Working Creatively Within an Institution

Abstract

Often, teachers will feel that their personal attitude toward creativity enhancement in students is opposite to what the school itself projects. On the one hand, administrators and supervisors are touting “21st Century Skills,” and on the other hand, they are demanding that teachers “teach to the test,” raise test scores, focus on oneshot answers and not on deep understanding nor especially on self-expression. Even President Obama called for a focus on testing and measurement of achievement through testing. How can the teacher be creative when she/he is being inspected and expected to both focus on critical and creative thinking and make sure that students get good scores on standardized tests. The two are not mutually exclusive, and one could cite the research that says that a focus on understanding necessarily means that the test scores will rise.