe, unlike Holden, they'll even go on to help solve some of our most pressing problems. Creativity can be taught. It's risky business only if we let our egos get in our way.
And that was really just a long-winded introduction (because I love when multiple sources just sort of converge and knock me on the head!) to my blog entry on whether or not creativity can be taught. I certainly believe we need it, so now what can I do about it?
My honors students hate me. Well, not me exactly, but the way I teach. I'm a PBL practitioner, and I love throwing problems at students for which I know they can find creative solutions. So it's not me they hate, but the situations I create in which they find themselves scrambling for the A-earning "right" answer. I don't blame them. That's what they've been trained to do by an educational system that all too often rewards conformity. In his article titled "Can Creativity be Taught?" August Turak says, "In business we all know we must do a better job at 'getting outside the box' but very few of us do anything about it. We are so locked in to thinking in a linear way that like a Zen novice we fail to notice that innovative breakthroughs emerge from thinking in a non-linear fashion." And I think that's exactly where we've been in the business of education. Pacing guides, standards maps -- they all try to impose a linear progression on teaching and learning. It's all very "boxy" if you ask me. And this produces teachers and students who are afraid to be creative.
John Seely Brown in his keynote address on a new culture of learning argues that "old ideas work against what we need now" and that we need to be able to "participate on the edge of interesting flows." Furthermore, he argues that the business of education needs to focus on creating the new, rather than preserving the old. Hmm...now we're getting somewhere.
PBL provides an extraordinary opportunity for teachers and schools to achieve this. But how do we convince English teachers who are having a hard time considering teaching literature as only 30% of their curriculum to jump on in--the water's fine? You see, when you teach a novel you've taught for the past five, ten, twenty years you think you know all the answers, but when you assign a problem and invite students to be creative in finding solutions...well, that's a little less comfortable. It means that as teachers we need to cultivate not only our own creativity, but we need to be okay with being wrong.
According to Seely, the skills currently being taught in most public schools half a "half-life of five years." If the new reading standards can prep kids for college, what is the cost? I mean, if the Common Core helps better prepare students for a college education, can anybody seriously complain about these same children not reading the so-called great American novel? Maybe, unlike Holden, they'll even go on to help solve some of our most pressing problems. Creativity can be taught. It's risky business only if we let our egos get in our way.