Friday, the last day of classes, and final exams are scheduled for next week. Everyone is frayed at the edges. The media lab is choked with students finalizing multi-media projects. The printers are giving off heat, we are churning out so many papers.
Frenzied? Yes. Creative? YES! As buried in work as students are, many are looking beyond the rubrics and bringing creativity and craftsmanship to their work. It is incredibly inspirational to work with students who care about doing well, but who also care about adding their own voice and creativity to their work. When you consider the obstacles so many kids face in the course of their school career it is all the more impressive.
What about us? As school librarians how do we feed our creativity? Does our creativity give us new ideas? Connect us to the world? Do we let our creativity out to play, or do we allow it to be stifled by budgets, colleagues, and maybe by a sense of frustration that we are not recognized for our work?
On my desk is a heavy stainless steel paper weight that asks
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
This question feeds my creativity. It gives me courage to try out new ideas, to go for grants, to approach teachers with ideas for collaborating on units, to work with students trying out new platforms to give them options to show their learning. To showcase
their creativity.
Let Out the Creative Beast is a great cartoon by Betsy Streeter that cleverly gives a peek into the working lives of students. And us, as well. Enjoy! And nurture your creative beast.
Labels: creativity, digital media, inspiration, learning, presentation
