Marin SEL: Creation Station! By Chiara Cameron and Ember Vosmek-Park

In our world, there are so many problems that need solutions. However, the solution cannot be just anything: it needs to work for everyone and still solve the problem. To think of these ideas we need creativity, however studies are indicating that children’s creativity scores are decreasing (Bronson and Merriman). This may be caused by schools not emphasizing kids’ creativity and out of the box thinking. The answers to the questions are either A, B, C, or D, which does not help students solve real world problems or help to think of creative solutions. Luckily, there are twenty-five students in Marin who get to be in MSEL. In so many ways we get to be creative and act like adults, making sure that problems get fixed and questions get answered and to do this we really have to expand beyond “normal” thinking.

For instance, in Mr. Madsen’s class we have created our own imaginary environmentally-friendly summer camp. We have a budget, as we would in the “real world,” and we have to choose how we get our shelter, food, water, and energy. We use our creativity to see what would work best for the campers and what is the most cost-efficient. There is no “right” answer for this summer camp. The answer is what we decide as a class with each individual person’s creative ideas. We began with one partner creating and developing our ideas for the camp, then combined with two more groups, developing a plan to incorporate every one's ideas in an innovative way. And finally as one unit we, the class, listened to every one’s perspective and make our final decision. For this project we did not have to simply bubble in an answer with our #2 pencil; we had to communicate, problem solve, and create--skills used in the real world. Additionally, we came up with environmental jobs that we could do. Although some people thought of jobs that already existed, many thought of clever and imaginative ideas, like Ani. She thought of a job where people bring in their old clothes that cannot be worn anymore because of a hole or stain. Then, she would design something that looks new and fashionable like a scarf, purse, or even some socks from the remnants. Without creativity, these jobs would not be conceived and we would never have a store like this. On the other hand, Meredith wanted to become a Marine Biologist, an existing job; another idea was to help fix windmills and work with all the parts in the generator of a windmill an existing technology. A man named Torrance led an experiment about creativity and this is what he found: “Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers” (The Creativity Crisis). So thanks to Mr. Madsen's encouragement of our creativity, we will have entrepreneurs, like Ani along with Marine Biologists like Meredith.

Ms. Leonhart’s English class has helped us connect with our creative instincts. Ms. Leonhart played us a rap that is still stuck in my head, but this was not just any rap. It was about “Plot, character, conflict, theme, setting! Yes! These are the five things that you’re going to be needing when you’re reading or writing a short story that's mad exciting!" I woke up this morning still singing this little rap from Flocabulary. Creative approaches to teaching can make a huge difference. If Ms. Leonhart had said, “You need plot, character, conflict, theme, and setting in your writing,” I would have just took that information and moved on never thinking about it again, especially on my weekend. But, because I heard everyone singing it all day I will not be forgetting it soon. In English we are working on creating characters who live in the quirky, mystical town of Milagro in The Milagro Beanfeild War. Every person develops his or her character out of pieces of themselves and people they know, whether conscious of it or not. Some characters reflect who we are, who we want to be, someone close to us, or an imaginary friend from your past; they can be whoever the writer wants them to be. One of the most important lessons that we have learned this week is that you have to use your creative imagination as well as your insight on other people and personal experience to make your character someone that the reader can relate to or sympathise with. Any story, but The Milagro Bean Field War especially, is based on the characters, and how they react to different situations and events. The plot should build off the characters; you should not determine your plot and then try to fit your characters into it. As Dr. Seuss said, “I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. Then in the end, I go back and try to cut out most of the preachments.” Every character we create, every story we build is unique and creative; just the way it is.

Even in Zargar’s Biology class, we found something creative to think about. We have been doing punnet squares and looking at traits of plants and even human beings. The genes or traits that are passed down from the parents to the child are what make a person individual, and it creates their own creative side. In many cases, if both parents are carriers for a recessive trait then the child will have their very own trait that was not visible and did not come up in the parent, making them different. The definition of creativity is “having the quality or power of creating” (Dictionary.com) and the definition of creating is “to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.” (Dictionary.com) There could not be a better definition that would relate to biology. To cause something unique is exactly what parents do by creating a child.

In Seminar, we are creating a proposal to give to Mr.  Christensen about how to help our school to become a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly school. As Ms. Leonhart said, “Creativity changes minds,” and that is exactly what we are hoping to do. So instead of a document some people wanted to create a poster. A poster would be much more visual and creative and it could, possibly, change Mr. Christensen’s mind about the energy we use. We have noticed that we want to learn and change if we are taught in a creative way, whether a rap, visual, or hands on.

Mr. Garcia’s health and P.E. class also involved some creativity. We watched a movie about Erin Brochovich, a brave single mother of three kids who exercises creative problem-solving, despite the general stereotypes that are connected with daring, beautiful, and completely broke women like herself. After watching this movie, I found myself wanting to fight for causes like Erin’s in the future. Taking our innovation to a physical level, we had to use our creativity to find a way to exercise at home, after school on Thursday and Friday, then get a slip signed by our parents saying that we did the physical exercise. Even though we barely had this class this week or did any activities in it to challenge our creativity, it is an example of how  we can always find ways to connect creativity to our every-day lives.

The evidence shows that being creative is extremely important to fantastic jobs and minds that can problem solve and find solutions to tricky situations like global warming. Albert Einstein said “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” This idea describes global warming perfectly. It shows that you must develop plans and create solutions and we cannot just continue our lives using the energy that we use. Without realizing i,t every student in MSEL is receiving a fantastic lesson in creativity, and every class in MSEL pushes our creativity making us think more and leading us on the path to success.