Learning About One's Creative Capacities

I rubbed chalk all over a paper then I put paint all over it. Next I put dots all over the paper and outlined them. And that was how I made it.

Artist statements reveal much about a child's creative process. These windows into the learner's creative capacities reveal degrees of independent thinking, unique interests, attention to learning activity and confirmation of uniqueness and individuality.

Learner directed experiences matter because when learners are outside the structure of the classroom, what structures are they left with to support the continuation of their creative thinking? The truth? They are left with memories of their experience. How interesting the activity is to the learner determines how much attention the learner is going to invest into the learning event. How attentive were children during their learning activities?  How deep and compelling the experience is, and how much of the learning process the learner accepts into his or her character, determines how long memories and learning will last. This process can become cyclical.

Choice art teachers provide learners with ample opportunities to develop authentic multi-sensory, trans-disciplinary learning experiences, generated from and attached to existing memories and interests that have deep roots within the mind.

Affirming children's time sensitive ideas, allowing them to discover their own styles and capacities for independent thinking will unlock their emotional drive and set them on a course toward future self-directed pathways where they become confident, active, independent learners and metacognitive thinkers.