Sabrina Ezzeddine

After reading Building forts and drawing on walls: Fostering studentinitiated creativity insides and outside the elementary classroom by David
Rofo I found a new appreciation for students centered classrooms and how
they can develop children into more creative learners. I thoroughly enjoyed
reading Rufos article because of the stories from his classroom that he
shared throughout. Rufos stories for letting students initiate their creativity
inside and outside the classroom were very inique not something you usually
hear about teachers letting their students participate in. The article begins
by telling the importance of art-based learning and how art can enhance
learning for many students and how it can make work more meaningful for
many students. I found the statics interesting to read and believe strongly
that we need to support these finding by giving students more of an art
based curriculum in the classroom. The teachers quest was inspiring to read
how they wanted to develop alternative approaches to teaching that went
beyond traditional procedures and practices. The teacher method of creating
a students centered classroom and working as a community would be a
practice I wish to use in my future classroom. This allowed for the students
ideas to drive the lessons which could open so many doors in their
imagination. I believe using this practice makes students feel more respected
and valued in the classroom which could help for a better learning
environment. From Rufos stories that were shared it inspired the children to
let their creative thoughts flow from the fort and maze activities that were

taken place. These activates promoted so many positives things for the
children so I would consider their approach to fostering students initiated
creativity to be successful in many ways. Lastly I felt it was important how
Rufo reflected on each activity and what it had meant for the students after
they were done. He came realize the students placing their marks on the
walls gave the students a sense of ownership in the classroom. As for
building the forts Roof said it allowed students interact with the architectural
elements inherent in the landscape. I felt as though it was important for the
teachers to try understand how the students were benefiting from these
activities afterward to understand the importance the student doing them.