Juxtapositions for Creative and Critical Thinking Essays

Juxtapositions for Creative and Critical Thinking Essays Juxtapositions for Creative and Critical Thinking Essay Juxtapositions for Creative and Critical Thinking Essay Essay Topic: Critical Thinking Juxtapositions for Creative and Critical Thinking On September 20, 2012 I attended the Core Convocation held at St. Catherine University in the O’ Shaughnessy Theater. The topic of the Core Convocation was entitled Juxtapositions and Mental Gymnastics, instructed by Geri Chavis. Chavis is an English Professor at the University of St. Catherine. She has been teaching at the university for some thirty five years or so. She is involved in therapeutic use of poetry for healing. She exclaimed her love for literature of the Romantic period and her fascination of multidisciplinary or integrated education. Chavis refers to her approach to education as â€Å"horizontal interactions†. This Idea of â€Å"horizontal interactions† basically describes what she calls the juxtaposition, where two or more completely opposite ideas, subjects, media, excreta can be linked somehow. In education this linking becomes important. I think it helps the students actually learn verses just memorizing material in order to pass a test. When subjects are presented in a manor so that they can be linked it creates not only repetition but also a new light in which to view things, like that â€Å"ah ha moment† in which one truly understands something for the first time. Last semester I attended the University of Minnesota Rochester. There, they pride their college courses on being integrated. All my classes from Calculus, to Biology, to The History of Terrorism could be linked in one way or another. I found this concept that Chavis also described as â€Å"linking knowledge across fields† to be extremely useful based on my own experiences. I am very good at memorizing material. I typically get good grades in school, but I feel that in the past I have actually â€Å"learned† very little. If I had to retake some of the tests I aced then I would fail miserably. I found that I actually â€Å"learned† more last semester; I was able to make that linkage and apply it to my studies to which I actually understood the material. I found that I have carried that ability to link my courses into my first semester at St. Catherine’s and it has greatly improved my ability to understand subject material, to be able to produce well educated opinions and to allow my thinking to be both creative and critical. Chavis discusses how spontaneity or creative thinking and ogic or critical thinking goes hand and hand. She used a visual of overlapping circles to show how the subjects can be linked and promote creativity with language. Chavis challenges the viewers to write about their shoes. I had fun describing the color, texture, design and comfort of my shoes. She then adds more criteria, telling us to talk about where our shoes have taken us. I loved this writing. I usually h ave difficult time thinking about what to write but I found that literally describing my shoe led to giving it personality. Once my shoe had personality my writing turned into a story of a journey through the perspective of my shoes. Everyone knows shoes don’t think or have feelings, but they do all have a story and it was fun to dive into what that story might be. Chavis then read a poem called Poison Tree by William Blake. The poem describes anger as though it was a tree. The author water his tree with more built up anger until it grows with in him until it becomes self-destructive. She then played a song that was inspired by the poem she had just read bringing new light onto the meaning of the poem. I found it interesting how I was able to connect with the meaning of the poem more through the musical version verses the poem. I think many people can relate to this poem. We are often more likely to express our emotions with those we love. Getting issues off our chest, so to speak, allows us to move on. But deep rooted anger that is not released only grows until it becomes self-destructive or explosive into something far darker than the issue itself. I enjoyed the Core Convocation. I don’t think I realized the â€Å"links† between the topic and my life until I put my thoughts into this reflection paper. I would have liked to have driven deeper into some of the topics Chavis was discussing. I felt we only scratched the surface of many ideas. Once one is able to make connections between multiple ideas it was kind of fun to try and find more. Although, I still find expressing my thoughts through writing Chavis’s exercises helped me to allow creativity to flow, especially the shoe exercise. I wish I had someone there to help me do that all the time. Writing would be much more fun and less of a chore for me.