Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12A

CREATIVITY, CURIOSITY, AND EDUCATION

I am a prospective educator, I desire the absolute best for the entire educational system of the United States.Nevertheless, standardized testing does hinder our students and teachers, to some extent. The main reason why I believe standardize testing is definitely not an asset to education is because Its generally used to compare students test scores to their peers which can be detrimentally discouraging. Secondly, testing of this sort can be bias; therefore, this is an automatic disadvantage for students who are facing poverty situations. Lastly, the stressful pressures that standardized test creates is negative and can be harmful to students' well being. For instance, if a child anticipates that she has a test coming up, she might not be able to sleep because of the anxiety from being so nervous and afraid of FAILURE.Indeed she fails simply because she hasn't had the adequate amount of rest. Naturally,It takes a number of learning experiences to assess a students' true progress. This is why one or two standardized test a year shouldn't dictate whether a student is succeeding, or at risk. Failure is apart of life. It's a simple principal...if you don't fail, then you won't learn! On top of that, being afraid to fail takes away from being creative because you are so overwhelmed with the random thoughts of fear, that it literally steals your entire imagination. In fact, standardized testing has become so redundant that some educators have become obsessed with

"teaching to the test"

because even they have become overwhelmed with the likelihood of their students scoring poorly. All in all, I strongly agree with Leader,Author, Speaker Sir Ken Robinson's methods because he focuses on

"unlocking creativity".

 Sir Ken Robinson stated,

"If you are not prepared to be wrong. You'll never come up with anything original."

Overall, standardized testing is inhibiting schools in the United States because its extremely time consuming, it intimidates students and teachers, and it does not embrace creativity nor curiosity. It is hard to reach and teach a student who has lost his enthusiasm (curiosity). There can be a solution to this problem. We can implement a curriculum that keeps students entertained by learning. The key components would consist of discovering, practicing, and frequent assessments. Curiosity is said to be,

"The fuel of Development"

which is really significant, we don't want to deprive our students from this life long gift that helps us mature into successful hardworking citizens. Teachers have direct influences on students actions. For example, if a teacher is passionate about learning then the students will be.On the Contrary, if a teacher displays signs of apathy towards school, then the students will definitely reflect her behavior. In order to increase the curiosity of our students, we must be curious ourselves. As a teacher, the most important aspect of our career is to step out side of the box and figure out different ways to reach different individuals, successfully. Every individual learns at a different rate, and each person learns with different style(s). For instance, I learn by seeing (visual), hearing (auditory) and doing (kinesthetic). I might have a student who learns like I do, or I could have a student that is completely opposite. Regardless of their particular learning styles, I have to step up to the plate and build their curiosity which will lead to creativity. Hopefully, my fellow co-workers would support my decisions, and possibly adopt the techniques that I have developed to better their students capabilities.