Run...don't walk to read the Newsweek article on creativity

Wow...talk about a "knock your socks off article".

I hereby assign as required reading, the feature article in the July 19, 2010, issue of Newsweek, "Creativity in America—The Science of Innovation and How to Reignite Our Imaginations,"  for every educator, parent, taxpayer, policymaker in the U.S...ok, for everyone. No excuses and no exceptions. While that is the cover title, the actual article inside is called  "The Creativity Crisis."

While we've been concentrating on leaving no child behind and racing to the top (talk about a mixed and confusing set of analogies) the rest of the world is headed in the opposite direction. The article traces the decline of creativity according to a number of measures, even as IQ has increased. The decline in creativity is specifically linked to our current educational practices...and the section of the article about what we can do to increase creative thought is a useful set of suggestions for teachers.

The kicker of the article is a quote from Jonathan Plucker (a former UMaine colleague and now a professor at Indiana University) who recently toured schools in China and was asked to identify trends in American education. When he described our focus on "standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing"..."the Chinese educators just started laughing out loud, " Plucker says. "They said, "You're racing toward our old model. But we're racing toward your model, as fast as we can."

The middle school model we have studied for the last four weeks is the model of learning and teaching we want....and more importantly, what our young adolescents need.

For the Newsweek article...
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

See also...
http://www.danpink.com/

Where are we headed?

Some thoughts on the status of middle level education...have we made any progress in the last 30 years or so? We still have two many people who do not understand what the middle school concept is about. Stereotypes about middle level schools still seem to center on the same worn arguments that have no basis in fact (nor supported by research)...middle schools as not rigorous enough or academically stringent. Lack of well-prepared teachers because in too many states we continue to prepare teachers for elementary and high schools but assume that hybirds are "good enough" for middle level schools. And where does leadership enter into the picture? And technology as an integrated part of the curriculum? And why are high schools now encouraged to make the same improvements that middle schools have been advocating for 40 years...but middle schools are under fire for promoting teaming, integrated curriculum, adult advocates, exploratory learning, and more?