How+does+the+use+of+creativity+affect+a+child's+academic+development?


 *  Annotated Bibliography **
 * Tasha Moskal **

St. George, Donna. (2015, October 14). //More schools are working to integrate the arts into classroom learning.// Retrieved from [] In this article by //The Washington Post,// it examines elementary schools that are benefiting greatly from the integration of adding creativity into a lesson. For example, a story from a third grade class room at Capitol Heights Elementary School discusses how the children are learning about ancient Chinese dynasties, however, instead of testing the children about their knowledge, they are using a much more effective method. The students broke up into small groups singing songs about the topic and rhyming words together. Looking at another school that believes in the same idea is Prince George’s County. This school believes that by integrating this method more into their curriculum, it is resulting in a deeper meaning for the student as he or she is leaning. Along with this, the student is gaining more cognitive thinking, creativity, and being able to bring to life what they are learning. In the article, it explains how studies have proven that the improvement of math and English test scores associates with art in lessons and classrooms. Teachers at Prince George’s have experiences that bringing art into the classroom helps students with collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Creativity triggers a different part of the brain versus what is triggered by piece of paper and pencil. Lastly, the article also says how this method has the most affect on children living in poverty. This article directly addresses the positive outcome of integrating art into academic lessons in elementary classrooms. It discusses personal stories of how students have benefited from fun activities that motivate them to learn, but also demonstrate that they have an understanding of the topic. This article supports how creativity has important benefits to a student’s learning development, and should be supported more nationally. My reaction to this article was that I could not agree more with the way the elementary schools were supported this method of including creativity into the classroom. Something that I found to be very insightful was a quote said by the principal of Capitol Heights Elementary, “It’s about actually being able to speak and give life to what you learned, which is meaningful because the student now owns that” (St. George, 2015). I found this quote to be so eye opening because of the fact that it is absolutely right, giving creativity freedom to the student is allowing him or her to own the information and show complete understanding. This article reinforces the integration of art into classrooms as well as relaying the positive benefits it has in an elementary classroom.

Rich, M. (2015, June 9). //Kindergartens Ringing the Bell for Play Inside the Classroom.// Retrieved from [|http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/education/out-of-the-books-in-kindergarten-and-into-the-sandbox.html] This article by //The New York Times//, discusses a new curriculum that Hilltop Elementary is proposing. This article mentions how even young students are being affected by the Common Core Standards as well as No Child Left Behind as they are taking away more and more creativity away from students and replacing them with lessons and tests. The results from the Common Core are that kindergarteners are even doing what first graders are doing, which means there is no more dramatic play, and no more creative activities Studies have shown that the schools that are cutting back the most on activities and are worrying more about test scores are schools with a higher amount of students living in low income families, as well as a large amount of nonwhite children. On the other hand, more and more schools are introducing purposeful play, in which teachers are guiding lessons and goals through art and activities. The article continues on to discuss how using play helps develop academic knowledge, as well as social skills. Even though the Common Core states that play is considered a valuable activity, studies show that play is the best way children learn as it allows them to be learning many different skills. While this article points out the standards that elementary schools should be meeting, it also discusses how it is unrealistic. I was shocked to see that the Common Core listed play as a valuable activity, but wants teachers to replace that time with tests as well as other lessons. The idea of purposeful play is a method that all schools should be using. As we have read from the past article, children really do learn the most by this method. Purposeful play is a way for a student to learn more than just one skill. By adding more playtime, children are able to have freedom to learn in their own terms, as well as adopting social skill and creativity. Common Core standards are resulting in the way that children are learning and not in a positive way. By taking away play time for students and replacing them with exams, the workload for children is going way up even for young students. Despite all the studies that show how creativity benefits children’s learning development in a classroom, they still continue to make such high standards and expectations in the classrooms.

