Pre-reading: My reaction to the title of this weeks article Does Assessment Kill Creativity? by Ronald A. Beghetto was pretty straight forward – “Not if we are doing our job right”. In my opinion, if a student does not feel that they are able to express their creativities then we have failed them. We have failed to create a supportive environment and we have failed to see their process. Not all creative undertakings need to result in flawless work, students are limited by time, resources and understanding, it is our duty to help them through the process and allow them to create. If our assessment practices are causing students to avoid being creative, then we need new practices. Our assessments should strive to encourage and foster creativity, not ‘kill’ it.

During Reading: While reading this article, a few things struck me, the idea of goal setting in particular. Students should be involved in the setting of their own goals. A teacher may have goals for students, but those goals should be “what can I help this student improve on..?” and then take into account what the student strives for as well. Teachers should be talking with their students and understanding what their goals are, how they plan to achieve the goals and what we can to do help. Teachers are educational guides, we are along for the ride, children are the most creative when they feel their ideas are valid. Students need to be able to make their own conclusions, feel what it is to be successful and also to fail, as long as the process is there and a lesson is learned, who are we to assess if what they learned was right or wrong. In the end, it is up to the student to determine if they have reached their end goals, they should not be compared with their peers when it comes to creativity, creativity is an individual venture, an expression of ones-self and ideas.

After reading the article Does Assessment Kill Student Creativity? a few things come to mind. The idea that there is so much emphasis placed on the assessment of a students creative work (to the point of ‘killing creativity’) frankly should not happen. If and when a students creative work is to be assessed, it should be done throughout the process and not based solely (if at all) on the final product. Teachers should be conducting regular check in’s with their students in order to understand the individuals process of creativity. Regardless if the final product results in objectively successful results, it is the process that needs to count. As teachers, it is our job to foster an environment where students can work confidently and feel free to show their individuality and creativity. If a student does not feel comfortable enough to be creative, then we have failed them with our assessments. Students should be encouraged to explore and think outside of the box, and we should not place a rubric on that process, it is not fair to our students and is not fair to the creative process.

References:

Beghetto, R.A., (2005). Does assessment kill student creativity? The Educational Forum, (69) 2 p254-263