Imagination:
The importance of a child’s imagination is becoming increasingly important in the day of the handheld device of the moving picture screen.
As a teacher of 10 years and half those years as a substitute teacher. I would be going in and out of all types of classes and ages groups. I have come to see the development or “Lack thereof” development of a child’s imagination.
When I first started teaching in public schools I was 21. Now I am 28. I can tell a dramatic difference between the child’s imagination and ability to think on their own of 10 years ago and the child’s ability today.
Through my observations over the last 10 years I have observed kids today cannot or are to lazy to – THINK ON THEIR OWN.
The evidence:
Just last week, I had a Kindergartener crying because I gave his class free play time and he could think of what to do and I told him, “Use your imagination.” She started crying!
Also, I gave students random writing prompts when I would sub when teachers didn’t leave enough work for the elementary kids to do. To fill time, I would give fun writing prompts. Such as: Create your own magical world. Write a story and draw a picture to go with it. The kids of 2010 would love it and come up with such unique and innovative stories. Skip ahead to 2017 and kids can’t come up with creative answers to prompts. They are just boring copied stories from something they saw on their video game or T.V.
Then there is the artwork – I would also give creative prompts for drawing a picture. Back in the day every child’s art would be unique to themselves. Now every child’s art looks like his or her neighbor. Or – its art from a video game. Usually, Minecraft. Now we all know art follows life and there is nothing wrong with imitation art. The point being, many students are not using their OWN MINDS to create. Yet, they let others create for them. I believe this is a result of the hand fed entertainment of the flashing screen.
Of course, there are still many creative buggers out there – but these are the ones not 100% attached to an electric devise. Recently, I was in a class of third graders and while everyone else chose personal laptop computers (everyone in the class has one – common in all schools these days). A Little girl named Siri came up to me and said, “I would rather use my imagination than play on the computer.”
I was so impressed. She was full of creative stories and characters. She told the whole class all about them. She told me she was studying how the brain worked. I told her, “everything is energy and we flow energy.” She was aw-inspired. Siri was bright. A True Genius.
In the end, our would will not crumble and life will continue – not as we know it today but in an ever evolving cycle of new technology. Societies will have to adapt to technologies ever changing presence. Our kids will need extra support of the arts and how to create on their own. This has been made well aware to me.
Remember – to try to let your imagination take over.