20% Closing Presentation
Creating Creative Minds: By Ashley Ball
Personal Impact
Growing up, I have always been a very artistic person. I showed this through writing stories, painting, drawing and playing music. I was happy to have many opportunities in elementary school to take an art class or stay after school for more artistic activities, and my parents always provided me with supplies. But as I've grown up, I have seen fewer and fewer opportunities for these activities and it saddens me know that many kids will grow up never knowing the artistic talent that they have.
Reason For Starting This Project
I have been babysitting for multiple families since I was 12 years old. When I'm spending time with the kids, they always love to do crafts and draw, or go outside and build forts and chalk on the driveway. Kids are naturally creative people and never truly think "inside the box". I love seeing this level of creativity because it allows them to express themselves, solve problems better, and simply have fun. When I was deciding what to do for this project, I started to ask the kids what they do within their school for creative activities. The best response I heard to this was from a fifth grade girl who attends St. Johns. She told me that she never gets to have fun. All they do is work on math problems and grammar. She will then come home from school and do about two hours of homework.
This isn't how a ten year old should be forced to live. The kids are still so young and have an entire lifetime to do the difficult tasks and begin working. I want to be able to bring back regular childhood activities into the school systems.
How It Will Work
I will make this work by staying organized and taking it one step at a time. I will begin with doing research to present to a board or a principal, or whichever person of high power I can reach. This will show the effects of reducing the creative opportunities within schools. I will come up with a basic curriculum for the classes, which will have definite wiggle room; then pitch the idea. If it is approved, I will create a schedule and flyers to paste up and hand out. After every class, I will write a reflection and piece these together, along with some photos, to show how my class helped improve the children's experience within or after school. This presentation will go on to help me prove why in school creative activities should play a role in every day attendance because of the many positive effects on children.