How can teachers begin to increase students' creativity and give them the motivation to learn, after the California STAR test era?

Recently, Governor Jerry Brown passed a bill to replace Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests with a new system that supporters say promotes more meaningful learning, and adopted a new school funding formula giving districts more control and targeting more money to needier districts.  

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This is exciting students for educators because this gives them an opportunity to focus more on teaching students important concepts like creative problem solving, intrinsic motivation and critical thinking; particularly in students from grades 6-12.

Yesterday I saw an Instagram posting of a picture that showed a person typing into Google, “School makes me...” In the suggestions of popular searches: “School makes me cry,” “School makes me want to die,” and “School makes me sad.” I tried typing in the same thing on my computer and came up with the same results.

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I believe that the depression and frustration that many students are feeling towards school can be changed now that standardized testing is starting to reform in California. Though it has not conformed how the state will be reforming it, at least we know that the standardized STAR test will be a thing of the past.

These negative feelings toward schools can begin change with intrinsic motivation which involves engaging with something because it is personally rewarding; such as performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external reward. Previously we have dealt with standardized tests that told the schools if they performed well in them, they would reward the school with funds and materials necessary to improve education. By doing this students have not been motivated about their education because it has revolved around testing. In an article entitled, “Education and Creativity” by Daniel Fasko Jr. of the Creativity Research Journal, “Creative thinking in problem solving would facilitate intrinsic motivation in individuals” (Fasko, D. 2001). Students will be more willing to learn if they could choose what they study and in doing this it will be more meaningful to the student.

Now that standardized STAR test is no longer an obstacle for teachers, they can begin to teach their students different approaches to problem solving. Fasko Jr. explains that to influence creative problem solving “methods such as brainstorming, role playing and discussing real life challenges that relate to them” (Fasko, D. 2001) can change the way a student sees and behaves towards the world. I agree with these methods because once I had an English teacher who would always make us act out the Shakespeare readings in her class. I used to hate reading Shakespeare because I would read it with no understanding of what I read, and this also relates to the STAR testing critical reading sections because I would read really fast through those long passages and not understand the material, just look for the answers. When we acted out the scenes in Shakespeare I had a better understanding of what I read because it was explained to me in a creative role play.

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Schools have created monotony for education in regards to standardized testing. For example, Don Batt discusses, everyday in class,the children discuss which answer is “right,” they sit, they write, they follow. Starting to dislike school begins in grade 6 and lasts through graduation in grade 12. For me, the first time I experienced an example of being a follower was in 6th grade when everyone began grabbing answers from the highlighted section in our history textbooks, rather than reading the whole book and trying to understand the material. We all had the same correct answer and we did not care about understanding it we just wanted to have the correct answer and be done with our work. This monotony has been created because students have been taught their is always a “right” answer. Students are not getting to express their own creative understanding of the world; instead they have been programmed to follow standard answers.

Teachers should be proud of California for leaving the STAR standardized test behind, and should look forward to a future filled with more creativity within education. And students can look forward to being a new generation of innovative thinkers!

Reference List

Fasko, D. (2001). Education and creativity. Creativity Research Journal

Are high stakes tests, moving California American students forward or backward in regards to academics and creativity?

As the new school year begins, it will bring homework, new teachers, and the yearly high-stakes test. Every year California American students take a standardized test which is supposed to benefit them in both their education and their school funding. Teachers stress teaching the test to students in order to get more funding for their school, meet the state’s standards, and still be able to teach their children something valuable before they leave at the end of the school year.

Teachers in the U.S. carry the duties of teaching their students to succeed on high-stakes tests; I am here to tell you that standardized tests are doing a poor job with moving our students forward to academic success and creativity. In fact, studies in the recent years suggest that it is common for American children fall well behind children from other countries. The U.S. is ranked 30th in mathematics literacy, 20th in science and 14th in reading in 2009 Student Assessment (PISA).

We can achieve a better future for our students by addressing our problems in testing. We are the only country in the world that tests our students every year. And because we make these high stakes tests “high,” American students are only learning to do well in these tests, and are becoming robotic memorizing machines. And sciences, social studies, art, music, and physical education; things that make student creative and critical thinkers has been pushed aside.

 

“All of us have had experiences in which we “learned” something in school without understanding it. Think about the tests for which you memorized facts you could not explain, or the assignments for which you quoted relevant passages of the textbook without a clue what they meant or why they mattered” (Starko, A. 2013).

Most of us have experienced a point in our education where we have learned something in school and did not understand it. For example there are many times when I read something in my U.S. History/Economic book and just did not understand what it meant and why it should matter to me.

Alane Starko, the author of Creativity on the Brink says,

“Students develop understanding by applying what they learn in diverse ways and multiple settings. Creative applications of core content are among teachers’ most powerful tools in building students’ understanding. If we want students to master the content, they must do something with it beyond simple repetition. They must use it in meaningful ways and make it their own” (Starko, A. 2013).

Starko wants us to understand that if students are going to understand the materials, teachers need to find creative ways of incorporating students to understand.

This includes teachers finding a creative way to help students learn despite U.S. public education facing the dilemma of the huge achievement gap, created by the standardized tests.

Let’s say that in the reading and writing section on California’s STAR test they plan to have a question that asks, “Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text.” As a teacher you might help them practice by thinking about how students can use their own creativity to develop that skill. Maybe they could write, act out or plan a story to better understand the situation of the story  instead of just answering the question on a whim without fully understanding its context.

By doing practice exercises that promote students to think for themselves, teachers can begin to promote creativity as well as success in standardized testing. The only way we can improve our public education is by offering all children a chance at quality education that will move American students forward.

Reference List

Starko, A. (2013). Creativity on the Brink. Educational Leadership

Lawrence, L. (2013). Education Solutions from abroad for chronic U.S. problems. The Christian Science Monitor