TEDtalks: Sir Ken Robinson - Do schools kill creativity?

 

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original."

         In class we watched a presentation by Sir Ken Robinson entitled, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" During this talk, Robinson states that "we are running education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make." He believes that this negative attitude towards taking risks, being creative or being "wrong" is negatively impacting the children in our school systems. He believes that all children have extraordinary capacities for innovation and tremendous talents that we, as educators, squander. When reflecting on this talk, I found myself strongly agreeing with everything highlighted by Robinson. I too believe that the education system as we know it, does not provide students with many opportunities for taking risks or expressing themselves creatively, because it is too concerned with academic status. I agree with Robinson when he states, "we are educating people out of their creative capacities." As future educators, I believe that it is our responsibility to create the best possible learning environment for our students, ensuring that each child has the opportunity to reach their maximum learning potential.  This means that we must nurture our students’ talents and learning styles, whatever they may be.

          Robinson strongly believes that "creativity is as important as literacy" and that the education system must recognize this. Robinson highlights that the hierarchy of subject areas are the same everywhere you go, with Mathematics and Language Arts at the top, the Humanities just below and then the Arts at the very bottom. He believes that we are educated upwards with a focus on the human mind but that this needs to change because there are many "highly talented, brilliant and creative people who think that they are not, because what they were good at school wasn`t valued, but actually stigmatized." From Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligences, we understand that there are many different ways in which individuals can learn and be successful. We must recognize that a learning style that fits the needs of one child, may not fit the needs of another child, and that we must allow children to experience a variety of learning styles that assess all possible intelligences, until they find one that allows them to succeed. Robinson gives an excellent example of this, when he references the story of Gillian Lynne. As a young girl, Gillian did not thrive academically in a traditional classroom setting and was considered to be disruptive because of her inability to sit still class. However, once somebody recognized that she "needed to move in order to think," she was introduced to the world of dance and went on to have a successful career as a dancer and choreographer.   

          Something that struck me as interesting when watching this presentation was when Robinson made the comment that children who are going to school this year will be retiring in 1965 and that nobody knows what the world will be like in five years, yet we are supposed to be educating them for their futures. This was something that I never really thought about until now. Education is constantly shifting and evolving and we as educators are responsible for preparing students for their futures, whatever they may be. It is troubling to know that what we teach our students now may have no relevance to life in the future. However, as educators we must stay positive and always keep an open mind. We must be flexible and willing to adapt our teaching styles at all times, in order to create the best possible learning experiences for our children, giving them their best shot at having a bright future. We must not inhibit our students’ talents and creativity, but rather encourage them if we want to produce a successful generation.

         While watching and reflecting on this presentation, I thought about ways in which it could be connected to teaching children mathematics. Mathematics is a subject area that holds a lot of prestige in the school system. Children often come to math class feeling as if they are failures because they believe mathematics to be a subject area in which there is only one answer and if you don’t have it, you are unintelligent. Since many mathematical problems often do only have one answer, teachers must emphasize different ways in which students can reach that answer and allow them to be creative in the strategies that they choose, rather than simply saying yes, you are right or no, you are wrong Teachers must make the effort to give students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and must consider the different learning styles and intelligences that each child brings to the math class and ways in which they can be utilized. I am excited to learn how to approach teaching mathematics at the primary and elementary levels through this course and hope to learn more about the ways in which I can encourage creativity and risk taking in my future classroom in terms of mathematics.

“We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children."

My Math Autobiography

 

 

 

          Throughout my schooling, I have had significantly different experiences with mathematics, some positive and some negative. As a primary and elementary student I enjoyed math class, primarily because I always had encouraging teachers who stressed not only the importance of learning mathematics but also the importance of having fun while doing so. I remember working in groups in order to complete simple word problems or to share manipulatives. I looked forward to math class because of its interactive nature, something I did not really experience in other subject areas. I remember using a variety of materials at both the primary and the elementary levels such as, rulers, protractors, meter sticks, flashcards and place value blocks. There were often mathematical themed posters on the walls of my classrooms, displaying different mathematic symbols or various mathematical problems. The majority of my math classes would consist of completing math problems from a math booklet, either independently or as a group. These math activities usually consisted of addition and subtraction equations, multiplication problems and word problems. In terms of assessment, I remember having to complete worksheets which were collected and marked by our teachers and then placed in a portfolio, having to complete problems at home and then participating in a homework check and completing unit quizzes which would be graded.

         As I progressed from Kindergarten to Grade 6, I became more and more confident in my mathematical abilities and this positive attitude was definitely shaped by a number of dedicated and supportive teachers. It was clear that my teachers wanted my classmates and I to succeed with mathematics and that it was a subject area that they believed to be valuable. Rather than simply handing out worksheets and asking us to complete them quietly as they sat at their desks, the majority of my teachers would circulate the classroom as we worked, providing additional instructions and praise. To be honest, math and language arts are the only two subject areas that I can clearly remember, probably because they were always given the most emphasis at my school. The constant encouragement and the positive feedback that I was given throughout primary and elementary school is what I would consider to be my overall favourite memory surrounding mathematics, in other words feeling as though I was 'good' at mathematics. I did not have any 'bad' experiences with math in primary and elementary and I believe that is why I had a positive attitude towards math in general.

          However, when I got to junior high, my attitude towards mathematics changed drastically. Since I was a Late French Immersion student, my math course in grade seven was taught in French which really threw me off course. From grade seven to grade nine I struggled with mathematics and found my teachers to be more dismissive and less encouraging. By the time I reached high school, I was ready to give up on math because I no longer thought of myself as a 'good' math student. However, it was in high school that my experiences with math became positive again. I had amazing teachers who did everything in their power to prepare my classmates and I for university level math, to change our negative views of math that had developed in junior high and to make math class an enjoyable learning experience once again. They held math tutorials every day after school and provided information classes on graphing calculators and smart boards. I believe that my positive experiences in primary and elementary, as well as in high school are why I like and value mathematics today.

           In university, I decided to take Math 1090 and 1000. Although, I found these courses to be much more difficult than my high school math courses, I felt prepared for them. I visited the Math Help Center often while I was taking both courses and found it to be extremely helpful and encouraging. Overall, I enjoyed math at Memorial and feel as though I learned a lot from both courses. However, I did not choose to do any math electives once I had my two required math courses completed.

           I do not feel as though I engage with mathematics in any major way in my life, but I do use it occasionally such as when I'm dealing with money, calculating grades or measuring something. However, as a future teacher, I know I will be using math on a daily basis and I feel prepared to do so. Overall, my experiences with math, the good and the bad, have taught me to always have a positive attitude and an open mind towards mathematics, and this is something I hope to instill in my future students, in order to assist them in reaching their maximum learning potentials.  

 

Welcome to Emily's Math Blog!

This blog will be used to highlight and reflect on a variety of topics concerning Primary/Elementary Mathematics. It will also be used to communicate with other aspiring Primary/Elementary teachers.

This blog has been created for an Education course that I am currently enrolled in at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Education 3940: Mathematics in Primary and Elementary Grades.