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Lesson Plans


Re: creativity

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
jayna ledbetter (jl15452)
Thu, 19 Feb 1998 14:54:18 -0500 (EST)

Your comments struck me as being quite observant- good points. I am an
art education student, and I felt that high school students would be more
serious in their work and more open to what art is all about. Your
comments helped me to consider how teaching art can limit creativity if we
are not careful.

On Thu, 19 Feb 1998 JConley957 wrote:

> I personally don't believe that we teach people to be creative. Quite the
> opposite, I believe that we teach people to be UN-creative! I'm a high school
> art teacher and for several years, I've gone (at the request of elementary
> teachers) to draw for elementary students and teach a few drawing lessons at
> that age level during my planning period. (We have no art educators in our 5
> elementary schools.)
>
> What I've observed, from the unique viewpoint of being in an elementary
> classroom, then going back to my HS kids, is that the younger a child is, the
> more freely they "create". I'm always amazed at how easily that young
> children afford their imagination to enter their world compaired to the
> restraints that they place on their minds by the time they're 17 or 18.
>
> My High School students look at me in fear everytime I start a lesson with "I
> want you to create....." Some of the aspects of the old Pink Floyd song "The
> Wall" are right on target.
>
> That's why ART, MUSIC & DRAMA should be required, not optional, for ALL
> students at every grade level. As the only species that "creates", I believe
> that Arts education is just as "Basic" as math, english, science and history.
> Art is, after all, the true signature of a civilization.
>
> I'll climb off my soapbox now, thanks for listening.
>
> Jay Conley
> Brighton High School
> Brighton, Colorado
>