Killing Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson’s video on schools killing creativity hit home for me. It left me to ponder, are schools killing creativity? Do I kill creativity? My first answer was no, absolutely not! But the more I think about it, the more I think maybe I used. I used to expect each child to produce an exact replica of my answer but I am trying hard not to do that anymore.
I always preface myself by saying I teach primary mathematics, which I believe is a lot different than teaching elementary, junior high or high school math, and I don’t mean just the content. But I mean in the strategies we use and the ‘leeway’ we have in how we teach mathematics. In primary, we are not so much concerned with ‘the right answer’ as so much as the process and connecting to the real world. In a time where differentiated instruction is the ‘buzz word’, teachers need to connect their curriculum with the types of learners and the different learning styles of each student in their classroom. I have the flexibility as a primary teacher to ask each student to demonstrate their understanding of a pattern and I can accept the different answers given to me, whether the student drew their answer, spoke their answer, clapped their answer or danced their answer. However, I am sure this is not the case in older grades. I feel the older the students get, the less risk they will take because it has been modeled repeatedly that there is only one ‘correct’ answer and if a student is not mathematically inclined then they fall to the wayside and are not given other ways to represent their knowledge. After all, mathematics is not creative; it is a step by step procedure with a given outcome, right? Wrong! Mathematics is only as creative as the teacher.

References:
Robinson, Ken. Do Schools Kill Creativity? Feb 2006. Keynote Address.