For a person what is our definition of creativity and play does it goes along together? Thus it have to create a work of art masterpiece, Explain if what is your opinion?

1a
http://somebodytosomeone.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/e-reserves-1a-deep-play-by-diane-ackerman/

1b
http://somebodytosomeone.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/e-reserves-1b-sir-ken-robinson-do-schools-kill-creativity/

I thought that Ken Robinson’s TED talk presentation was absolutely hilarious, not to mention I agreed with everything he was discussing. I think the topic of this discussion is very important because I do believe that schools, in many aspects, do deteriorate our natural ability to think and interact creatively. One of the things that Ken mentioned was that children are not scared to be wrong, which allows them to experiment through life freely and unrestrained. As we get older, and progress through school, there’s so much negative stigma that’s associated with being wrong that it pushes us away from trying new things and diving into the unknown because if we’re wrong, there could be negative results. Maybe we don’t get into the college we want, or maybe we won’t get that high paying job. But I think the main thing that I was thinking about after watching his presentation was that life is so much bigger than getting into a good college, getting a high paying job, and living a luxurious life. Why don’t schools recognize this and attempt to instill these kinds of thought processes in young people? Why don’t schools teach dance as well as math? I find that art, creativity, the ability to interact socially, the desire to explore and learn about other people and cultures are just as important as learning basic math, english, science, history, etc. These are all important aspects of learning that lead to a well rounded person, so why don’t the school systems pay more attention?
]]> http://humanities1.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/jexe-b4-blog-1/feed/ 0 dylaneret http://humanities1.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/arma-b1-blog-1/ http://humanities1.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/arma-b1-blog-1/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:12:06 +0000 Dylan Eret http://humanities1.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/arma-b1-blog-1/ Continue reading »]]> When I first watched Ken Robinson’s presentation, I did not know what to expect. As many can attest, when I am not stimulated in whatever the subject material may be in class, I tend to lose interest. Once Robinson began, I expected him to ramble on about how schools were turning students into “conforming soldiers” or something of that nature but that was not the main point of focus. He provided many stories to back up his points and that’s what I liked the most about his presentation. The story I liked the most was about an amazing dancer (I can’t recall her name) that was very hyper-active in her youth and doctors did not know what to do with her. Robinson joked that this was before they were able to diagnose children with ADD. She was moved to another school with students who, like her, were very active and all over the place. As so got older, she became more involved in dance and became a multi-billionaire. He notes that in another situation, she may have been given drugs and never able to realize her true talent.

I believe that us as Americans in the school system, we live in constant fear. We are afraid to “think outside the box” and that there has to be one true answer to everything. As we grow older, we also get into competition with eachother and other counties. We do not want to be “passed up” but others and that can stunt our creative thinking. My aunt went to a private school growing up and she would always tell me that although they were strict, they would embrace creativity and creative thinking. In a majority of the schools today, this is not often a luxury but at the end of the day, it depends on the teacher and their teaching style. With that said, how are we to mold/craft a student’s creativity without letting them get too “out of bounds”? How do we nurture and not damage?

~Reyna Stefani

humanities 1- MW 11-12:15

If there was one thing I took from all the readings, videos and discussion of the week, it was the fact that our society is ignorant to what comes naturally concerning creativity and art. For example, in his video, Ken Robinson discusses how our current education system ignores the importance of creativity. The arts are considered to be at the bottom of the bin when it comes to subjects in school. Some students are considered to be unintelligent because their natural talent lies in their creativity. What they are good at is stigmatized and ignored. Another example of our ignorance can be found in Diane Ackerman’s article. She states that because we consider play not to be serious, we are ignorant to how important it is and how much it rules our lives. Because pf this ignorance, we cannot embrace the importance of play and use it to our advantage.

My favorite quote from the Ackerman article was “who would drink from the cup when they can drink from the source?” This quote can be applied to many different parts of life. However, one connection can be made to our discussion in class on Wednesday. We talked about how the doings of everyday life “give form to value.” All too often, we fail to see that there can be art in the everyday processes that lead to the objects or actions we consider to be art. In this failure, we can miss some of the most beautiful parts of life. If we were able to “drink from the source” of our art, we could find so much more beauty in our world.

