Inventiveness

I really enjoyed watching the video clip of Ken Robinson. I really liked his message and the humor he added to it. Something that really stuck out to me was when he said, "Kids will take a chance. . . They're not afraid of being wrong. If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." He also quoted Picasso by saying, "All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up." He explained that kids end up being educated out of their creativity.

I believe this is a very important insight to education. As a student, I loved being creative (and still do). I would have much rather wrote a creative paper than a formal essay any day. One of my favorite classes for creative activity were my computer classes. We did lots of creative projects through photoshop, creating website, making medleys, and making movies. I've also always enjoyed trying to write songs. Now I have the chance to take music classes that have helped me understand the structure of music and therefore helped me learn how to better compose something. Some of our big projects are compositions. The best part of these kinds of projects is when you can look at the end result and say, "I did that. I created that." I think that's a feeling that every student should feel in school.

As a teacher, I need to encourage creativity in my classes. I need to encourage my students that it is ok to be wrong when trying something new. I can remind them that famous inventors did not get their inventions right the first time. It took many attempts, but after each attempt they learned something, and when they finally got it right, the results were amazing. I believe creativity is very important in our future. If no one was creative, there would be nothing new, nothing original. The problems that we face today would come no closer to being solved, because there would be no new creative solutions.

Role Playing

I personally enjoyed the role playing activity we engaged in about the No Child Left Behind Act. I think role playing is an excellent way to get students involved. It forces the student to look at all sides of an issue. For example, if students are forced to argue an opinion or stance that they personally don't agree with, it forces them to think differently. It can either open their mind, or it can re-solidify their own viewpoints. If a student gets to argue their personal viewpoint, it forces them to be prepared against all other arguments with a counter-argument.

Although I prefer this type of hands-on activity rather than direct lecture, I do believe I would have benefited from some background information on the No Child Left Behind Act itself. I do not know the logistics of the Act, but I have a better understanding of the controversy created by it. In regards to emotions, I believe emotional engagement is important in learning. I feel if you are personally, emotionally invested in something, it will be more interesting and you will remember it much more.

Passion

I feel passion is one of the most important elements in teaching. No one is going to want to learn what you're teaching if you're not even interested in it. But if you think what you're teaching is the coolest thing since sliced bread, other people will want to know more about it. As a camp counselor this summer, this basic idea was repeated to me many times. As a counselor, our main job was to be excited and to get the campers excited. Of course, we had to make sure they behaved, get them to the right places at the right time, etc. but all of that was made easier when we exuded passion. Even if it was an activity that we personally weren't crazy about, we were still supposed to be enthusiastic about it in order to give the kids a positive attitude about it. If there was a certain game that counselors didn't like and would sit out of, the campers would notice. But if the counselors were involved in the games, the campers got a lot more into the games. This can relate to teaching, for even if a teacher is passionate about their general subject, there will still be some things that they are less enthusiastic about or dislike. If a teacher openly shows that they don't like something, they are giving their students a negative pre-conceived idea of it.

The first teacher that comes to my mind when I think of passion is my high school band director (who I've mentioned before). He was passionate about everything he did. He believed if you're going to do something, you needed to do it 100% or not at all. His passion for music and students has affected the whole school and even the community. I don't have time to explain all the things he has accomplished, but to sum it up he has taken a mediocre band program and turned it into the best thing our school has to offer. As an '09 graduate from my high school said in her commencement speech (in regards to change), "Band has not always been cool." Band is now actually cool at our school and gives the students something to be proud of.