Entry 4: Wrting as medium for learning to think

I used to do more writing. I used to write for a creative outlet, to explore concepts, to evaluate and examine ideas, and to work though my own thoughts and ideas. Much of this was back when I was an undergrad and did not work. For the past two years, I do not give myslef enough time to think through writing. The most I will do is sketch out a lesson for my students through writing, and allow my ideas to grow and change. Not giving myself or rather not creating/finding the time for thinking through writing is probably inimical (I am trying out a vocabulary word learned in LTED 625) to myself in the long run.

I say this because the past several classes when we have been asked to do some writing for the last 40 minutes of class, no matter what mood I am in, transforms my mood and though process. The first one we did, the guided free-write where we chose a topic or prompt, I chose "a place I know well" and wrote about my grandparent's old house. That was so amazing, as I wrote I was remembering things forgotten years ago. It definitely took me somewhere else, and I was no longer letting my thoughts control my writing, the writing strating to inform my thought, it was great! I left class in an almost euphoric mood, and nostalgic for my grandma!

I swore after that class I would make time to write more often, but the only time I have really done that since, is in class when we wrote for our genre pieces project. Another time I enjoyed immensly and where the reciprocal nature of writing and thinking played out.

I've said before, I like the 8 habits of mind because of what they look like in action ( I will explain). I have always been very curious about the world around me, so I feel curiosity is essential to almost any task. Within everything, there is a purpose, a reason, so being curious about things shoul come naturally. Openess is another must for this type of assignment because if we stay rigid and fixed to only one way of thinking we will never learn or grow, or even be able to affirm our own points and reasons. Engagement is definitley another must, and this goes along with curiosity to me. Usually engagement follows curiosity, and hopefully we are all engaged because our hearts and passions are doing this for a reason. Responsibility is important for this assignment because we are responsible for completing each entry in a timely fashion (which I have failed to do the past week!!!) So, I must be flexible and adapt to the situation and write my entries on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon/evening :) The final habit of mind that I feel is probably the most important for this assignment is metacognition. I say this because the blog is meant to be a place where we can reflect on our learning and thoughts, and contruct new meaning and learning through reflecting. So if I really want to fully feel the benefits from this assignment, I need to ensure I am being metacognitive.