The chapter on the creating mind had the most impact on my thinking. I've never really thought of myself as especially creative. My mom and sister have that gene. I look at Amber's blog and so many of the things she does and I see creativity. I'm completely impressed, but dismiss the idea for myself, because I'm not that creative. After reading Gardner's Five Minds for the Future, I can see creativity in a different frame. It's not just shown through art. It's "the challenge to the educator to keep alive the mind and the sensibility of the young child." Now I understand that the creating mind can be active, and in fact, should be active in all disciplines. It's allowing the mind to be in disequilibrium about "current work, current standards, current questions, current answers." And, the even better news is that it can be developed, or sadly, squelched.
There are so many quotes I love in this chapter. "Pablo Picasso famously declared, 'I use to draw like Raphael; it has taken me my whole life to learn to draw like a child.'" "Isaac Newton reflected, 'To myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.'" "Indeed, the acid test for creativity is simply stated: has the domain in which you operate been significantly altered by your contribution?" "Teachers ought to illustrate the several ways in which a particular math problem can properly be solved or a literary passage can be interpreted; ...Such multiple representations are grist for new ways of thinking about an entity, problem, or question: they catalyze creative questions and spawn creative solutions. How much more likely is the ten-year-old to make money in her neighborhood if she thinks about a variety of needs, products, and modes of exchange." These are just a few of the quotes I connected with.
Finally, I was also challenged to be committed to not only creativity, but also discipline as I proceed with the research process of a dissertation. The example of Pons and Fleischmann was a disappointing story of loss of respect, humility, and conscience.
It is so liberating to discover that creativity is more than the beautiful presentations we see (and hear) in art, music, dance. Our own work with children is no less a symphony or a canvass on which we paint the future. How exhilirating and gratifying--and humbling.
ReplyDeleteDonna,
ReplyDeleteYou deciphered so many good points in Gardner's work. I can appreciate Gardner because he finds value in right brain thinking but seems to be able to take it a step further than Pink and integrate right brain thinking with the necessity of left brain thinking. The creating mind works in conjunction with the synthesizing mind, the disciplined mind, the ethical mind, and the respectful mind; it does not overshadow them.
Being creative in the classroom is both a challenge and a joy. I remember fretting for days over how I could most creatively present a difficult lesson so that I could spark interest in my class's eyes and not dread! I also know now as a principal I fret for days over how can I properly teach creativity to my teachers who put little to know creativity into their teaching. I haven't figured it out yet! Giving my teacher wide freedom in their classrooms I believe is the start and then it's purely encouragement. It goes the same with students doesn't it?! Thanks for your insight!!
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