Encouraging creativity in students

The project I would like to pursue for my isearch is to work with individual students and design a specific project for each relating to their own personal interests. The intention of the project is to show students how writing relates to all aspects of life, not just school work. This project would encourage students not only to take pride and pleasure in the imaginative writing process, but may open them up to sharing a passion or talent that they would otherwise be afraid to share.

Kids can be cruel and judgmental. I grew up a creative kid in a town full of people that love to crush your dreams (or bust your balls as they so eloquently state.) If your aspirations after high school didn’t involve wearing a hard hat or crunching numbers at college with a cozy cubicle waiting four years later you were a slacker. There was no room in Plymouth for dreamers and music makers. (“Willie Wonka can go pound tahhh, kid”.) Local musicians played other people’s music. Anyone who wrote a song would be wise to keep it to themselves or a few trusted friends or risk every note and letter being scrutinized by unforgiving, uninformed critics. They didn’t necessarily know what they were talking about, but criticizing other people’s creations would put haters, as they are now referred, at the top of the social ladder.

When put into a workforce perspective, writing seems like a lazy man’s career; an easy way out. Though pressure to meet deadlines and come up with new material is ever present, it’s not the same as the back-breaking agony of shingling a house or the mental anguish of researching the growth of a company. Writers are magicians, bringing to life anything they can imagine; producing their craft with as little as a pen and paper, or even a mind and a mouth. They don’t have to work in the rain or risk getting electrocuted. Perhaps that is why a blue collar town such as the one I grew up in harbors so much resentment toward creativity.

By the time I reached middle school, I had already (and unknowingly) begun writing. As a young kid I had written a play, a few songs, developed a comic and even designed a videogame but was scared to death to share these with anyone. Even if I found the courage to share, I’m sure I would have been mocked in some capacity. I can’t help but think that if my creativity was embraced and nurtured through the proper channel I could have made a career out of writing sooner (or gotten in on the ground floor of the multi-billion dollar gaming industry.). This project would provide students with that encouragement and insight In a safe, non-judgmental setting and allow them to explore their own creativity. It will also show students that everything in the modern world relates to writing in some capacity.