Gallowitch1 Austin Gallowitch Megan Keaton English 122-15 4 April 2013 Brinkman, David, J.

Teaching Creatively and Teaching for Creativity 2010: 48. Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Web. 21 march 2013 In this article Brinkman shares his personal view point of creativity in musical education. He also explains the importance that inspiration plays in a students life in preparing them to approach their jobs or study with it in mind. He provides examples of college curricula in ways to encourage originality for music education students. For example, some of the activities that he listed are improvisation and composition classes, also instrumentation and arranging. He continues to go in depth and define what creativity is and how it should be used within the musical education system. Brinkman explains how and why some instructors fail to teach their students to be original. He also talks about the best ways to incorporate creative teaching methods and ideas into their curriculum. Brinkman suggested that To encourage creativity in students, the teacher must get them involved in solving the problem. This goes to explain that teachers need to get their students to think imaginatively by using the three main skills that he defined which are: expertise, motivation and creative thinking skills. Brinkman expresses his view on creativity from firsthand experience. He knows of other instructors that he criticizes in this article that he believes are not being original enough for their students. Teaching others to become more creative is a step that many teachers do not take. He is coming from a personal level and believes that teachers should learn how to help their students develop the skills to be more imaginative. He wants to see instructors teach in a way that not only produces good achievement but allows students to come up with original ideas and think outside the box.

Gallowitch2 What is interesting about this article is that it is written from the perspective of a highly involved instructor that has been in many realms of the education system. He seems to know the importance of creativity in schools and explains the ways that it can be used. His examples explain the importance to teach for creativity. I didnt understand though how teaching for creativity was relevant. How does creativity coincide with the music education world? If everyone is taught to sound the same and look the same than how could that be an example of creativity? He very broadly explained the roll of teachers and the importance that they had in order to develop creative skills in there students. What can teachers do to teach more creatively? In this article Brinkman only explained that they need to and the importance but he didnt explain how they could somehow change the way that they teach for the better. He didnt provide examples on how the instructors could improve the way that they teach the class in order to create more opportunities for innovation. I will use this article in showing how some teachers are showing creativity. If they are not then I will explain how to improve their teaching methods to benefit their students. I believe that this article is directed to musical education teachers. But I think that the concept applies to all teachers in trying to get their students to learn more creatively. Creativity is a nebulous concept, and it takes some thought and study to discover how it might function in the music education world. We are often so focused on the issues related to being an effective high school band, choir, or orchestra conductor, that it is easy to ignore creativity. Creativity is an attitude that we must develop in pre-service teachers.

Shaheen, Robina. Creativity and Education. The Link between Creativity and Education 1

Gallowitch3 (2010): 166-169, Scientific Research. Web. 27 Mar.2013. In this article, Shaheen shares the concerns that creativity has not been a part of the education system. Also explains how important it is to develop these skills throughout a students career. She expresses that originality must not be left to chance or mythology. This is important because creativity is said to be a fundamental life skill. She talks about these skills that need to be developed in order to prepare our future generations in order for them to thrive in the twenty first century. She goes on to explain how the role of education has been blamed for killing creativity and only providing students with information that is helpful for memorizing in order to take standardized tests. She talks about how only sticking to the education curriculum will cause a downfall in preparing a creative society. Due to these concerns there has been efforts made to combine inspiration and the education system curriculum. Shaheen believes that creativity should be taught in the earlier years of school in helping students to develop a more imaginative life style which will later be beneficial to all. She talks about how students in primary education become more original in writing, art, music, problem solving and develop self-confidence skills. Shaheen is a journalist and understands the importance of originality. She tries to prove the point in this article how important it is and why it should be taught in the education system. There is a curriculum that is followed that was developed by the education system but does not contain basic skills in learning to think productively that will eventually help our future generations. Shaheen provided information that some steps were being made in a positive direction in trying to develop these skills in the most important stage of a student, being in primary education. Her point that she is trying to make is that creativity skills should begin to develop at a young age so there is time for it to grow and thrive in students.

