ToonDoo

I like the idea of this website. You can create comics to express whatever you like. Seems like a neat tool to get kids to express themselves. So often we don't use cartoons because we don't think we can draw. This site kinda' tells kids that's okay, you can create comics anyway.

Where is the Creativity in Music Education?

In working with teachers on curriculum and assessment there are two areas that we struggle with the most. I also stuggled to incorporate these skills when I was a band director. Why is it that teaching composition and improvistation is so difficult? I think it is because we have become a yes and no culture. When student compose or improvise, they want to know if it was correct. Teachers want to know the right way to assess and teach these creative skills. But honestly, when we create or think creatively a quick assessment can stifle that process. If I am facilitating a group in brainstorming one of the ground rules is no evaluation. We want ideas to flow. We want everyone to feel comfortable to throw out a few stinkers, because without them we will never find the "outside the box" idea. The same is true of compostion and improvisation. Let them try and get saturated in the experimentation arena. I believe we are moving to quickly to assess. Our fast-food culture wants everything right away. We type a term into wikipedia and get the answer right away. We want the same in the classroom. However, that culture is stifiling our creativity, especially the older we get.
I think art, of all the fine arts, is the highest on the creativity ladder. Music, and especially band, has become so entrenched in scores and festivals that we have forgotten that it was the creatity that we enjoyed in music to begin with. Art gives you the tools and the medium and where you go from their is up to you. In drama we want to make sure they read the lines correctly, excute the blocking and pickup cues. I think drama is in the middle of the pack. At least students are asked to creatively create a character. But how many of them do? How much drama education is merely parading on stage with no particular creativity.
In music it has become about right notes and did you play that dynamic. It is a game of gotcha at contest. What happened to the creativity?

Required Reading

Sir Ken Robinson believes creativity is being systematically eliminated by our education system. Further, he believes that this very creativity is what will make economies successful in the future. Here is a transcript from his speech to the National Forum on Educational Policy and a very similar speech at TED.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

I am a huge This American Life fan. Here is the head honcho of TAL with four clips where he discusses the art of storytelling.