Reflective Essay #5

Tori Beaty

INTG 323

Reflective Essay #5

27 February 2012

Creativity

            I would never consider myself to be a creative person.  I’m not very gifted with art or music, but Chopra says that creativity expands beyond the arts.  Creativity is simply finding a new way to deal with a situation.  When I was a child, I think it was much easier to be creative than it is in my adult life because I had not yet been taught the typical ways to deal with things.  For example, when my friends and I were bored, we did not know the rules and strategies for specific sports such as baseball or basketball.  Instead, we created our own entertaining games in which anything could be turned into a base/safe zone and any problem with the game could be solved with new rule.

            Now that I’m older, it’s more difficult to think beyond the normal structure of the world.  Since I am older and have learned the rules for different sports, it’s difficult to think of something other than a game of 1 on 1 or horse to do with a basketball.  Thinking about Chopra’s argument, I think most of my current creativity is expressed through my teaching.  For example, when I teach my elementary students a new skill, the obvious solution is to have them practice the skill simply as we know it.  If I’m teaching them to throw, it makes the most sense to have them play catch with a partner.  However, there are many times that the students cannot do it well because they have not mastered certain parts of the skill.  Instead of giving them a ball and telling them to throw it, I have them step towards their partner and high five with their opposite hand to teach them to step/throw in opposition.  Finding different activities that can teach the same skill has proven to engage the students better and break down the skill much better.

            Superheroes use their creativity to solve nearly every problem they encounter.  They are always stuck in near impossible situations, but they always seem to find their way out.  Being one of the most recent heroes that we’ve talked about, Captain America instantly comes to mind.  He can find the perfect angle to bounce his shield off a wall to hit an enemy or find a creative way to lure his enemies into a deserted hallway so he can knock them out.  Superheroes are known for their powers, but their intelligence and way they use them tend to make a superhero truly great. (If only Captain America had been a little more creative at the end of the movie, he maybe he wouldn’t have had to crash land the perfectly intact, fully fueled aircraft).