“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett

This week, we are starting a unit on innovation and creativity. Whereas the first half of the semester is focused on identifying college level standards and getting in shape to meet those standards, the second half of the semester focuses more on how you can step outside of those boxes, distinguish yourself, and excel in your own unique way. Part of that requires you to learn how to think differently, to not simply do the same thing as everyone else. Your ability to distinguish yourself as an individual will be the quality that potential employers will be looking for just as much as noting that you fulfilled all of your requirements and got your degree. Blog A wraps up the first half of the semester, and Blog B begins the second half -- see below:

Blog A: Reflect on your midterm video assignment. First read over the assignment requirements. How well did you fulfill the requirements of topic, time limit, # of people interviewed, having a beginning, middle, and end, the finalizing details of title, name, getting it done on time, etc.? How well did the technology work on your video, allowing us to see and hear clearly, getting it posted on your blog, etc.? How well did you tell a story, keep us informed, catch our interest? What grade would you give yourself and why? What would you add or change if you had more time to work on it or could revise it?

Blog B: In her book The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp asks readers to write their "creative biography" using the following questions as prompts. Even if you don't see yourself as someone who regularly is engaged in a creative endeavor, we are all creative in some ways, so be creative in how you define your own creativity. (Creating shouldn't be limited to traditional arts like painting or writing; you can be a creative football player or creative with your wardrobe or creative in the way you think.)Choose a series of these questions and begin your own creative biography. You will continue this exercise next week, so don't feel that you need to answer all of the questions, but try to find related ones that can help you weave together a coherent blog post.


Your Creative Autobiography

1. What is the first creative moment you remember?

2. Was anyone there to witness or appreciate it?

3. What is the best idea you’ve ever had?

4. What made it great in your mind?

5. What is the dumbest idea?

6. What made it stupid?

7. Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea?

8. What is your creative ambition?

9. What are the obstacles to this ambition?

10. What are the vital steps to achieving this ambition?

11. How do you begin your day?

12. What are your habits? What patterns do you repeat?

13. Describe your first successful creative act.

14. Describe your second successful creative act.

15. Compare them.

16. What are your attitudes toward: money, power, praise, rivals, work, play?

17. Which artists do you admire most?

18. Why are they your role models?

19. What do you and your role models have in common?

20. Does anyone in your life regularly inspire you?

21. Who is your muse?

22. Define muse.

23. When confronted with superior intelligence or talent, how do you respond?

24. When faced with stupidity, hostility, intransigence, laziness, or indifference in others, how do you respond?

25. When faced with impending success or the threat of failure, how do you respond?

26. When you work, do you love the process or the result?

27. At what moments do you feel your reach exceeds your grasp?

28. What is your ideal creative activity?

29. What is your greatest fear?

30. What is the likelihood of either of the answers to the previous two questions happening?

31. Which of your answers would you most like to change?

32. What is your idea of mastery?

33.What is your greatest dream?

Week 9: Critical Thinking, Midterms, Video Projects, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Advising

STOP! This is the assignment for week 9! If you haven't yet done the blogs for week 8 (Mastery), scroll down and read that assignment first so you don't get confused.

If you are ready for week 9, read on! This week's theme is critical thinking. We talked in class about how colleges seek to foster critical thinking in all students, and that critical thinking rather than "literal thinking" is what most classes will expect students to do, both in and out of class. Unfortunately, many students enter college without having had a lot of practice in critical thinking and not really understanding what it is or how to do it. Most students will say that critical thinking involves "thinking outside the box" but what does that mean really?

Critical Thinking is such an important skill that Southern requires all first-year students to enroll in Inquiry plus a Critical Thinking course. For Blog A this week, consider what critical thinking is and why it is important. Write about what you have been learning about critical thinking, how to think critically, and how you have been applying those skills throughout your other college courses.

This past week also marks the midterm point of the semester. All of your courses should have posted midterm grades (not grades on a midterm exam, but your course grade at the midterm point -- similar to a progress report). The grades can be found on Banner, and they will not count toward your GPA; they are only for your use in seeing where you are (gradewise) so far this semester. For Blog B, please look at your midterm grades, reflect on where you are, what successes you have had, what you need to work harder on, and identify some concrete goals to try and meet in the second half of the semester.

Reminder #1: Videos are also due this week. Please upload to Youtube and post to your blog by Thursday Oct 24th.

Reminder #2: Monday is the Sonia Sotomayor. Be there, and take notes for class activities and discussion on Thursday.

Reminder #3: No class this Tuesday due to advising.

