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NYT > Education- Chicago News Cooperative: To Pay for Longer School Days, Some Parents Try Raising Money
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August 1, 2008 at 3:53 am
I agree with what that dude said about intelligence being distinctive and dynamic. Every student is intelligent. Some are intelligent in a wide variety of subjects and concepts, and others may excel in certain specific areas. Teachers are capable of helping students improve in areas where they are not naturally inclined, and give them access and guidance to avenues in which they can express their full potential.
August 1, 2008 at 3:58 am
I loved this!!!! I have danced and did gymnastics since 1st grade and I remember begging to take dance lessons even before then. My mom was very tollarant of my flips on the couch, swinging on the kirtchen counters, and so forth. In school I checked out early as not academic or smart. THANKFULLY i was enrolled in a dance studio and that is where I lived and breathed. I can think when there is rhythem. I hear it in every avenue of life. I grew up thinking I was “weird”. He is right, creativity is very under rated. I want to be an elementary teacher because it is still an age where I can encourage the arts in classroom activities. With my own young children I let them “run wild with creativity”. My son is always rummaging for supplies for his creations i the garbage, my kitchen, etc . . . he doesn’t build the lego creation on the lego box . . . he used the parts to build his robot that carries his water cup to his bed. He wants to invent a static electricity collector so all houses can regenerate their own power for free. I don’t think he is a genious . . . he has just been free to “invent” and dream all his life. My daughter is like me; moving always. Her teachers get frustrated with her. But she is smart as a tack – just always moving. I worry that she will experience what I did in school. So I enrolled her in gymnastics and she has found her nitch. She is good at it. I wish schools could teach dance and art more. He is right we need that for the future.
August 1, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I completely agree with what Sir Ken Robinson identified about educating suppressing creativity. In discussions with other teachers about students, I often hear that a student is very intelligent/creative but just doesn’t have the discipline to do well in school. Also, I know that many of my most successful friends are those who weren’t able to ’succeed’ in school. This is disappointing to see: that our education system isn’t providing a source to foster their success/intelligence/creativity.
This idea goes along with what he was saying about education training individuals to become professors. How limiting of a world we would be apart of if everyone was so cognitively inclined! In my own teaching, I must catch myself when I am falling into the trap of stressing to0 much on academic success. With the way education is constructed, as Robinson identified, it is easy to be teaching towards the ‘industrial’ world. Yet, by doing this we aren’t fostering growth, nor educating for the future.
The lady who was eventually placed in the school of dance was lucky to have someone influence her in that way. I hope that I can grow in my ability to see the creative minds of my students and help them to invest in their passions.
August 3, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I really enjoyed this video. Not only was an important message conveyed, but it was communicated in a fun and relatable way. Sir Ken Robinson was quite accurate in his message about embracing different types of intelligence. As teachers we must encourage creative thinking to solve today and tomorrow’s complex problems. I hope that I can live up to this expectation, because I know at times there will be students who will challenge me. It will be during these times I will need to revaluate my teaching practice so that my classroom and curriculum will allow for all students’ creative voice to be heard.
August 3, 2008 at 5:54 pm
This video gave me a few things to think about. I liked Robinson’s point about the idea that we don’t know the path that technology is going to take in the future (it’s all very unpredictable). Along with this, children are creatuive and resourcful, yet these traits are being squandered in education. Interestingly enough though, these are some of the traits required to be able to successfully keep up with a technologically changing world.
Along with this was the idea that kids are not afraid to take chances or of being wrong. They can therefore come up with original ideas. If being “wrong” continues to be stigmitized, then where will our original ideas come from in the future as adults go into the work force?
August 6, 2008 at 4:56 am
I never want stifle a students creative side or stand by and watch someone else do it. I listened and wondered how many more students would blossom if we saw there “strange” behaviors for something other than a distraction. The guy had a incrediable nak to mix humor with a very important topic. If the humor wasn’t there I don’t think it would have the same impression. I am really interested in watching more of TED. I had never heard of it and I think if the first speaker I got to watch was that good there must be more out there I need to watch. Now to find the time to do that. We will add that to the growing list of things to do in the 2 weeks we are not in school! Thanks for a great class. I wish we would have had longer to work on thing. Sat class really doesn’t seem to be the best option for Tech class. You did great though. Suzi
August 6, 2008 at 5:49 am
What I liked the most was his use of humor during the lecture and how I think that it relates to myself throughout my schooling. I do not believe that the way education is set up today is built for the way I learn and for the ways that I am intelligent. I agree with his idea of letting students being more creative in there thinking. He said that intelligence is diverse students think visually, in abstract, in movement, etc.. so we need to be more flexiable with teaching.
August 8, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I just viewed the video again. I am sure I will review it several times in the near future.
I was struck by Robinson’s comments on creativity. In a past video class with 8th grade students I found myself talking with individual students and encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone. I have also found myself saying that it is important for math students to feel safe enough to risk in order to learn. I think Robinson is right on the mark to say that we need to encourage students to be creative.
We need students of today to solve problems that we do not even know exist. In order to do so they must be able to come up with creative solutions. As educators we so need to nurture creativity and imagination, not test it out of students.
August 10, 2008 at 2:34 am
In my current teaching position, I have a classroom full of art students. So I have the reverse of the problem that he presents: I have to sell math to people who know the importance of art, which has given me sympathy with those trying to promote art programs in the schools.
I agree with his comments that we are harming our students by excluding art from the schools. As in the example of the dancer that he gave, some people think through motion, so we hurt even our reading and math classes by eliminating opportunities for those students to succeed as we require that students sit motionless all day.
August 11, 2008 at 4:02 am
Ken talked about technology. talk about the future all of the time yet we have no idea what it is going to be like. We learned that the technology changes so quickly. How are we supposed to know what it will be like for our children and even grandchildren in the future?
Ken talked about mistakes and how now we teach kids that mistakes are bad. I think that might not be the best thing to do. We learn by mistakes. That is how we evaluate things and grow and try and learn from what we have done, or what others have done.
Ken also talked about creativity and how we teach kids out of creativity. I agree with this. I think older teachers get sort of stuck in their ways and find one thing that works and sticks with it. As new teachers, we need to remember that no 2 kids are really alike. We have to teach to all different intelligences and teach kids to be creative, especially in an environment that is so structured like school. I think it is important for kids to have the choice to be creative. As a teacher I think you will receive better work and it gives the students more freedom so they will be happier.