Turning thoughts to action--the most creative step: we hold students to task for the facts and information they can remember, rather than what they can create with the information they have learned.

There's a fountain in my front yard. I created it. Some might call it a pile of rocks, but each day as I arrive home from work and walk by it, I can't help but smile. The rocks themselves were collected by my father-in-law, an avid rockhound. He spent hours cutting, polishing and tumbling his finds, but the specimens in my fountain were just too interesting as is to be refined any further.

The act of creating

For many years they were strategically placed around his garden, but when my in-laws' home needed to be sold, these gems found their way to our home. For a long time they also sat scattered in the yard, but there is something wonderful about the way water brings out the color of a stone. Plus, the sound of tumbling water soothes the soul, when one stops to listen.

I began to wonder if there was some way I could turn this collection of rock into a "water feature." Especially intriguing was the thought of the water emerging from the stones like a mountain spring, and then disappearing back into the earth.

For months I cogitated about how the stones could be supported over a submerged pond, and worried about how to keep this project from just looking like a pile of rocks in the front yard. Finally, I decided to just build the thing. That decision, to stop thinking and start doing, may have been the most creative step in the whole process. For without action there can be no creating.

In schools, the act of creating is considered the highest of the cognitive levels. Yet, almost none of the ways students are held accountable has anything to do with what they can create. We hold students to task, for the most part, based on what they can remember and, hopefully, understand.

Before I built my fountain I could tell you that I had some beautiful rocks in my yard. Now that I've created the fountain I can tell you something about each stone.

I know that the serpentine boulder weighs 80 pounds and has a notch that perfectly fits a chipped hunk of jasper found near Sonora Pass. I know that if I balance a chunk of petrified wood just so on a piece of granite, a small waterfall will splash and reveal the color of an ancient forest.

I've learned so much about these stones because I've created something with them.

The ability to creatively adapt

How often do our students have the chance to create with the facts, information and skills we believe are so important for them to learn? What is the point of learning that information if they don't have the chance to create? Given the shape our world is in, the ability to creatively adapt may be our only hope.

And, even if we don't, there is much to be said for being able to stop for a moment and enjoy what one has created--even if it's merely the sound of water tumbling over a rock.

George Manthey is assistant executive director of ACSA's Educational Services Department.