Imagination.Imagination has no end, and that is what makes it so wonderful.Teachers, in particular, can use imagination to soar through the vast world of knowledge, creating fun and thought-provoking activities along the way.Indeed, taking students on that ride is one of the reasons teaching is so exciting.Unfortunately, empowering students to employ their imaginations in taking advantage of those activities may be one of the most critical obstacles facing twenty-first-century education.As a matter of fact, some of our public schools have already moved to minimize the importance of imagination, thereby cutting off an incredible amount of potential.In those places, rigidity, routine, and rules drain the creative spirit of both teachers and students and seem to trump imagination.It is vital that teachers find ways to stretch and develop the imaginative skills of their learners; furthermore, it is vital that unconventional, clever, and innovative thinking be emphasized and prioritized in both instruction and administration.Without a doubt, redirecting energy toward the use of imagination touches the inner recesses of a young learner's mind and soul, enabling them to generate fresh, unique approaches to life's puzzling questions.Imagination enables a child to reach and actively engage the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, on which many schools seem to focus.One good example of restricting and enabling imagination is Albert Einstein, who was passionate about its concept and reality.He was an imaginative human being, though his genius would have been discovered much sooner had he encountered a teacher who encouraged his imagination at a younger age.As it was, rigidity, routine, and rules overshadowed Einstein's uniqueness; his inventive powers did not reveal themselves until years after his schooling.How many Einsteins exist in public schools today? How many kids walk through our hallways everyday with imaginations that could cure cancers, abolish poverty, eradicate world hunger, or develop efficient, safe, and reliable energy resources for the entire planet? A future president or world leader is sitting in one of our classrooms, and we need to treat each young learner in that fashion.Napoleon Hill, the bestselling author of Think and Grow Rich!, was commissioned by Dale Carnegie to research the minds and methods of wealthy people.The result was research that enabled thousands to become rich through calculated, specific means.Hill clearly states in his book that imagination is, without a doubt, the place where all plans are fashioned.The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man.The impulse, the desire, is to give shape, form, and action through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind.It has been said that man can create anything which he can imagine.Skip Ross expands on this idea in his book, Say Yes to Your Potential.He writes..A survey was done to discover the creativity level of individuals at various ages.After all the testing, the statistics indicated that 2 percent of the men and women who were in their forties were highly creative.As they looked at young people, the results emerged that 2 percent of the thirty-five-year-olds were highly creative; 2 percent of the thirty-year-olds were highly creative.This went on down to each age group until they reached the seven-year-old children.Ten percent of them were highly creative.However, further study showed that 90 percent of the five-year-olds were highly creative.Between the ages of five and seven, 80 percent of us who are highly creative develop an image, a picture, an attitude that we are not creative, and we begin to deny that particular part of our God-given equipment.Can you imagine the advancements our world could experience if all learners were highly creative throughout their lives? What if our creative energy did not start to dissipate between the ages of five and seven? Do we educators do something specific to stifle imagination? How does our overall culture feed into this tremendous disservice to humanity? Why do we allow ourselves to be duped into an imagination-less people even after we know better? We have already mentioned the imaginative and creative power of Einstein who developed the theory of relativity.But what about Henry Ford's contributions to mass production? Or the great chemist, George Washington Carver, who applied his imagination toward three hundred applications for peanuts and one hundred eighteen for sweet potatoes? And, what of Vint Cerf? While many people credit the advancement of the modern computer age to Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it was actually Cerf, a lowly scientist at Stanford, who opened the door to the most innovative tool available to mankind today-the Internet.All four men are unbelievably imaginative, but what if even one of their imaginations had been stifled along the way?To ensure that more of our young people and educators "catch" the imagination bug, it is vitally essential that school culture foster and utilize every resource available.We must not forsake learning communities that are driven by imagination.We must not lose the possibilities and growth potential of young learners exposed to discovery and creativity and imagination; we must instead consider the truly limitless achievements that are possible with an education in which teachers are allowed to step outside the box to do the impossible and generate new paradigms of learning and engagement.We cannot face the alternative-that we continue to host students who seldom utilize their powers and become bored-and unimaginative.It is the responsibility of educators to help young learners find, embrace, and develop their imaginations.When students find ways to complete tasks a little differently or ask questions that may seem a little unusual or describe possibilities that the majority may not quite understand, encourage them.Encourage them to keep thinking and to keep asking.Actively engage their curiosity and enable them to see and experience the impossible.When teaching history, ask the students to close their eyes and imagine the time and place of the events .Drive them to smell the scents of an Indian meal .Ask them to lean into the sounds of an excited coliseum crowd .Challenge them to taste the grilled meat of a hunters wild catch.Do whatever it takes to help students move out of their immediate and present world and into another time and place.Help them explore the colors, smells, tastes, sounds, emotions inside their minds.For just a moment, help them leave the written pages of books to their creative faculties of their own imaginations.It might be the most valuable exercise you can do as a teacher.Unknowingly, the world requires educators to be imaginative in helping students see the future.But we are also expected to see the future ourselves, when a child walks through the doors of a classroom, and to visualize him or her as a successful finished product who will some day be a great individual and contributor to the betterment of the world.This can be a tremendous amount of work for some teachers, but it is a practice that we are required to embrace.It takes imagination to practice methods that build and enhance the minds of young learners who eagerly await a future of greatness and possibilities.It is a unique responsibility.Very few careers in life call upon the power of imagination as does education.Join the movement - The Teachers Movement and make a difference today.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Teaching - The Power of Imagination