Gallowitch4 Shaheen has a different point of view but also has a lot of outside sources that she used in her article. In this article she strongly suggest that creativity skills should start at an early age but does not back it up with much reasoning on why. Why should these skills start at such a young age? How is that important or relevant when they start to develop these skills? She doesnt give enough evidence as to how schools should start at such a young age. It looks like she took this idea from another source and did not strongly believe on it herself. Shaheen should have elaborated more on the importance of this statement because it would bring together her argument better. The article would be better written if it had more of her opinion and not so much of the outside sources that she used. Crediting her for the article is still imperative but she did quote a lot of work that was written by other authors. I will use this article in explaining the importance of teaching creatively throughout the primary education. I learned that even though the main education curriculum is very important to learn. Providing students with creative opportunities is also beneficial. Fostering creativity in education is intended to address many concerns. In fact it is being said that creativity needs to be fostered by the education systems from the early years onward. As a response to such calls there has been a shift in educational policy around the world and efforts are being made to combine creativity and knowledge.

Porter, Michael. Lack of Creativity in Schools. (2013): Michael Porter Rhetoric and Civic life Blog, 23 Jan. 2013. Web.27 Mar.2013. Porter begins his article by explaining an examination that shows the past generations progression through the years from a standardized IQ test. He explains how IQ tests scores have

Gallowitch5 gradually gone up, but at the same time levels of creativity and innovation have started to rapidly decline. He then goes on to talk about how education is not fully to blame for not providing students with inspired ways of thinking because according to him it is something that cannot be taught. Porter explains that the problem is the way the instructors are teaching. In this article he also talks about how the focus in schools has shifted to memorization for standardized testing. In his ending paragraph he shares his personal experiences when he was a student and how the lack of creativity affected him, Porter believes that without imagination, our students develop a poor skill in coming up new thoughts and ideas. In this article Porter provides examples of how IQ tests scores have increased but has shown a major decrease in creativity levels. This decrease is because the teachers and education system have one curriculum and stick to what they are required to teach and do not leave room for thinking outside the box. The teachers are told to only prepare the students for standardized tests. This is bad because in order for students to come up with new thoughts and ideas that they can use in their life, they are unable to strongly develop these skills in school. By bringing in his article the example of the test scores he is trying to emphasize the importance of creativity. When he explains the decline of creativity since testing began also presents his argument. The statement he made was very strong because he personally believed that testing was the cause in the decline of creativity and innovation. The question I am left with is if testing is the main reason for the decline? Or in fact, how important is funding when you are trying to develop creative skills among all the students? Could the teachers be at fault or is it the education system? Porter makes lots of suggestions in his article for the decline of creativity but does not fully explain what could be the main cause. If the education system will not allow the teachers to change the curriculum than how are they at fault? In the last paragraph porter

Gallowitch6 describes his own experiences as a student and the ways that he was taught. This is important because it shows that from personal experience that schools were not providing room for inspirational thoughts and ideas. I will use the Torrence Test as an example in my paper in how it has brought down levels of creativity in students. I will also use the quotes and main points that Porter gives in this article. I will use his reasoning in what he believes is the problem in the education system. When examining the data, it was found that the link to creative lifetime accomplishment was three times stronger in a childs creativity test than a child IQ test. I believe that the cause for the lack of creativity in schools lies on a multifactorial basis. Therefore, I think that creativity in schools is an issue that definitely needs to be addressed and solved.

