What's the Big Idea? - Week 2

Observing and Thinking

1. Define and give examples of thinking skills:
1. Observing - This chapter was taking the time to notice the details in an object, and in doing so seeing that object differently. The book provided a picture that look like abstract art at first glance, but actuallly contained an image of a bird. I tried to keep this concept in the forefront of my mind when taking pictures for the Veja Du exercise.
2. Imaging - This thinking skill described the ability of an individual to visualize a problem and resolve the problem in the mind as if they were working with something physical. The book gave several examples of scientist, artist, and writers who were able to visualize their work in its entirety.
2. How do these thinking skills affect my creativity?
1. Observation: I am inspired by the complexity of simple things. There is commonality that everyone can relate to when describing simple things, and when you can find something new about simple things, it makes it interesting.
2. Imaging: I utilize creativity very similar to example provided in the book. It is definitely something that I tap into in a professional capacity. I work as a technical trainer, and I work extensively with training deleivery tools, and I am able to understand how to use and integrate different systems in my mind. I also like to write poetry and when I am inspired to writem the poem is feels like it is revealed to me, yet it exists in my mind as a complete entity.
3. My ability to teach creatively is impacted in these ways:
1. Observation: I use observation in the classroom to pay attention to comments that made, body language, the level of interaction. All of these things give me information as an instructor to adjust the message that I am sending so that I can communicate more effectively. In the future, I plan to use the Observation tool as a method of engage the class participants and encourage discussion.
2. Imaging: After reading the chapter, I identified with the feeling of frustration shared among highly visual people. In my job I often struggle with explaining a solution that I am working on, because it usually involves more than the immediate problem. When I am trying to resolve an issue, I typically thinking 5- 7 consequential problems as well. What I got from this book that I think would help me, is understanding that everyone doesn't process problems visually. Many of my coworkers would prefer an algebraic approach. Testing and controling every variable. From now on I plan to be more descriptive whn explaining a solution to help create the picture that I have in my mind. Additionally, this skill can be used to help other think creatively by using strong pictures help illustrate learning point in the classroom. Since many people are visual thinkers, pictures would them understand.