Inventiveness

Inventiveness is one of those areas that is extremely hard to judge and grade.  Children should always be encouraged to be more creative in the classroom, whether it's giving them free time to work on whatever project they wish, or giving them more set guidelines, yet still with a sense of freedom, such as assigning time for creative writing, or an art project of their choice.  In order to vary it from normal, everyday schoolwork, teachers should grade on effort, and not necessarily the looks of the end result of whatever project they complete.  However, saying this statement also warrants the question - but shouldn't students who are more creative be rewarded for their project?  Of course there are always students who have been gifted with a bigger imagination than the rest, and therefore are able to write, draw, or in general, think, more creatively.  These students should be rewarded for their inventiveness, yet the students who have more average, or even lesser, creativity than the top students should still be encouraged as well.  I believe creativity is something that can grow over time, especially with the right encouragement and opportunities. Although it may grow at different rates in different students, each and every student has the potential to create something truly unique because each student has a different way of seeing the world.  Allowing and encouraging creativity in students is extremely important because every new child will see the world with a new pair of eyes and will bring about even greater changes.  All of our technology today, everything we use on a daily basis, was created by a student who thought differently and was given, or fought for, the opportunity to pursue their ideas.