Antepenko, A. H. (September, 2008). //The Music Connection.// Educational Leadership, 66. Retrieved from [] In this article by //Educational Leadership,// it discusses how music creates a deeper meaning and connection to the child’s learning development. This article tells the story from a fifth grade teacher at Centennial Arts Academy and how music improves her students learning. From her perspective, she experiences that music creates a positive learning environment for her students, as well as creating a stimulating atmosphere where they still are motivated to learn. Her classroom is diverse, so meeting everyone’s needs to learn becomes a challenge, however, music helps to create meaningful learning for all the students. She chooses her music based on the activity that they are going to be doing during that time. The morning requires motivating music such as soft jazz, while learning about World War II requires folk songs. She also discusses how music enhances students to want to write. She found that when music was playing as the students wrote, it was easier for them to get everything onto the page. In addition, she found that words and music together equals a greater meaning of learning to the students. Music created a positive learning environment for the students and improved overall classroom management. This article displays more examples of how music can improve a child’s academic development. This article has proven to me that once again music is a key factor to the improvement of student learning. Not only does it improve creativity and social skill, but it also encourages the student to learn and demonstrate understanding. This article shows how the teacher took initiative in her students learning and integrating creativity in the classroom. By adding creativity to a lesson there are many benefits that it can have for a student. In this case, the students were affected by wanting to learn; as well as improving their writing skills affected the students. I liked the idea of playing music in the morning as a way of encouraging and motivating the students to start the day. These small gestures of integrating music make all the difference. This article has proven how music can help students with their academic learning development, as well as the motivation to want to learn.

Brewer, C. (1995). //Music and Learning.// Bellingham, MA: Zephyr This article from the book Music and Learning, by Chris Brewer, discusses the methods of how to integrate music into the schedule of an elementary classroom’s curriculum. There are many reasons why music helps a student learn. Some of the few are creating a positive learning environment and atmosphere, building anticipation, triggering many different brain waves, increases concentration and focus, as well as providing motivation. Based on this article, there are certain activities in the classroom where music can be used and is the most effective. For example, when it comes to learning information this area can be most useful for students when a rhythm is put with information. An example of this would be creating active learning experiences in which music was played in the background while the lesson was going on. Students are able to retrain more information and focus while music that relates to the topic is playing in the background. In addition, music is most helpful for memorization through beats, songs, and chants. When it comes to attention, attitude, and atmosphere, or the three “a’s”, these make the most difference in student’s when music is incorporated into a classroom. As said before, background music is very important, however, it sets a certain atmosphere for the students that can be soothing and relaxing to loud and motivational. Music is also way to bond the classroom, for example having a song that represents good bye or hello for the students is a great tool for enhancing cooperation and understanding with the kids. This article also discusses the affects of classical music. In this study, students wrote twice as much during an assignment than the students who did not listen to the music. The theory of multiple intelligences was thought up by Howard Gardener, in which he believed that there was not just one form of the way things should be taught, rather he believed that there were many. To name just a few there is visual-spatial, linguistic, and logical-mathematical. He also believed in hands on learning versus mimicking certain skills, and writing all day long. This article discusses the many reasons of why music is so important in a classroom environment. Not only does music set the tone for a classroom, but it also can increase a student’s focus and concentration, as well as motivation to want to learn. This article also talks about The Multiple Intelligence Theory by Howard Garner, which supports the exact idea of why music is such a great tool to bring into lessons in the classroom. The idea that there is not just one way to learn things, but especially being hands on with learning, brings much more understanding to a student. Music has so many benefits for a student in a classroom, and this article is the perfect example of why more teachers should apply this method.

Rozman, J. Č. (2009). Musical creativity in Slovenian elementary schools. //Educational Research//, //51//(1), 61-76. In this article, it discusses a research study in which students and teachers from five different elementary schools received surveys to fill out about music creativity in the classroom. At these elementary schools, they focus on music activities in the first years of elementary such as singing, playing instruments, and listening to music. The results from the research study show that there is no musical creativity in the classroom. Furthermore, the curriculum is based on activities that are being stimulated by music and not actually creating music. The students and teachers both had the same answers when it came to the type of musical activity that is preferred in the classroom, the benefits that come from creative activities, and the difficulty that comes from certain activities. The results of this study show that the problem is not the musical activity, it is the expectations that the teachers have for the activity that are conveyed to the students, as well as the teacher’s role in organizing the activity. The research study displays that the problem is not in the music, it is simply in the way that it is being taught. Teachers are forgetting how important music is to students in their learning and are focusing more are throwing whatever activity they can find for the students. This article shows how teachers and students show the same understanding with which activities are successful, however, there is difference when it comes to musical creativity. The teachers are implementing activities that are stimulating by music, rather than letting the students create the music on their own. This study shows how elementary school teachers can be more educated in music creativity in the classroom. It is important to implement appropriate behavior as well as an activity that will have the most benefits for the students.