Teachers are always trying to get kids to buy in, engage, participate, and internalize the lesson of the day. The struggle never ends. The content is mandated and the standardized test is forever looming. It is tragic when a kid gives up on school because they have no connection to the content they are learning.

Innovative Arts is the opposite. The class is designed to help each student pursue their ideas and develop their skills as a creator.

How to get a kid started creating

Elementary school kids are creative, energetic, and motivated creators. It doesn’t much to have them dive into a project confidently. Middle school is when the creator dies in most students. Even the really hard-working students will lose their ability to strike out on their own and be creative.

Educators focus on compliance in class, with homework, and expect students to memorize study the material. My class was no exception. Real creativity has no place in too most classrooms. Even our new, fancy STEM classrooms are giving kids explicit instructions and no true freedom to be a creator of their own type. Obviously, not every kid is that into STEM, nor should they be.

All of this happens while students are rapidly changing, developing, and their social lives are quickly getting more complex. It is no wonder why so few creators remain by the end of middle school.

To get kids started creating without telling them exactly what to do, there are six paths that will help a kid get started. The six creator types start out with little mindset activities (Puzzle), instruction on how technology can help you create quickly (Shift) and with example projects that help you get moving (Create).

The six creator types

Kids start with one of these creator types. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step!

Digital Creator

The kids drawn to this creator type are using their smartphones to record videos, apps to edit them, and sometimes social media to share their work. Photography, videography, game creation, and website design are all touched on.

Designer

Artists and designers overlap and are both included in this creator type. Because of this, the sky is the limit for creative possibilities!

Engineer

We are solving problems, making cool stuff, and using our hands and brains to improve the world around us as engineers. This is the creator that is building something, improving it, and building a better world!

Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs can change the world or they can change their situation and become their own boss. There are many different types of entrepreneurship in the world and most of them do not include going on the show “Shark Tank”

Hacker

Hacker is what we used to be called a “computer wiz.” They get computers to do things for us. Computers run so much of the world that the skills of a hacker are in high demand. Coding is just the beginning.

Wordsmith

A wordsmith is the author of a novel, story, poem, or the curator of ideas and quotes. They can communicate the highest ideas in so many ways!

This is just getting started

If your reading this and wondering why everything is vague and incomplete, it is because it is vague and incomplete. I will be creating complete posts, video footage, and online courses for each of these creator types as we move into 2020. Stay tuned!