LA1

Multiple modes of thinking

I truly believe Eastern has engaged me in multiple modes of thinking.  It started with choosing your course work.  From there you end up reading and studying different texts or publications.  And while all that goes on, ones experiences are happening in the cracks of time between going to class and doing homework.

I remember a teacher I had a few years ago.  She taught FAH 230 Fine Arts Appreciation down in the art building just off campus. The teacher that taught that class really liked to show different slides of past architecture.  While she presented the slides, the class participated in group discussions forcing us to make clear and understandable statements in front of our peers.  I can honestly say this type of thinking is so important in the work force today. In fact, it’s a necessity.

With this same class being slightly off campus I saw many of the locals in Willimantic.  Seeing this made me think about my own life and where I wanted it to go.  At the time I probably different realize it but I was engaging in another form of thinking.  The act of thinking about one’s future self.  As I saw a man pushing a cart full of last night’s beer bottles I realized I really had to think.  I had to focus and hone my thoughts to make sure I made it out of this place.

While I don’t particularly remember a certain text that helped me engage in different types of thinking, I do remember a specific genre of writing that did.  One of my final classes at MCC I took was poetry.  The class was actually ENG 125 Introduction to Literature taught by Steve Straight.  It was very interesting to me because it made me think in terms of color.  Or should I say in terms of descriptions.  The teacher assigned several different readings that took normal objects, thoughts, or events and turned them into beautiful pieces of life.  In other words it made me think about these ideas in terms of value.   Sometimes I secretly wonder if that class helped me get into the field of sales.  The field that can take anything in life and find value in it.

One semester I took a speech class called COM 230 Basic Speech, and it proved to be an experience of a lifetime.  Talk about thinking objectively.  This experience definitely changed my life.  The professor was a weatherman for a Connecticut TV station named Darren Sweeny.  He would have us write speech after speech and then have some one read it to us aloud several times.  We did this until we were blue in the face.  His goal was to make us aware of our audience in life.  By the end of the class we were writing speeches targeted at different audiences. The speeches were explaining the same subjects in different levels of difficulty.  Participating in this class was the ultimate experience in different types of thinking.

Looking back now I would say Eastern has given me plenty of chances to engage in different modes of thinking.  These examples are just a few of the times I chose to productively participate.