Creativity

Week 2 Reflective Entry

Creativity is not a ‘skill’, but a human quality that we keep working at as we journey through our lives (Doust, 2019)

Thinking on this comment sent me back to a Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson called Do schools kill creativity?. I have two young daughters that are now in school, Sarah 6 and Hannah 4. While in her first couple of years I was fascinated that Sarah would come home every day with a new creation. A collection of boxes taped and glued together with added glitter. ( I despise glitter and this is banned in our house for reasons I will happily discuss at a later date.) But these creations would come each day and I would wait in anticipation for Sarah to tell me what it is, a princess classroom, a horse rocket ship, and a refillable ice cream cone, to recall but a few.

Sarah is now in year 2 and no longer brings home such creations but Hannah now in Reception has just started. I fully appreciate this and wait in truthful anticipation for what she has created. However, I am also sad in the realisation that Sarah no longer gets that type of creative and imaginative opportunity. Or should I say, it has been massively reduced to an hour a week.

When I started my task at the start of the week everything that I read, watched, and listened to during that time was all very familiar, all things that I ask others to do daily, even explaining how it works and how to get started and yet I genuinely felt at a loss. A block. I looked over every decision and idea on what I wanted to do and immediately crisitsed or judged the idea which later would go in the trash. Why should this task be so difficult? Sir Ken Robinson (Ted 2007) suggests We grow up, and we are taught our way out of creativity only then to be retaught it again, and I think I agree with this. We are taken away from imaginations and we theorize the creative process and lose the natural ability to be creative and solve problems.

The tools and processes that we are taught are just part of what enables our creativity and helps us to use it in generating solutions. But the hardest part is making the first step and letting go of expectations, failure is part of the process and is often misunderstood as a negative outcome yet mistakes make way for solutions and new ideas. Part of what I found during this week was that I need to let go of my current frame of mind. I am so used to teaching up to a point of creativity and then let go to allow others to continue that I very rarely get to see through on my creation. When I look at all the processes such as the mind mapping and mash-up techniques that I used in my challenge task this week I understand how they work and when to use them but doing this for myself almost feels alien. I look forward to actually creating work, my own work, and seeing through but i think i just need to find that natural creativity and imagination without the constant worry that it must work.

Doust, T., 2019. Imagination = Creativity - Imagination Matters. [online] Imagination Matters. Available at: <https://www.imaginationmatters.org/index.php/2019/09/20/imagination-creativity/> [Accessed 3 October 2020].

Ted, 2007. Do Schools Kill Creativity?. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&t=394s> [Accessed 3 October 2020].