What do you want to be when you grow up?
I love asking that question to kids.What do you want to be when you grow up? Kindergarteners and first graders are the quickest to answer - and they usually have two asnwers at the ready. Unusual pairings like — race car driver or lawyer. Ballerina or president. I think that kids are on to something. They are able to see creative possibilities. The same brain, energy and spirit might be able to do either job - or even combine them. The singing dentist. The pilot author. The dancing President.
How do we encourage this kind of creative thinking in grades beyond first grade?
By the way, it is never too late to ask “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The happiest people I know are still taking their time to grow up.
February 11th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Great post Peter. I asked that question when I was running another company … and after I answered it, I left and joined you! I agree - it’s an EXCELLENT question - and one we should keep asking. If we answer it right, we have the fuel for a meaningful journey.
February 11th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Thanks, Paul. So - what do YOU want to be when you grow up? : )
February 17th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Welcome back, everyone! I’m glad to see you are up and running again. At the beginning of the school year, as we set up my first “North Star Classroom,” I asked the second grade children to complete their hopes and dreams for the year. For one section they had to answer this questions…If you could do anything in the world this year, what would it be (their big dream). Their responses were things like, read a book, do math, etc. I had to teach them what it meant to dream, but still, some of them couldn’t express their big dreams. I was very surprised. In talking to a group of teachers, I discovered that at other schools in other grades, teachers have tried the same type of prompt with the same results–our children are experiencing dream deficit disorder. It is surprising to have to teach imagination, but it is also a fun thing to develop in these young children. There’s so much potential!
March 4th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
“Dream Deficit Disorder” - cool way to put it. And scary. While I was in Palm Springs this past week at the California Computer Using Educator’s Conference I had several conversations with educators who are very worried that their students are losing the ability to think/create … with so much entertainment media filling their every moment (from mobile-no-matter-where-I-am gaming and tune-out-the-world iPods) … we are cultivating a generation of consumers vs. creators. I think this has to be one of the banners of this community: Consume Less - Create More.