I think its very interesting how sirken describes how given aspects can be ignored. such as dance, music, basically any type of creativity not having to do with enlgish and math. i highly agree on the topic where he discusses the school education system. ive lived all over the bay area from oakland, san ramon, to san mateo and they all have the same concept when it comes to a heirarchial school system.
also another thing i agree on is the fact that school systems live up to uc and/or csu expectations. i remember being in middle school, hearing which classes i had to take in order to get to a uc. being accepted into a uc when i was a kid basically ment you were a really smart kid and you would be wealthy after you got out. now what is it? a place where professors induce you with their own knowledge, and even after you graduate you are never guaenteed a job. as sirken describes, why do we have bodies? to transport out heads. our bodys are what gives our brain blood flow. without out or body, your brain is nothing. your body is an art form given by god and it should not be taken for granted.

JUST NOTES:

-Every element of the human saga requires play = ideas + language etc.

-Ants don’t play.

-Tiger cubs pouncing on one another in mock battle are perfecting techniques that will save their lives.

-Play invites problem solving. Allows a creature to develop strategies and test limits.

-Play = fundamental in evolution

-“Although I wasn’t aware of deep play at the time, I often lived it, unknowingly recorded its features, and chronicled many of its moods.”

-Deep play is not always positive and uplifting.

-Challenge, discovery, exploration, novelty, pushing one’s limits, losing one’s self in the activity—elements of deep play.

E-Reserves 1a

Before reading this chapter. I was not aware of deep play. I thought of play as nothing more than something that children do to entertain themselves. I did not think deeper about play and how we learn from playing and we evolve. Without play we would be nothing. Would we be human? After reading this I am now thinking deeper into what play really is. We play everyday and we play when we do a lot of our daily activities or even when we’re engaged in our favorite hobbies. I still have a lot more to understand but this chapter did in fact make me think about play more and it opened my eyes a bit more.

E-Reserves 1b

“Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.”

Sir Ken Robinson talked about education and creativity and how they are both equally important. I agreed with everything he said. We need to rethink our views of intelligence. If a kid doesn’t do well in school it doesn’t mean they can’t be the next president or a big CEO. I loved how he used Gillian Lynne as an example. Her story proved his point. We have to rethink a lot of things. Degrees aren’t worth anything anymore. We keep telling our youth that they can’t be artists and musicians. We are saying don’t do the things you like. Stop being creative. Well that’s wrong. We need more creativity today. Our country has gone to the dogs we need more creativity and more creative ideas so we can save our future. Or more so, so we can have a future. We can’t keep doing the same old routine because it’s the same routine that’s got us stuck right now. Why have we not changed the systems that universities have created in their image?

Deep Play.doc

Here you will find updated materials, events, classroom notes, questions, comments, images, interviews, and videos.

ALL readings will be found online in the password-protected FLEXBOOK page or distributed as printed handouts.

Since this class is offered in both face-to-face and online sections, make sure you download the appropriate syllabus or assignment schedule, since they will differ significantly.

Below is a list of Humanities 1 classes from Berkeley City College that I’m teaching this semester:

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HUMANITIES 1: SECTION B1 (CCN: 22943)

Meets Regularly at BCC 015 GROUND FLOOR, 2:45PM-4:00PM, TTH

HUMANITIES 1: SECTION B3 (CCN: 23517)

Meets ONLINE.

There will be an optional orientation meeting at Berkeley City College on Thursday, February 2 from 6:30pm-8:30pm in Room 031, GROUND FLOOR. There will be a second meeting on Tuesday, March 13 from 6:30pm-8:30pm in Room 014, GROUND FLOOR. You are not required to attend these meetings, but I strongly encourage you to come since I will be covering the major assignments for the course and you will be sharing information with other students, which makes it much easier to complete the course.

Email dceret@gmail.com by February 2, 2012 to receive the PASSWORD to access course materials for the class. 

