Creativity Takes time

Creativity Takes Time brings to life the impact time has on one’s creativity. It posits creativity is the result of freedom, playfulness, and fun. This video although only two minutes long implores us to find ways to increase the amount of time students are engaged in creative activities. This allows allows students to explore what Sir Ken Robinson defines as the essence of creativity, “The process of having original ideas that have value.” However, in many schools, time constraints and pressure are constantly put onto student activities. In study upon study, increasing time pressure greatly inhibits the ability students have to be creative and only allows for a narrow range of output often resulting in children producing the same work.

The video brings up some important questions about the learning activities we create for our students.

• How do we create learning communities that allow students to feel comfortable to be creative?
• Are our learning activities cognitively demanding? Do they require students to be creative? Or, does every student end up producing the same thing?
• How can we increase the amount of cognitively demanding activities? What do they look like?
• How can we increase the amount of time allocated to activities that require creative thinking with a schedule that is ‘full’?

Here is a poem I have read to every one of my classes. It’s entitled The Little Boy and emphasizes the importance of allowing for students to be creative individuals. It has a message for all of us.