Unfortunately,
with increasing pressure for students to perform well on standardized assessments, and with Kentucky’s abolishment of writing portfolios as part of the assessment
and accountability system, writing is often demoted to worksheets, quizzes on
the computer during writing time, practice for the state’s On-Demand Writing
assessment, contrived personal narratives, and writing sentences for each
spelling word.
Experiences
for our children can be much more than this though, if we are thoughtful with
our approaches and we continue to use our voices to emphasize the importance of
creativity in education. At the 2012
National Council for Teachers of English Annual Convention, I had the joy of
hearing Sir Ken Robinson speak on the importance of creativity. He went as far to say “creativity is as
important as literacy.” I believe this
statement and think we should use our voices as parents and as educators to
remind our community members and policymakers that we need to promote
creativity by letting students study and explore topics that interest them. We need to allow more time for creating,
performing, dreaming, and thinking.
Thankfully,
Isaac has a teacher this year who is interested in helping students develop as
better writers and thinkers. It’s a hard
job as a public school teacher, and I speak from experience, but I also know the
importance of encouraging students to write about topics which interest them. To encourage this interest, I recently arranged
for Isaac’s class to Skype with a nine year old author (Eva) from Bismarck,
North Dakota.
Below is a
video clip from Isaac’s experience Skyping with Eva.
In the interest of my personal blog showing only my own child and Eva, the
video has been edited. We enter the
video after Eva asked the class if there were any writers, artists, or dancers
in the class. (Side note--I love her
focus on the arts as a whole—fits perfectly with promoting the importance of
kids performing, creating, and dreaming) Isaac is answering her question by describing
the way he creates stories with his Lego characters. Eva confidently affirms his approach to
writing and proceeds to answer questions from Isaac and his classmates.
It’s my hope
that creative experiences such as this will become more a regular part of all classes,
not just for my own children but for all children. Eva's mom, Gwyn Ridenhour, has this same hope, and she uses her expertise and experience to promote more creative opportunities for children in North Dakota. By collaborating with others, listening to children, and using our voices, our hope will be realized.