HUMANITIES 1: SECTION B4 (CCN: 23677)

Meets Regularly at BCC 423, FOURTH FLOOR, 11:00AM-12:15PM, MW

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My intention is to make your learning experience as lively, active, and playful as I can, so enjoy the ride. I look forward to working with all of you!

Your instructor,

Dr. Dylan Eret

For this creative project, I took some pictures for fun.

E-Reserve 14e

The food I’m writing in this blog post is Banh Xeo, something so good yet unknown by a lot of people. Well, in my opinion, I think they’re pretty good. They’re a type of food created by the Vietnamese type fried pancakes made of flour, water, turmeric powder, stuffed with meat, shrimp, green onions, and bean sprouts. They are sometimes eaten with fish sauce and other vegetables on the side. The places I would eat them at would be at home because usually my mom would make them with a bit of coconut juice. My parents came from Cambodia and apparently they’re really popular there and sometimes called Banh Chao. In my opinion, they’re one of my favorite dishes because they’re easy to make and they taste delicious. I also like them because they’re unique to the fact that not that many people know what they are.

Have you ever tried a Banh Xeo? Go try one!

E-Reserves 13e

This dance is created to one of my favorite songs currently because of the high tempo and how the beat is energetic. The choreography was created by Pat Cruz, which in my opinion, is a great choreographer. The dance follows along with some of the beats with their movements. In the video they use a variety of different hip hop dances. They use some popping, footwork similar to C-Walk, and some liquid type dance. This dance is all for fun and creativity because they create it from their own mind. They gather small dances and combine it to create a short choreography.

Here is the video link:

What type of dances do you know?

E-Reserves 12b

It was interesting to hear that ideas stay dormant until enough is gathered to become a useful idea. I agree that there are many other things that are distracting us today. However, with today’s technology, it allows us to connect with more people all over the world unlike those in the old days where you would have to go to a café or such to exchange ideas. With the invention of the internet for personal use, it became a universal place to share ideas and to find the missing piece. I also have to agree that good ideas come from the collision of slow hunches to create a good idea.

Noting from ideas throughout history, ideas seem to come from long thought process on the topic. I feel like good ideas don’t come out suddenly and are gathered throughout life from other ideas.

Do you agree with Steven Johnson’s idea of how ideas come slowly?

E- Reserve 8b

The two dialects that I heard would be Cantonese and Mandarin in the Chinese language. The meaning is a way to communicate depending on where you come from in China or Hong Kong. They’re both widely used depending what region you’re in. In Southern China, you would be prone to hearing more Cantonese and other Chinese dialects then if you were in the middle area of China. However, China adopted Mandarin as their main dialect of Chinese so it would be a globally used dialect of Chinese. Mandarin is used more for business transaction throughout the country more than the laidback Cantonese. The major Chinese cities have different accents of Mandarin depending on the region or city the speaker is from. From this, you could tell where they’re from.

What dialect of a language do you speak?

E-Reserves 7e

The song I that is currently one of my favorite songs right now is Wiz Khalifa’s Teach You to Fly. The song has a high tempo which in turn makes it really hyped. The lyrics has some profanity in it but it gives off this strength feeling. The song basically repeats something over and over again which becomes the chorus that makes up most of the song. It has a nice beat that could be used for choreography. However, the tempo slows down at times and speeds up at some. The ways he sings adds to the different speeds of tempo.

Do you like Wiz Khalifa?

E-Reserves 6d

http://www.asianwaytravel.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Angkor_Wat1.jpg

Currently my favorite type of monument or architectural building would have to be the Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a temple that was built for king Suryavarman II. It is built with a sort of vernacular architecture since most of the material came from Mount Kulen, a quarry about 25 miles northeast. The design was based off a temple and early South Indian Hindu architecture. However, this was considered to be a classical style Khmer architecture and became a national symbol. It followed the ideas of Buddhism with Buddha figures covering the walls of the temple. This was because the current mainstream religion at that time was Buddhism but after Suryavarman’s rule, Hinduism became the main religion which led to the destruction of some sculptures in the temple.

What are you favorite architectural buildings?