Imagination.Imagination has no end, and that is what makes it so wonderful.Teachers, in particular, can use imagination to soar through the vast world of knowledge, creating fun and thought-provoking activities along the way.Indeed, taking students on that ride is one of the reasons teaching is so exciting.Unfortunately, empowering students to employ their imaginations in taking advantage of those activities may be one of the most critical obstacles facing twenty-first-century education.As a matter of fact, some of our public schools have already moved to minimize the importance of imagination, thereby cutting off an incredible amount of potential.In those places, rigidity, routine, and rules drain the creative spirit of both teachers and students and seem to trump imagination.It is vital that teachers find ways to stretch and develop the imaginative skills of their learners; furthermore, it is vital that unconventional, clever, and innovative thinking be emphasized and prioritized in both instruction and administration.Without a doubt, redirecting energy toward the use of imagination touches the inner recesses of a young learner's mind and soul, enabling them to generate fresh, unique approaches to life's puzzling questions.Imagination enables a child to reach and actively engage the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, on which many schools seem to focus.One good example of restricting and enabling imagination is Albert Einstein, who was passionate about its concept and reality.He was an imaginative human being, though his genius would have been discovered much sooner had he encountered a teacher who encouraged his imagination at a younger age.As it was, rigidity, routine, and rules overshadowed Einstein's uniqueness; his inventive powers did not reveal themselves until years after his schooling.How many Einsteins exist in public schools today? How many kids walk through our hallways everyday with imaginations that could cure cancers, abolish poverty, eradicate world hunger, or develop efficient, safe, and reliable energy resources for the entire planet? A future president or world leader is sitting in one of our classrooms, and we need to treat each young learner in that fashion.Napoleon Hill, the bestselling author of Think and Grow Rich!, was commissioned by Dale Carnegie to research the minds and methods of wealthy people.The result was research that enabled thousands to become rich through calculated, specific means.Hill clearly states in his book that imagination is, without a doubt, the place where all plans are fashioned.The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man.The impulse, the desire, is to give shape, form, and action through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind.It has been said that man can create anything which he can imagine.Skip Ross expands on this idea in his book, Say Yes to Your Potential.He writes..A survey was done to discover the creativity level of individuals at various ages.After all the testing, the statistics indicated that 2 percent of the men and women who were in their forties were highly creative.As they looked at young people, the results emerged that 2 percent of the thirty-five-year-olds were highly creative; 2 percent of the thirty-year-olds were highly creative.This went on down to each age group until they reached the seven-year-old children.Ten percent of them were highly creative.However, further study showed that 90 percent of the five-year-olds were highly creative.Between the ages of five and seven, 80 percent of us who are highly creative develop an image, a picture, an attitude that we are not creative, and we begin to deny that particular part of our God-given equipment.Can you imagine the advancements our world could experience if all learners were highly creative throughout their lives? What if our creative energy did not start to dissipate between the ages of five and seven? Do we educators do something specific to stifle imagination? How does our overall culture feed into this tremendous disservice to humanity? Why do we allow ourselves to be duped into an imagination-less people even after we know better? We have already mentioned the imaginative and creative power of Einstein who developed the theory of relativity.But what about Henry Ford's contributions to mass production? Or the great chemist, George Washington Carver, who applied his imagination toward three hundred applications for peanuts and one hundred eighteen for sweet potatoes? And, what of Vint Cerf? While many people credit the advancement of the modern computer age to Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it was actually Cerf, a lowly scientist at Stanford, who opened the door to the most innovative tool available to mankind today-the Internet.All four men are unbelievably imaginative, but what if even one of their imaginations had been stifled along the way?To ensure that more of our young people and educators "catch" the imagination bug, it is vitally essential that school culture foster and utilize every resource available.We must not forsake learning communities that are driven by imagination.We must not lose the possibilities and growth potential of young learners exposed to discovery and creativity and imagination; we must instead consider the truly limitless achievements that are possible with an education in which teachers are allowed to step outside the box to do the impossible and generate new paradigms of learning and engagement.We cannot face the alternative-that we continue to host students who seldom utilize their powers and become bored-and unimaginative.It is the responsibility of educators to help young learners find, embrace, and develop their imaginations.When students find ways to complete tasks a little differently or ask questions that may seem a little unusual or describe possibilities that the majority may not quite understand, encourage them.Encourage them to keep thinking and to keep asking.Actively engage their curiosity and enable them to see and experience the impossible.When teaching history, ask the students to close their eyes and imagine the time and place of the events .Drive them to smell the scents of an Indian meal .Ask them to lean into the sounds of an excited coliseum crowd .Challenge them to taste the grilled meat of a hunters wild catch.Do whatever it takes to help students move out of their immediate and present world and into another time and place.Help them explore the colors, smells, tastes, sounds, emotions inside their minds.For just a moment, help them leave the written pages of books to their creative faculties of their own imaginations.It might be the most valuable exercise you can do as a teacher.Unknowingly, the world requires educators to be imaginative in helping students see the future.But we are also expected to see the future ourselves, when a child walks through the doors of a classroom, and to visualize him or her as a successful finished product who will some day be a great individual and contributor to the betterment of the world.This can be a tremendous amount of work for some teachers, but it is a practice that we are required to embrace.It takes imagination to practice methods that build and enhance the minds of young learners who eagerly await a future of greatness and possibilities.It is a unique responsibility.Very few careers in life call upon the power of imagination as does education.Join the movement - The Teachers Movement and make a difference today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment