The Importance of Creativity in Life and Education

“Creativity is as important in education as literacy” – Sir Ken Robinson, Ted talk, Ideas worth spreading, Monterey, California, published Jan 6, 2007

In education, we are preparing students for the unpredictable world of tomorrow, therefore encouraging the natural in born creativity within children is one of the most important duties of every educator. The way we teach plays a crucial role in development of the young minds, through encouraging creative thinking we encourage students to explore multiple perspectives. Instead of just pouring the information we should awake the inborn curiosity and creativity children have.

I have a great passion for teaching art and I am always doing my best level to awake curiosity for learning in children. Children have an inherent ability for creating art. I look at the child's concerns, their creative play and imaginative collections, to make art lessons child-centered. Art is one of the most important ways people tell us how they view the world. What it means to be here in this world, at this place and time, may be explored through the works of artists of all ages. Children's natural aptitude can be lost when art teachers impose only adult-centered concepts and artworks. Art education should initially focus on children's ideas because their experiences must be valued and built upon. In this way, art lessons can be not only successful, but relevant. Art education encourages the ability to value oneself and others, and to approach the world with a desire to learn and understand.

There are three facts about intelligence it is diverse, dynamic and distinct for each individual in order to provide our students with the best possible opportunities to learn we must create such an environment, which is interactive, inquiry - based, creative and dynamic. In such environment instead for waiting for future to come students are one inventing the future they want to see .

Pouring the knowledge without a context rarely would be useful, what gives the significance to the information are values that students gain through the subject. Exploring the contribution of diverse artists to the world community opens children's beliefs and encourages critical thinking and understanding, therefore preparing students to ever- changing life. Art is studied and made for both its expressive power and its possible social meaning. Art is a language of thought which must be accessible to all students, not just the talented few. It is essential for teachers and artists (including student-artists) to work together to explore their own stories and dislodge the

ideologies that sustain the practice of exclusion and marginalization. This can be achieved through critical multicultural art education. The way we teach and how we encourage collaboration among students is of a crucial importance for them to build values such as care, compassion, tolerance and simplicity, which prepare students to be change in the world we want to thrive for and see. Teaching contemporary art and art history and practice is important because, in some way, it is part of everyone's story and survival. Through this information and with natural curiosity for research and discovery, students are able to build upon their own creative endeavours.

As a teacher, I realize that before I teach a subject, I teach who I am - just by the fact of my presence. Therefore, I must be aware of how I think of myself and how I represent myself. I do not wish to be viewed as an art expert, or a person who definitively knows if an artwork is good or significant. Instead, I am a skilled and enthusiastic facilitator to the students' critical thinking and creating.

Through a community of inquiry, students learn to investigate, question, and judge art (including challenging my own ideas). In my class, I want to invite risk-taking in art making and art thinking that questions the status quo and searches for personal or social truths. Ideally, art should be connected to other academic disciplines. With interdisciplinary studies and collaboration between teachers, students can explore the concept of a cohesive community interweaving the arts with literature, history, the environment, and much more.

There is so much to learn. I am excited to continue learning and teaching.