Metacognition: MindBooks (projects)

When mindbooks were first introduced to my class there was so much pressure to complete them correctly. This pressure came from the examples Mr. Allen had talked about during class. When first looking at the many mindbook prompts I was once again intimidated because of the vast number of ones to choose from as well as the variety. After reading all the requirements and the instructions of how a mindbook entry should be done it was only the smallest bit easier to understand the task at hand. Mr. Allen then said that the entry should challenge you and become something that you did not expect. This sentence alone told me all I had to know.

As soon as I started on my first entry with reassembling a magazine picture my initial approach stood, but the original background did not. The changing of the backdrop was not intentional as I began to add to the entry with colored pencils and markers. Adding on made my mind go wild as I began to think of the vast possibilities of what I could do to enhance the composition of the entry. I was very effective with this approach of the unknown because it let me contribute to what I had already created. With traditional assignments I would be more planned and informed of what I have to do but with this task it was unlike any other. Not knowing what to do is the beauty of these assignments because its lets your mind explore and do what you normally would not.

What I love about the way I think is most times its out of the box. Many teachers may not like out of the ordinary approaches when it comes to homework or writing papers but being able to express yourself in a way you did not know you could even accomplish makes the product even more rewarding. I am also a visual learner and if I do not have a picture or diagram to follow it becomes very hard for me to memorize things. For example when I write notes they are different than most notes that you would see anyone else write. My notes are organized with many headings short phrases and aesthetically pleasing placement on the paper. The placing of my notes helps me more times than not when memorizing something for a class. If time was endless, then my entries would be one of a kind. The limited time in the day only hinders students homework because they could be completed in much more descriptive and thorough manner.

Best of Week: Sharing MindBooks

The best activity of the whole week was having the class brag about others mindbooks. When sharing our mindbooks in groups, it was interesting to see the different approaches everyone had on their entrys. Some used colored pencil while others used magazine cutouts. It was exciting to see how everyone thinks differently and expresses themselves in odd and inspiring ways.

For example, Kevin drew a portrait of himself in caricature form using sharpie and crayon. Kevin not only drew himself as a child but also as an overweight child with a bottle of spray paint in his hand. This was a good representation of himself because he is always up to stir a bit of trouble. I also was intrigued by his entry because he wanted to show a side of him and share it with everyone. He also used crayon to draw his skin pink, which was an interesting view of how he thought he should look.

Watching individuals minds at work made me feel as if I had an entry into my peers minds. I was then able to feel as if I was communicating with them on the same level because I placed myself in their shoes. I was able to connect with my peers for a moment that was not just a surface connection. This made me feel a sort of trust in my peers because they were allowing me to jump inside of their brains. I enjoyed sharing mindbooks because it would also allow others to understand each other better and when accepting and getting along with others it creates an energy in the classroom that is contagious. The liveliness taking place is needed at the end of the day because most students are waiting for the bell to ring to go home.

The sense of trust that I got while looking at every ones mindbooks is the same idea used in my gym class, Adventure ed., to ensure that we are keeping each other safe when climbing the rock wall. I can apply this idea of working openly with a class to allow relationships to grow beyond just an acquaintance in my class. Being able to place myself in others shoes and really getting to know them is more valuable than just keeping an impression that may be horrendously wrong.

Connection: Vertical thinking and AP art class

Learning about vertical thinking allowed me to explain what I have enjoyed doing in two words. As Mr. Allen began to explain that vertical thinking is taking individual parts from a whole, for example a song, and dividing it into its basic parts, (melody, harmony) you really examine the song and hear all it has to offer. Most people only skim the surface when listening to a song and stick to concentrating to the melody because more times than not they are the highest and easiest notes heard. Mr. Allen had us listen to the song in three specific ways and during those three different times we were supposed to hear something different. The first time we heard the song we were supposed to differentiate the left hand on the piano, the right hand on the piano and then concentrate on placing those two separate parts together in a way that you would lose yourself in the music. Labeling this type of thinking allowed me to describe how I feel about music and art in a way that others can understand.

This year I have taken upon myself the challenge of taking AP art. This experience is going to be an exciting and inspirational time in my life and in doing so I must use this type of thinking to critique works of art and make decisions of how I want my pieces to ultimately look. This directly connects to how you look at the composition of the work, for example, if there is something in the background? Is there is a vanishing point? If so, how are the other objects positioned? Is there an object of concentration, what is the mood that is inflicted on the observer? What choice of color is used to set a tone or idea? What about the lighting allows the work to come to life? When all of these questions can be answered together it is what really makes a work of art breath taking.

Vertical thinking will serve as a focus when looking at paintings or sculptures for me in the future. It has also provided me with clarity of what I had been previously doing before, which was slowly analyzing why a certain artist was so successful in his execution. This type of thinking is a lot deeper than most and really allows you to open your ears eyes and your heart to what you may have been missing the first time you saw or heard something. When exposing yourself in this manner, you can apply different feelings to the work of art and you remember that piece of art work a lot longer than another painting that has no meaning to you. For this reason, you can also differentiate a good movie from a bad movie. Due to this, you can describe a good movie as opening a book of I spy because you catch a new clue every time you watch the movie.

Carry It Forward: IDEO video

After watching Dateline: IDEO it got me thinking about how I would embrace working with others differently. I do not want to wake up every morning to sit in a desk and think about how others are judging me. As the founder began to talk about his company, he had innovative ways of how to run his office. The ambiance of the working space was decorated and bizarre and it suited the creative innovators. From hanging bicycles on the ceiling to airplane wings coming out of the walls, this place was completely abnormal, to say the least. Even with all these corky additions to the workplace there was nothing more outstanding than the way he worked with his employees.

The way the founder interacted with his employees intrigued me and therefore got me to think of the ways that I would want to use those methods in the future. One of the outrageous methods the founder would use was the lack of job titles at his company. No one, not even him, had a job title at the work place. With this established in the workplace it created a sense of equality among the employees and therefore everyone was more focused on inventing than the competitiveness of the sales aspect.

Seniority was also not important to his company because the founder said that great whacky ideas are what get you ahead in this company, not how many years you have been working. Coming up with creative inventions was the intention for that workplace and was gladly welcomed as all kept and open mind and accepted and added on to others ideas. Without someone speaking up and starting the bizarre ideas no can add on to the invention or divergently think about how to make or change a product. Having an open mind is extremely important if you want to work with others.

Open mindedness would serve most of the students at GBS a lot of good. Most students are too caught up with what there wearing or what everyone else is doing or saying to even begin thinking about something other than what everyone else is thinking. Due to this, some become insecure with themselves and it alters how they think they should act in front of others. I think it is a shame to waste precious time on superficial things that do not mean much in the end. If we all conform to the norm and don’t keep an open mind we will never see the greatness that it can bring out in all of us.

After watching this film, it then made me think of how I can approach others more effectively rather than taking a ten second impression of them that could be horrendously wrong. Judgments and stereotypes only go so far in this world and getting to really know others is more important than disliking them for the rest of the year. The office space in IDEO really opened my eyes to staying open minded with others to positively affect my classrooms and how the rest of everyone’s day may go.