CREATIVE SCHOOLS: GIVING AN ANSWER TO STUDENT NEEDS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Gema Gutiérrez 1ºB Primary Education.

 First of all I will say that nowadays, the most important thing that should be teached and developed in schools is creativity. For that, when we though about our ‘ideal school’ we gave too much importance to subjects like music or art because in those, are in which children develop creativity in a highest way.

 - The first video that we saw was the one of Ken Robinson in which he explains that schools are killing creativity. This man says that creativity is as important as literacy and I think that it’s true. For example in some groups like ‘Team Perk’ or ‘Musical chairs’ they said that in their school they wouldn’t have an static methodology and I think that this is really good and coul be something for make children develop their creativity because, with an static methodology that doesn’t change they will be bored and they aren’t going to pay attention. Beause of that, in our video, when we talk about the nine qualities that a teacher should have, we said creativity. Also teacher should be creative and surprise their pupils with new activities and games.  
In other groups videos that we saw in class like ‘Modern students’ we could see that they purpose an school in which children don’t have examns, just Project. This is a purposal that ‘Cronicas viajeras’ and also my team made. Things should change because as Ken Robinson said on the video “we’re educating people out of their creative capacities”. As we said on our video, there’s too many theory that isn’t put into practice, so in learning by projects process, children could develop their capacity of creativity and also they will made thing more greatful.
As I said before and as it is said on the video, subjects like art or music and those which needs more creativity are being cathaloged as those for entertaiment and not for the future because of that they are being deleted of schools timetable.
Finally, in this video, Ken Robinson said that “every education system on hearth has the same hierarchy subjects” and thanks to my partners who includes educstion systems of other countries like ‘Amigos del football’ o ‘Wanderlust’ we could see it because they talk about how is the education in countries like USA, Turkey, Germany, etc.
In conclusion to this video, I think that schools of 21st century needs more subjects and breaks for implement their creative capacity because as literacy it’s one of the most important things that will be useful for them in the future. In this case, don’t care how the building is if the methods are wrong.
- The second video was the one of Takaharu Tekuza who was talking about the best kindergarden that we have ever seen.
He presented the kindergarden which was a circular one with too many opne spaces where children could keep in contact with nature. This idea was presented in some videos like ‘Modern students’, ‘Wanderlust’ or even mine.
I think that it’s very important for children to stay in contact with nature and study in open spaces because in my opinion they will concentrate better.
This man, Takaharu, said that in the classrooms of this school, children are too concentrated because they need noise for work in their homework, not noise.
The ethic of that school, as this man said in the video is that children learn to help each other. As we saw in our projects, this is very important, we all mencionate that point, for example the ‘Unknowns’ or ‘Cronicas Viajeras’. Also in my team, when we talk about ethics we explain that as coopeartive learning.
Finally, Takaharu said that sometimes pupils when their are runing around the school, the fall and they hurt theirselves so in that point he said that they don’t protect too much children because they want the to be prepared for the real world.
This point I think that we didn’t mencionated in our Project because we forgot it but, I think that in my ideal school I would like children to be authonomous.

 - The third video that we saw at class was the one about ‘teach kids to love science’.
In this video, a boy who is teacher explains that imagination is more important than knowledge. I think this is relationated with the idea that some groups mencionated in their Project, for example, ‘Team Perk’ or ‘ Musical chairs’. This is the idea that ‘children are the creators of their own knowledge’ that was in my Project of my ideal school.
If we take a look to all the projects that we saw at class we could see that they are very similar between them but not all of them talked about the problems that we can find nowadays in the schools that we want to change. ‘Cronicas viajeras’ and my group, for example, did it.
There are too many problems that need to be solve nowadays in the school and I think that it’s the best way of start for create an Ideal School. Those problems are: bullying, homework, huge timetables, too much theory that isn’t put in practice, etc. In our ideal schools, this will change.

We all talked about points like: the structure of the building speaking about that we want open áreas, huge classes prepared for cooperative learning, adapted to everyone because we want them to be inclusive schools, etc. O fcourse they all should have different sport áreas, technologies and cantine, as all the schools.
We also talked about something that it’s very important, VALUES. We spoke about respect, tolerance, trust, equality, etc.
But, for me, the most important thing that we talked about was methodology. For that point we speak about contructivism, cooperative learning, learning by projects as I metionated before, etc. In this point we also included things like homework. Nowadays is a very bug problem in Spain that shoul be changed because children cannot spend too much time relaxing, playing or staying with their parents because they have lots of homework for checking the next day at class.
In this point we also included that learning has to be fun. Teachers have to motivate children and be creative in the way that they surprise them with funny activities that will make children learn a lot.

In conclusion to the videos of TED TALKS and the projects of my partners, I have think in my final idea of Ideal School and I would say that it has to be an inclusive one in which all children have the same portunities and it will be adapted to everyone. Children will make a good use of cooperative learning in the way that they also learn values like respect, collaboration and trust.
They will learn with teachers help but by themselves in the way that they are going to be the creator of their own knowledge using methods like constructivism.
Parents are also going to be include in the learning process and in the school with their children because they are going to have meetings with teachers and also with their children going with them to the school and staying with them in class. 

Thanks to this Project we could reflect and investigate of some points that we have never thought in.