If I had the opportunity to ask all the teachers (and prospective teachers) I know one question it would be "what does creativity mean to you?" Last year I had a class on creativity and imagination in the curriculum and I must admit it has completely transformed the way I see myself as both a teacher and a learner. I feel sad for other student teachers who were not fortunate enough to take this elective because I think at the end of the day creativity is one of the essential elements to being human. As teachers we need to recognise that if we want students to be creative, act creative, and think creative, we must first understand what these things mean.

This is a topic that continues to inspire and change my thinking and something I hope to write about further in the future

Labels: creativity, teaching

Now that I am coming to the end of my teacher education there are a lot of different things weighing on my mind. The first and obvious thing I am nervous about is finding a job. It is scary to think about answering interview questions and submitting resumes for a job I am so passionate about. There is also the competition factor and the fact that there will probably be hundreds of other students graduating this year that I will be up against. I have to try and figure out what makes me so special and different from all these others in order to find a job.

Another major question weighing on my mind is whether I should teach primary or early childhood. I am really struggling with this decision because certainly their are elements of both that I really connect with. The beauty of doing a dual degree is that I have more options but it also makes it harder to decide where I'm heading. I figure to try and make this decision I should probably make a list of all the things that I love about both jobs and then go from their.

Pros for early childhood
- creativity is a major player in most early years classrooms more so than in primary
- more flexibility and freedom to develop the curriculum around students interests
- great structure of collaborative planning and team teaching
- Community focused and high levels of family engagement
- no national testing
- setting a foundation and love of learning that can set students on the right path for the rest of their education
- massive skill shortage and change of government subsidies means there are many early childhood education jobs available. 
- I am passionate about teaching in the early years

Pros for Primary school 
- Generally a greater opportunity for infusing technology into the classroom
- Greater in school support network, more teachers, more opportunities for advice
- Can see students progress through school and maintain a relationship with them for longer than your may in ece.
- clearly developed union support
- Many of my university peers are heading towards primary school education
- maybe one day I could instigate change and a shift towards the structure that I love about ece.
- there are many lead teachers to help with curriculum areas such as maths, English, science ect.
- the sorts of conversations and topics explored in the upper primary levels and very inspiring and enlightening.
-the days are longer but time seems to pass so much faster with the set up of primary classes
- I am passionate about teaching in the early years

 Ah! I just don't know even listing my favourite things about each makes me love them a little bit more. I realise that it may be possible to do both but I am sceptical about how this would go. I have also been thinking that maybe I would like to do a masters some day and that throws me as well because I don't know how that would fit with being a full time teacher. 

i think ultimate goal would be to work in a school that has both early childhood and primary education but unfortunately i don't know many schools like that around where I live.

So my question to you is what would you do in my position?

Labels: decisions, ECE, education, primary education, teaching

this video is asks some critical questions about the state of education today
Why do we quash childrens natural inclination to be creative?
what is the purpose?

what could the world be like if we nurtured this instead of destroying it?

Labels: creativity, education, Ken Robinson