Wednesday, February 22, 2017

A Creative Future: Exploring how to help students prepare for what may not exist yet.

Creativity and Future Success

Do we know what the career opportunities for students will look like 10, 20 or 30 years from today?
Virtual life problem solving?  
Robot programming?   
Teaching elementary school?  
Leaders in education can’t predict the future but they are incorporating skills students will need to be most successful in any career or life experience.  In his extremely popular TED talk, Sir Kenneth Robinson (2006) asserts, “It’s education that’s meant to take us into this future that we can’t grasp.”  Explicit teaching of 21st Century Skills attempts to prepare students for a future we have yet to imagine. (National Education Association)  One of these key skills, creativity, will allow students to be flexible and adaptive in any setting with any challenge.  Creativity will help students confidently solve new problems, invent new solutions and thrive in all of their future careers and life adventures. 

Application In 4th Grade Math

Our class loves to dive into creative projects and creative problem solving.  At a district professional development training this fall, I was inspired by other teachers to bring more creativity into our morning math lessons.  Over the last few months, my students have been enjoying thinking creativity to solve “Would you rather…?” problems, 3 Act Tasks and “Which one doesn’t belong?” in a set.  (See links below.)  The beauty of these problems is that there are many paths toward a solution.  It is up to the student’s creative thinking to choose where to start and how to best show their thinking.   Innovative solutions, mistakes and failures are both appreciated and celebrated.  Students beg to show their thinking in front of the class and see how many different ways they can creatively defend their work.

Now What?

To start incorporating more creative thinking and problem solving, check out:
Can students creatively solve a problem in two ways?
Three ways? 
A way that no one else has thought of?
Can we (teachers, administrators, students, parents) celebrate creativity every day in every lesson?  
I am going to try.

References

Bourassa, M. (2013). Which One Doesn't Belong? Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://wodb.ca/

Fletcher, G. (2017, February 14). 3-Acts Lessons. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://gfletchy.com/3-act-lessons/

National Education Association. (n.d.). Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf

Robinson, K. (2006, February). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

Stevens, J. (n.d.). Would You Rather...? Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://www.wouldyourathermath.com/

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