Monday 1 December 2008

The Tallis Creative Manifesto


The students of the Creativity ARG are about to start formulating their first ideas for The Tallis Creative Manifesto. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and ideas.

18 comments:

gunner tom said...

I really enjoyed the visit to the tate modern. The range of ideas could definitely be imported into a tallis manifesto and has left us with a lot to think about.I definitely agree with the points including that after school clubs should go to your grades and that we need to be able to be trusted to learn. A great day and we got brownies !!!

Jon said...

Here is the initial list of ten points in the Tate's Manifesto for a Creative Britain:

1. We want less formality in schools and more creativity in the classroom
2. Change the curriculum so that our subjects reflect our lives
3. Create spaces where we can vent our creativity
4. Let us have opportunities to take risks so that we are not afraid to try new things
5. We need mentoring to help us get into the creative industries. We don't know how it works
6. We need to gain confidence in ourselves
7. Allow us to learn from each other, to get fresh ideas from cultures other than just our own. We want to mix it up
8. We need it to be easier to use the internet in school
9. Invest money in us because we are the future
10. We are prepared to start at the bottom to make our way up

The two additional points were (as far as I can remember):

11. We want to have the choice between coursework and exams
12. We want to have the things we do outside school accredited

What would we want in our Tallis manifesto?

Me said...

I think manifesto point 4 is really good,

lets have more opportunities to take risks and discover new ways of learning, instead of copying out of a text book.
Also lets have more of an opportunity to do practical work, use new technology and bring it in to the classroom to help us learn and have fun at the same time.

shree said...

i like the idea of point 7 as i think that everyone has something different to offer and if we learn from each other we can all progress better in...life i guess. also i think by doing this it gives us more confidence to be able to let our thoughts be heard and will as a result be able to stand on our own feet when we move on to universtiy and work.
and i like the idea of point 11 as i know that i don't do as well in exams so i would have liked to have the choice between coursework or exams.

Jon said...

What about new ideas that don't appear in the Tate manifesto?

shree said...

i think students shud be given options as to what they want to do in a lesson not just told that you must write an essay or do a storyboard etc. There should be more variety in all lessons and more interactive lessons by that i don't mean using interactive boards i mean going outside and seeing the outer world and how it works to gain more knowledge which will help us in the future.

Douglas Greig said...

I think we need to think about what creative learning looks like so that staff students and parents can work together to make it happen ... more of the time and in more of the places we learn and visit.

I also think this is essential if we are going to tackle any of the challenging ideas in the Manifesto. I think the questions about how we learn together rather than what we learn as individuals are crucial.

I'm also wondering why formality and creativity in opposition? I believe that there has to be some formality in a school or how else can you organise a community of 1800 young people and 350 adults. Perhaps what is more crucial is what the formalities are and whether we all subscribe and own them.

I think the points that students make about discovery, new technologies, choice, and learning together are absolutely essential and I am sure that most adults in the school would agree. The discussion about coursework and exams is one we need to engage the exam boards with. I would like to deliver 100% coursework in all subjects, but the government and society have decided that while there is parity between subjects and qualifications, there is no parity in how students are assessed. Some 'subjects' are not allowed to do any coursework any more.

Anonymous said...

I think the trip to the Tate was amazing it was really interesting to find out about what people from other schools thought about creativity.

I really like the idea of things that we do out side of school should be credited there are lots of things that Tallis offer which allthough are a lot of fun and students get lots of social and praticle benerfits they have little to show at the end of the year?

At the meeting today (after school) it was agreed that a Flickr group would be created I would urge people to get a free Yahoo account (you can use your bt internet user name as well!) and join our group, I belive we will be having regular messages on there and images/videos of creative events will be posted into the group! Log On!!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/ttmanifesto/

Thanks
Tom Wheeler

Soren Hawes said...

I think one point to be considered could be to be more creative about what we consider creativity to be. The event at Tate Modern was great, but quite a few people still seemed to identify creativity with particular activities or even certain subjects. I think we need to encourage people to recognise that creativity is way of thinking, responding, researching, sharing, making, problem-solving ... and so much more.

Soren Hawes

Jon said...

I agree with Mr Hawes. Here are a few things I'd like to see included in the Tallis manifesto:

* actively encourage more divergent/lateral thinking so that young people are encouraged to generate multiple solutions to particular problems

* Promote the value of problem-posing, asking challenging questions and other forms of curiosity as an integral part of the learning process

* create ways of identifying, developing and celebrating the particular talents of young people to help motivate them

* Encourage all learners to take risks and make mistakes

* Create conditions which provide opportunities for learners to experience creative flow, a state in which the level of challenge is slightly greater than the learner's skills, so that they are neither bored nor stressed and must acquire new skills constantly, thus developing their capacity for life-long learning

Amber Rowe said...

Just a thought:

How can creativity be defined, it seems to change with time?

On an indiviual level I think students' attention should be on how their personal interests interact with their school topics, and that the combination of these will provide a reflection on how they learn. In turn encouraging them to be more active within everyday lessons.

Also I think teachers should assist students to understand that the academic development and processes that they are taught in a formal school environment are no different to the typical 'creative' subject. It's a way of learning and exploring just like the way you might play a game.

Soren Hawes said...

I think Amber makes a really important point here. Playfulness and play are often seen as a distraction to real work - but I think experimentation, tinkering, pottering, trying and failing, attempting another way and solving a problem are all so vital to developing an independent, creative and and rewarding attitude to learning.

Of course creativity needs rigour, determination, tenacity and formality but it strikes me that the pleasure of play is a vital starting point for all that could follow.

Soren Hawes

gunner tom said...

I think creativity is tunnelled through only certain lessons at the moment- those which have a more practical element (art, drama etc ) -subjects with that obvious creative label. But it's a way of thinking and doing and can be used within a range of lessons. It could be a struggle as teachers who may have been teaching in the same way for many years may need some convincing (or should i say encouragemnent??)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Gunner Tom on what he has said. I am sure that a few teachers will not agree with using creativity in lessons however I think that it is important to have uniformity with in lessons. At the moment it seems that a lot of less "vocational" subjects are obviously more creative then the academic subjects, I think that the group needs to try and get all the subjects at Tallis trying different approaches to how students are taught???

shree said...

creativity is seen differently through everyones eyes and i think if we could use our own individually creativity in our lessons then all lessons would b super creative as everyone would be able to share their ideas in new creative ways that they think of as opposed to the students doing something 'creative' which has been set by the teacher because though the teacher may see the task as creative not all the students will see it that way

i don't know if that made any sense in anyway hopefully it did to someone

Rob Thomas said...

There are some really interesting points here. I empathize with the enjoyment factor. I always learn more effectively if I enjoy the subject I am working on. I also believe that better learning occurs when we feel the stuff we are learning has value perhaps because it will be useful for us in later life. This could help to inform our curriculum choices.

Rob Thomas said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jon said...

I think the process of re-presenting is vital to learning. There's no denying that knowledge is important, but the re-shaping of knowledge for a particular purpose and/or audience should be at the heart of deep learning. High quality ICT can help enormously with this but it's not essential. What is important is having access to the time and space necessary to use one's imagination and skills and take a few risks. There is a great deal of value in the ability to disassemble and purposefully remake stuff.