Module 1: What's the Big Idea?

I am the least creative person I know, though I am trying to work harder with regards to my creativity as I get older. I have grown to LOVE photography! I LOVE taking pictures and am known as my family’s “photographer.” I even went out and bought an expensive DSLR camera (though I still need to take a class on how to use it). When I saw the zoom in assignment I was SO excited, but when it came down to finding an object and getting creative with taking pictures of it, I failed! I sware I am creativity impaired. Chapter 2 in Sparks if Genius really hit the nail on the head for me. It discusses how knowing about something is different than actually understanding it. That is me! I believe that I am a very intelligent woman who knows a lot. My weakness is actually understanding or synthesizing (as stated in chapter 16) things. I have trouble thinking at a higher level and as an educator this is very hard for me to grasp. Maybe I think at a higher level, but am unable to explain how so. This leads to the reasoning behind why I am taking this course. This is not a course that I need to get my MAET Masters Degree, it is one that I am taking for myself and to improve the possibilities of implementing creativity into my daily lessons.

I am hoping that this course opens up my mind and allows me to use all of my senses and perceive things in different ways (Chapter 16 again touches on this). I have a strong feeling that this is what I need to make a difference in how I see things and if I see things differently, I believe I can present (teach) lessons more creatively (as stated in Chapter 1)- I know without being able to say how.

In my personal life, I don’t think I am very creative but chapter 1 states, “To think creativity is to feel.” I am very emotional and I am in touch with my feelings. I find myself constantly relating how I feel to things such as music, stories, movies, letters, etc. Would this then be a form of creativity that I am expressing? If so, I need to figure out a way to take my personal creativity and apply it to what I teach and how I learn.