"Creatively Speaking on the Power of the Imaginative Mind

What is divergent thinking? Divergent thinking is not the same as creativity. Divergent thinking is the fundamental part of the creative process. Being non-creative is simply in a sense that you do not know how to be creative. During this video Sir Ken Robinson had mentioned a project called "Break Point and Beyond," which was a study about divergent thinking. It had been said that throughout this study that the capacity to see connections is to see more than more one answer to a problem. This study was longitudinal throughout the whole process because they retested subjects to see if anything had changed over a span of 10+ years. In order to score high on the test the divergent thinking of 3 – 5 years old is 98%. In three years they retested individuals to see whether or not their thinking will increase or decline and it had declined to 32%. In five more years they retested again when individuals were between the ages of 13 - 15 and found out that it declined again to 18%. Due to this research it had been stated that divergent thinking declines because once students enter the age level for school and they become educated there is only one answer when solving problems. There are several capacities in which divergent thinking can be maintained with the right conditions: 1. Standardized tests, 2. Narrowing curriculum, and 3. STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. There are other disciplines that benefit most from a broad based approach to education. Linking across the curriculum is a good way when trying to make connections between different ways of thinking.

"Do Schools Kill Creativity?"

Sir Ken states, "Creativity is as important as literacy in education, and we should treat it with the same status." Do you agree, disagree or fall somewhere in between? Explain.

I do agree with Sir Ken because I believe that students creativity should be on a similar rank as literacy. Literacy is stressed a lot within schools so that students are able to understand and process what is presented before them. I think that creativity should be stressed also because without being able to have the ability to be creative students skills are unknown. I think that if we take the time to see how creative a student is and in what way, we then are able to use their creative skills to strengthen other areas, such as various academic subjects, in which they may be weaker. I feel that creativity and literacy can go hand-in-hand because students can illustrate pictures and then you can have them write about it. I think that if there isn't a strain on the flexibility of creativity, then students may want to write a lot about their illustrations. Once the student has written about their picture you can then take that particular creative moment and turn it into a learning experience. If you make mention of a couple of grammatical or spelling errors to the student, I feel that the next time the student will want to spend more time trying to give their best on the literacy part because they are so proud of what they have created. I feel that if we spend less time on trying to conquer things as a big picture, such as literacy, and try to reinforce things as a little picture it will be even more effective. Students feel stressed when concepts are introduced at them, but if we as teachers take the time to include creative, yet fun as well as educational activities students will become interested to the subject because it allows them to have a "little freedom."

Blog Post 1

The first blog I looked at was Kindergarten Tales. It is used in concert with the classroom by telling everyone what they kindergarten class is doing each day in the classroom. The audience for this blog is parents, students, and teachers. It allows for the parents to see what is going on in the classroom, it can be used for students to share with other people what they did that day, and it can give other teachers ideas. The purpose of the blog is to let other people know what is going on in their classroom. The author’s purpose was to use interesting ways of using technology in the classroom for early learners. This blog is still being used, as a matter a fact they just updated it today! This tool could have amazing potential in and out of the classroom. I feel like for it to work in the classroom it would have to be used in the older grades though. Outside of the classroom this tool lets everyone be involved in the classroom even if they are not there.

The Second blog I looked at was Our Class Blog by Carlene Gauley. It is used in concert with the class by letting the children make their own blog postings. The audience is students, teachers, and parents. The purpose of the blog is to let people know what is going on in their part of the world in their classroom. As far as I can tell it is still being used the teacher last posted on 10/28/2008. I do feel like this one could also be a good tool in the classroom. It showed that early students can use it in the classroom. And it could also be used outside the classroom by letting parents know what is going on and it could be a good communication tool.

The Third blog i looked at was Mrs. Gilberts 3rd grade blog. It was used in concert with the class by the teacher updating the class with information. The audience is the students. The purpose is to communicate with the students. The blog hasn't been updated since June of 2008. i felt like it could be used as a good tool if it was updated more. It was used outside of the classroom because it was used over the summer. Overall it is a good toolto use.

Gretta's Blog

Mrs. Gilbert's 3rd grade-Vacation

describe how each blog was used in concert with the classroom? This blog gave students the opportunity to list what they were doing on their summer vacation, and they could come back and talk about it in the classroom.
who is the audience for the blog is (students, parents, etc)? The audience is the teacher and the students
what was the purpose of the blog? The purpose of this blog was for all the students to keep in touch with each other over the summer break. Each student would let the teacher as well as other students know what they were doing for their summer vacation.
does it appear that this blog is still being used, or was it a sort of "passing fancy" for its creator that is no longer in use? I think that this blog only had one purpose, because the teacher gave the students different assignments and deadlines to post about their summer vacation. After they talked about their summer vacation, then there really was not a need to keep posting blogs.
what do you think about this tool? Does this tool (the blog) have potential in or even out of the classroom? Why or why not? I think that this tool was interesting for the students. It allows them to keep in touch with each other outside the classroom.


Miss Jensen's Class Blog-1st graders


describe how each blog was used in concert with the classroom? This blog was used in the classroom to collaborately come up with a class blog of what the students did each week.
who is the audience for the blog is (students, parents, etc)? Teacher, parents, and students
what was the purpose of the blog? The purpose of this blog was for students to inform parents and others what they did in school each week.
does it appear that this blog is still being used, or was it a sort of "passing fancy" for its creator that is no longer in use? I think that this blog can still be used because the students can post a new blog each week or day about the activities that took place in the classroom.
what do you think about this tool? Does this tool (the blog) have potential in or even out of the classroom? Why or why not? I think that this particular blog was a good way to keep the parents informed on what the children do in the classroom on a day to day basis. So its effective outside the classroom.