Chen, Celine. Vancouver Student Hosts Arts Contest. Editorial. The South Asian Post [Vancouver] 20 Feb.2013: 4. Print. A student named Celine Chen from Mulgrave School in West Vancouver started an art contest for youth students in her area. She currently is in the 11th grade and was inspired to create her own contest because she noticed a shortage of youth art events. Chen opened the contest to students in Greater Vancouver. The appropriate age groups that she chose were 8th through 12th graders. She also broke the grades up into two different categories, one being junior and the other senior. Chen also set up requirements for the pictures that were being drawn by the artist. Chen is also only allowing each student participating to only have one single entry. She arranged that

Gallowitch7 only the 10 best pieces in each category will be displayed in order to be judged and receive awards. She is allowing people to vote online for the pieces that they liked best. Chen set a deadline in order to participate in the art contest and also the week that the judging would take place. In this article Chen designs and sets up an art contest for students in Greater Vancouver. She believes art is an overlooked subject in school. She started to put this contest together because there were not enough contests for artists available in her area. This is not good for Chen because she is passionate about art and believes that successful artist are helped be being influenced by the work of other artists. The fact that she opens the contest to five different grades is a good idea because it gives all different ages of students a chance to show their artistic ability. Chen made the contest challenging and only allowed a few spots for the award winners. This is a good thing because it challenges and requires the contestants to do their best work. The reason why this is a good example as to how schools are giving the opportunity for creativity is because its written by a student. This student must have realized that since she had the opportunity to create such a contest that it was a good idea just to start one in her own way. She must have been excited when she learned that she could create such an art contest. Chen gave the opportunity for many students in many different age groups to submit their creative drawings. This contest was probably good for the community and provided a safe and fun activity for anyone to partake in. The fact that she allowed different ages to participate in this contest shows that she is not selfish and is eager to see all the art work that the other students drew. This contest also shows that she is caring in thinking about others around her and the community by building this fun activity for anyone to join. She made easy requirements so that it wasnt hard for people to submit a piece and allowed it to be creative as possible.

Gallowitch8 I will use this article in my next paper by explaining the importance of competitions provided to youth. I will use the reasoning on why Chen believes schools overlook art in the education curriculum. Art is easily one of the most overlooked and undervalued subjects in school and society as many people cannot appreciate its beauty. I strongly believe that one of the most critical components to become a successful artist is to be exposed to other artists work for inspiration.

Veach, Laura J. Using Creative Group Techniques in High Schools 32 (2007): 71-78. Web. 2 Apr. 2013 In this article Laura Veach believes that for students, high school is the best environment for using creative groups techniques. She believes that high school students want to develop the skills that desire growth and the increase of competence in the methods of interacting. Laura says that most students are very opened to input, feedback, and group experiences. Group workers play an important role in providing help to students in balancing their independence and dependence. She believes that being exposed to creative group techniques that it will also help students develop a greater comfort with themselves, others and the outside world. Laura also talks about the best way to achieve these goals for students are by using creative group counseling techniques and procedures. She explains how these procedures are not time consuming and can be completed in a short time frame. Laura also goes on to explain how nonthreatening these activities may be. Some of the methods that she feels are most appropriate for students include: music, movement, visual art, drama, play and humor. Laura has a strong insight on creative counseling techniques. She believes the importance of them is to help further develop

Gallowitch9 a student before becoming an adult. Her goal is to allow them to grow and become more comfortable with themselves and other that are around them. Its also important that these procedures occur in high school level students that are young adults moving up in the world. This is important because their skills should be developed when the students are trying to find themselves. The procedures and techniques could lead to further creative thoughts and ideas. When Veach explains all the programs that schools provide it gave good evidence to the opportunities for creativity that the education system does provide. By providing the examples she was able to convince some people that innovation was a part of school and the chance was given to the students. These examples shaped Veachs article and explained how these electives were helpful for students and gave them the chance to be creative. By schools providing these electives it proves that schools are trying to be creative and give opportunities to their students. She also believed that high school is where the most creativity skills could be performed. She must think this because high school students are more mature at that age and are able to properly engage in group work activities. I will use this article in my next paper by bringing in the helpful thoughts and ideas that Laura explains. I will also use the importance of the techniques that she describes and how they can be helpful to high school students. High school groups are an ideal medium to help adolescents row and gain comfort with themselves, others, and the outside world, especially if they are innovative and creative in their focus. High school is an ideal environment for employing groups and using creative group techniques.

Gallowitch10 Most high school students desire to develop skills that facilitate growth and increase their level of competence in interacting with others.