Advising Reminders

1. We are not meeting as a class this Thurs or next Tues. Instead, every student has a 20-minute appointment with me in my office, EN D244. Please remember to print out your degree evaluation, fill out the info in your yellow folders, and bring all of that with you to our meeting. Plan to come five minutes early to your appointment in case the person ahead of you is done early and to give yourself time in case you get lost.

2. Also, don't forget to attend the talk by Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday night. I hope to see you there.

3. I will give you some feedback on your midterm video drafts if you have posted them on your blog. I am unable to open any videos sent to my email, however.

"Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person." -- Albert Einstein

Week 8 = Mastery

This week, we are continuing our discussion of mastery as well as delving into video-making and advising and registration. It will be a busy week, especially with the Justice Sotomayor lecture coming up on Monday Oct 21st as well.

For Blog A, I'd like you to search through a number of student blogs (linked to in the sidebar at the right) and find at least two blogs that you feel demonstrate A or A+ work (mastery of blogging) -- there are many posts that will fall into this category. Link to the blog post you feel exemplifies mastery and say specifically why you chose that post. What exactly does it show you that qualifies as A work. What criteria does it fulfill? You can include quotes in your own post as well in order to show your evidence.

For Blog B, please post your 6-word memoir created in response to Sotomayor's book (if you didn't do this at orientation this summer, do it now) and discuss why you think this book was chosen as the Common Read for your class. What can first-year college students learn from Sotomayor's experience and apply to college? If you need to go back and review some of the book, please do so. It will be a good preparation for her visit as well.

The other assignment due on your blogs this week is your first draft of the midterm video assignment. This will count as a homework assignment, due Monday by midnight. As I mentioned in class, please try to post some video even if it is very short. Posting on youtube (making public) and linking to on your blog is fine. You can also include some synopsis or outline of the rest of the video that is not yet completed. The more you have posted, the more I can give you feedback on for your final draft.

Tomorrow's Reading has Moved

Here is the new link: http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

Same reading, different exact location; still available if you google it too.

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." -- John Burroughs

This week's key word is failure, so Blog A will be an examination of failure. Are kids allowed to fail, encouraged to fail, protected from failure, pressured not to fail or some combination? Is there a safe space to fail (in schools, families, societies, etc.)? Discuss, explain, probe your opinions around this issue of failure. What role does failure play in people's lives and what impact does it (or the lack of it) have? Use at least one quote from any reading/audio/video that talks about this issue.

Blog B asks you to put some of your thoughts into practice. Choose some aspect of college that you feel as if you are failing at (even just a little bit). Work on this issue this week, and see if you can make any headway on it. Write about your failure and process of accepting it, or fighting it, and/or working on it and trying to grow from it. What can you learn from this experience?

SCSU Service Opportunities

If you missed the Day of Service, here are 2 other SCSU Service Opportunities:


1. We are interested in finding volunteers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty! On October 19th between 9:30am and 1pm we will be gardening at Common Ground High School in order to help close down their garden for the season. Common Ground produces on average about 7,000 pounds of fresh produce which in turn provides free school lunch to all of their students. In addition to feeding their students with locally grown ingredients, Common Grounds shares a portion of what they grow with low income residents in the community. Join us for a day of involvement. Vans will leave from the Student Center’s ground floor by 9:50am sharp. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Sign up for this trip will be available at the FYE Department office. Please note that space is limited and only the first 20 students will be guaranteed a spot on the van.

2. We are also looking for volunteers who don't mind being a little spooky and love working with children! On October 29th, the New Haven Police Department is looking for SCSU students to volunteer with handing out candy to kids in the community. This event will be held at 6pm and take place in the Westville Substation (329 Valley Street, New Haven.) The substation is within walking distance of SCSU and this service project will provide children with the ability to go trick or treating in a safe, well lit area. If interested, please contact Sergeant Renee Forte for more information about how you can help out on this day. Her email is rforte@newhavenct.net

Justice Sonia Sotomayor visit

Important: I received the following email from the FYE Office --

Dear first-year students,

Unfortunately, we had some issues with our ticket reservation system for the Justice Sonia Sotomayor event on Oct 21. Those issues have now been resolved, but it is VERY IMPORTANT that any student who reserved a ticket before 1:00pm today (Wednesday) click on the link below and reserve a ticket again.

http://minerva.scsu.tv/tickets/

As a reminder, Tickets will be available to FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ONLY for ONE WEEK (October 1st to October 6th) . Remaining seats will be offered to upperclassmen on October 7th. Due to limited space, please only request a ticket if you are certain you will be attending.

Tickets will be delivered to your INQ or Honors class prior to the event.

We greatly appreciate your patience, and we're looking forward to seeing you at the event!

Nicole Henderson & the FYE office staff