Metacognition: Organization

When I work on an essay or project, I normally come up with my ideas as I am writing or creating the project. I find that I get the most inspiration when I am in the moment and working on the project. Normally brainstorming isn't very helpful.

            Now that I'm actually thinking about the process I go through when I create something, I realize that the way my brain works in kind of funny. I easily become stressed, and one way to avoid that is being organized. I try to keep all my stuff together and avoid becoming overwhelmed.

However, when I am creating, one would think that for an organized person, there would be some organization or planning before a piece of work is completed. But to be honest, even as I'm writing this, I am literally just writing out word for word everything that I am thinking of. In a way I guess that is brainstorming, but it ends up being my final copy. I guess that whatever I write the first time is the complete truth, which is what I want people to see about me. Not some edited, changed work that I can barely consider my own. Sure, I would have made it, but it wouldn't be as truthful to me because I altered it based on what I thought other people would like to hear.

I think whatever I am doing now is working just fine for me. I don't think that I will consider changing the way that I write because then it wouldn't be Becca's writing, it would be Becca's teacher's writing. I don’t want to have my work be conformed into the ‘proper’ way to write. I want it to be unshaped and unchanged from what comes out of my mind. I'm sure that I would be able to get my thoughts more organized if I did a little bit of planning ahead of time, but based on past experiences of experimenting with that, it has just been too stressful and time consuming. I take time in what I write as it is, but the most creative ideas come up when I am in the middle of writing or doing a project.  

Best of Week: Let's ace this class

                From now until the end of my schooling carreer, according to Mr. Allen, I will be able to ace all of my classes. What we learned in class this week that really caught my attention was the question of "how do you know if you know something?" Normally when I read an article or a book, I'll go through an entire page before realizing that I didn't understand any of it. In class the other day, we learned to take apart different elements from the work and try to gain some understanding of it. Whenever I come across an unfamiliar word, I'll normally glance over it. Although we all know this in the back of our minds, I finally realized that when you take the time to actually look up the word, it will be much more beneficial in the long run becuase it allows one to understand the article on a deeper level.
                You know that you know something when you can repeat it back in your own words. We started discussing this is class and I thought that just by having awareness of what is going on would help to know something. However, you could be aware of something you are reading and still not understand it.When we can put something in our own words, we will truly be able to understand it. What really helps to do this is by taking unfamiliar words, and learning their definitions.
                This makes me think about what I might be doing wrong when I read an atricle. If I just take the time to read something thouroughly and try to grasp the correct meaning of it, I will probably be able to improve my grades. I'm not a big believer of small things that can drastically change a persons grade because of my past experiences of struggling to improve my grade, but this seems to make a ton of sense. I will deffinatley test out this method throughout the course of this year and see if it helps my grade and understanding.

Connection: Creativity in Work and Music

             The other day we watched a video about a company that does their work a little bit out of the norm. This company used creativity in their work space to create adventurous minds to use to their advantage. When trying to invent something, we noticed from the video that it helps to have a comfortable work space to allow your mind to seek different things that it normally wouldn't. I mean that your mind may have a difficult time thinking super hard when you are in a boring office. By spicing up the work space with some color, odd shapes and abnormal equipment positioning, these people were able to use that to their advantage and create spectacular things.

             I think what really inspires me to create different things is in music. When I am at school, I am surrounded by white walls and quiet space; only hearing the ticking clock, and clicking pens. To me, I can't think of anything in that type of environment. In order to get my brain thinking up to its fullest potential, I need to have some type of music in the back ground. Whenever I'm at home doing homework or writing a paper, I have soft music playing in the background.

Just as the people from that company need their visual workspace to be unique and fun, I need what I hear to be the same way. I think I'm more inspired by music because of how it can make a person feel. Music really has the power to make a person go through a whole roller coaster of emotions. I've laughed, cried, and gotten angry even at so much music. I think that really influences me to create new and exciting things.

Carry it Forward: Vertical Listening

            When I listen to a song, I let it go in one ear and out the other. It acts as the musical soundtrack of my life, playing quietly in the background. Right now I even have a song playing in the background as
I write this. I am only realizing now that I'm not really thinking about what's playing. It's a quiet piece of music called, "Shrinking Coasts" by Vio/Mire. As I listen more intently though, I can hear each instrument; the strumming of the guitar, the low bass plucking, and the soft voice that coats the top of it.
            The other day in class when we listened to "Maple Leaf Rag", I think I finally got to the point where I could take apart what I heard and vertically listen to it. When we walked into the class room, we all heard the jazzy tune playing and probably all let it act as background noise. Nobody took it apart and analyzed what was going on; at least I didn't. After discussing vertical listening, and hearing the song again, I got a better understanding of what we should be listening for in life. Listening again in class to "Maple Leaf Rag", I could pick out the higher notes being played which are the melody, and the lower notes which are there mainly to accompany the top keys of the piano.
            We can vertically listen to anything we want. The suggestion in class was that we try and apply this to other things like movies and people. I think I'll try watching a movie a few times and look for different aspects of it. I think its important to take in what hard work was put into a piece instead of just skimming over the surface of it. If you have ever tried to make a movie or compose a song, you understand how difficult it is to get all the little pieces together. To actually listen to a song probably takes a small fraction of the time it took to listen to it. To really appreciate a piece of art or music, I think as of a week ago, I will try to vertically listen to it. This will allow me to get a deeper understanding of the arts. It is a hard idea to grasp, and requires a lot of concentration for what most people consider a leisure activity, but I think the after effects of it are so much more fulfilling.