creativity Archives - Page 2 of 2

Last night at dinner we experienced another milestone marker with H boy. Like every good restaurant, Smoky Bones provides kids with menus and crayons so to pacify them for a whole 8.2 seconds. As soon as we doled out the goods, H & M got to work decorating the placemats. For Miss M, that means massive large scribbles. As I looked at H Boy’s, I noticed he’d colored in one of the shapes. In alternating blue and yellow stripes.

Thanks to a lack of visually creative mother, my kids have been afforded a large number of crayons and blank paper, but very little actual direction when it comes to the fine arts. (*We also have glue and scissors. And pipe cleaners. Which I have no idea what to do with, but I thought Pinterest would tell me to buy them). For my only crowd pleaser, I traced my hand. Fanfare, I tell you. We’ve traced hands for nearly a year.

So when H Boy randomly broke out coloring inside the lines with a striping scheme of rhythmic nature, I asked JJ, “where did he learn that?” Our only guess is our fancy-dancy preschool, with a focus on nature and arts. It clearly wasn’t us.

Not my child. Or picture. Thanks, Stock Xchange!

The irony of it all lies in the fact that I’ve been enamored with pro-creativity reading (currently: The Element); I took the “color outside the lines” pill and swallowed it whole. But when H Boy showed capacity for actually coloring in the lines, I did an inner dance of joy. No longer did he seek just to make a swirl of color, happy just to watch the as the wax found its way to the paper in the same way his hand moved.

I stand behind my inspirations to foster my children’s creativity by exploring interests and giving freedom. But as H Boy colored inside the lines, I learned that he needs more than freedom. He needs tools. My art teacher friends might say that I need to be exposing him to things like line and texture and color (in a simplistic form. Come on, he’s only 3) as a way of teaching him how to begin a composition. Tossing him a bunch of supplies and saying “have at it!” will likely yield the mess we all think it will. (Note: it does.)

I’m learning from the professionals. A good teacher follows the lead of a student’s interests while helping to prop up his arm while they get a good grip. Learning isn’t completely hands-off; creativity isn’t the result of happenstance, but continued exposure to looking at the world from different angles.

A good teacher isn’t afraid of a little mess en route to a discovery. But she also doesn’t hesitate to share some “best practices”such as, this is how we keep from dripping paint across your picture. Things don’t need to be right or wrong for them to be good.

The evening provided me a teaching moment. Structure and instruction can lead to creativity. While there’s no need to introduce him to “that’s wrong” or “not like that” (the world will do that soon enough, yes?), we can offer “you could try” and “watch me for an idea.” Creativity needs more than just opportunity. It needs inspiration.

If I lived in the Ridgemont school district, I would undoubtedly vote yes on the levy for the new building. I’ve had my reservations before (more observations, than anything) in regards to schools needing new buildings, but every time I return to Tom-from-the-Suit-Store’s comment that he “will never vote no on education.” Our educational system obviously has many flaws, but holding back from the kids will not provide solutions. Instead, we need to invest more into providing opportunities for young people to become innovative creators and contributors to society (ahem, enter the ARTS).

Not to mention, this was posted on FB today:

This is the “classroom” for the early intervention specialist at the high school. Well, his morning room. In the afternoon he gets the music room (which I’m sure is filled with all the supplies he needs… like, tables?). As the parent of children who possibly could be involved with intervention services, I don’t really like the looks of this.

*Slightly unrelated but parallel side story: this classroom belongs to a classmate of mine. He returned to the district and chose to invest his time and energies into his hometown. He’s among many other “lifers” at Ridgemont, who tend to be some of the most effective, highly impacting teachers. At least, in my experience (like Burrey, Ealy and France for myself and I’ve heard Robinson, Galyk, Stuck, Craig-Stuck and Craig-Thompson are strong supporting examples.) I can see this has its own separate post brewing.

That being said – Vote Yes! – if I were in the district, I would like a Yes, And. Yes, let’s build a new building with the resources teachers and students need. And with the old buildings, we can [insert ideas to grow and benefit the supportive community]. Let’s employ those creative, resourceful juices. I’ve been very into “repurposing” lately and what an opportunity ahead of us. Of course, it’s more costly to repair the building to fit to a code on par with educational standards. But could the building efficiently be repaired to the point of housing other entities? (Honest, not accusatory question here). I know of old schools converted into retreat centers (Lewistown/Indian Lake), hospitals turned office space supplemental educational areas (Troy) and a deserted mall turned into a church (Mars Hill, Grand Rapids, MI). What could we do with these resources that could benefit the district and county? Job training center? Rehabilitation services (because there are Drugs Bring Death signs everywhere in the county)? Perhaps there’s a way we can utilize our space, physical resources, bring jobs and support and encourage the people who have helped fund it.

I know…. all those ideas involve money, which typically translates into taxes, which is yet another reason people might vote no. So let’s do more creative thinking, eh? We have a fantastic university within our county limits – how could it be put into play? And these are questions that are likely beyond Ridgemont administrators and BOE (so don’t hold it against them in your vote). But that’s where it’s great to be a part of a small community. Folks know folks and have good hearts and desire to see their homeland grow and develop and provide. Business owners and investors exist in our midst, especially for the next brilliant idea. Yes, And isn’t another challenge for Ridgemont administrators, it’s call for community leaders to rise up and contribute. And let’s do it with as few committee meetings as possible. Those tend to squelch things.

A new building will aid in the development and education of the district’s young people. So will showing them what it means to employ creative thinking in business and opportunity development. Let’s show them how to look around them and say, “now, what can I do with this?”

Category: creativity (Page 2 of 2)

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