Always More to Learn...

Despite the multitudes of individuals all over the world who utilize the internet for all sorts of awesome writing...

It turns out writing, like so many other things, is an art if you want to write well. And by well I mean for a theological education program. We had to take a check-up break and right our impressions on what we're doing well and where we need improvement. These were my observations:


I'm very grateful for the opportunity to take this course. Writing has always been something I've enjoyed, but not something I've received intricate instruction in. This course has enabled me to start looking at my writing from a functional perspective--something I can definitely appreciate, but also something that is difficult.

1) I believe my top strengths lie in my personality and my use of words. To expand on that a bit, I like to believe (perhaps incorrectly?) that my personality comes across in my writing fairly well depending on the occasion. I realize that journaling and other forms of free-writing will allow for greater levels of personal expression than academic writing, but I still try to maintain a certain level of "personality" in all of my writing. Also, my time in the military has made it necessary for me to become familiar with many different ways to say the same thing. One of the particulars of performance reports requires a certain level of creativity with words that I also hope carries over into my writing.

2) As much as I love writing, I have never been particularly strong in the mechanics of grammar department. My writing style is more free-flowing and I tend to go with what sounds or feels right rather than knowing the actual grammar rules. This has gotten several points marked off of my assignments in this course so far and tells me it is an area I need to work on. I also realize despite my best intentions I am not as organized as I want to be and this is also affecting my work quality.

3) Before taking this course I never realized how much writing is a necessary part of a theological education. My previous degree programs focused on writing, but never delved into the mechanics or focused on improving the quality of student work. I think in order to be successful I will need to tailor and polish my writing skills and I will need to focus on ideas revolving around writing much more than I anticipated. Additionally, I feel like I'm at a personal disadvantage for never having a formal theological education, so I will need to be more vigilant in my studies.

I'm comparing this process to baking a cake. Almost anyone can bake a cake in their own home, but only the best bakers learn how to make truly impressive edible works of art. I'm hoping one day my written works of art are that impressive, but for now I will continue to learn what I can.

-Denora

Religious Diversity

I wrote this very short essay in honor of my friend Don Larsen for one of my classes this quarter:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pqSkr40y-vg6bOd-ZupilKwO5Xz0mwGTqFqhQQxwq9I/edit

If I had longer to devote to the topic I would have expanded on my feelings regarding religious pluralism. However, I will say this much...I feel it is essential that people of different faiths focus more on the similarities of their beliefs than the differences. We can spout about peace and love until we are blue in the face but we must ACT in order for it to become a reality.

"This attitude is essentially based on a non-literal view of one's religious traditions, hence allowing for respect to be engendered between different traditions on fundamental principles rather than more marginal issues. It is perhaps summarized as an attitude which rejects focus on immaterial differences, and instead gives respect to those beliefs held in common."

Bright Blessings,

Denora

Defining the Writer (or other person) Within

This past assignment was appropriately labeled "Autobiographical Narrative of Self as a Writer" which sounds nice, but comes out as a huge mouthful that leaves you wondering how to digest it. Basically, the task was to analyze anything we may have written in the past, things we have yet to write, or our own personal writing style...etc.

I had to start with a simple list because my brain needed fodder. In this case I think the KISS principle applied: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pLRWULxUZY6uCvUvvjIESFk0MiCtZxVDgUPQicvc7w4/edit

Needless to say this was a nice exercise in self-awareness if nothing else. If you took at least five minutes to write down a list of items that describe you (it can be adjectives, or statements, or whatever else you wanted) what would you write? Would you like the things you had to say about yourself? This particular list focused on our writing, but I get the feeling if I expanded the list to include other areas I may find things I like about me and maybe some I need to improve. 

I think the idea here without turning this into another self-love lecture would be to turn this into a self-awareness exercise. And if you happen to read this and think it's a great idea, then realize you may have more improving to do that you thought you can take a cue from ol' Ben Franklin: http://www.thebridgemaker.com/the-benjamin-franklin-13-week-self-improvement-challenge/

Cheers,

Denora

Learning Styles

Since I have returned from the wilderness of North Carolina, I find it is necessary to also return my focus to homework....

Luckily, none of the assignments thusfar are particularly grueling. In fact, this week's focus seems to be all about learning exactly how you learn--do you listen well, are you a crazy bouncy person, etc. I decided to take three of the offered quizzes and averaged my responses together:

What Are My Learning Strengths?

This quiz was broken out into eight sections, asking random questions about verbal intelligence versus logical or mathematical (not my strong point) versus visual...(you get the point) The scoring parameters were vague and I believe there to simply represent the prescence of a particular trait without adding a numerical value. Here's how I scored:

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence - 9
Logical/Mathematical - 7
Visual/Spacial - 7
Bodily/Kinesthetic - 8
Musical/Rhythmic - 8
Interpersonal - 8
Intrapersonal - 7
Naturalist - 8

Now, what does all of this mean? I had a classmate describe his experience this way:

"Also, being a "Nature boy", hiking, surviving in the wild, etc. I was surprised that I scored the lowest (3.86) in the Nature category. Maybe my instinctive knowledge of how to survive in and interact with Nature was more inter and intrapersonal than naturalist, as in:
"Hey, Bear! Wanna take a walk with me?" and "How does meeting this hungry bear make me feel?" rather than "Oh shit! A BEAR! I should organize it into a category in relation to these tall trees over there". hmmmm.... as I remember it was more like my buddy stopping me and saying "don't move a muscle or we are dead meat..." then instructing me what to do. Yeah, very Social and interpersonal.
And Language. Curiously, I did not sing to the bear. Maybe that is why I am still able to take surveys..."

If we follow his example I describe myself like this:

"I can tell you almost every detail about the bear, down to what he probably ate for breakfast, but not the mathematical relevancy of how much it weighs or what it looks like. I will also want to pet the bear and probably dance and sing with it, while inviting it to tea or some such other friendly activity..."

Now we move on to the next quiz: Multiple Intelligences: Find Your Strengths!

After this quiz I can conclude that I am a total, complete, and all encompassing hippie. I scored the highest in musical competency (5), followed closely by language (4.43), and finally by nature (4.14) So much for dancing and having tea with my bear-friend.

My last quiz attempt left me feeling well-rounded: Learning Styles

Visual: 44
Auditory: 40
Kinesthetic: 44

So in the end I believe I learn quite well by visuals, but also through music and other such mediums. I talk with my hands, write stuff down but hardly ever reference it again, and engage in as much sarcastic banter as I can muster from others. I'm a friendly, dancing and singing bear-hugging hippie. Moral of the story? Three cheers also for self-awareness.

-Denora

Writing Portfolio Introductory Post

It's been awhile...

Like so many other things in life, it's easy to forget about something unless we make an effort to include it in our regular practice. When I initially set up this blog I had no particular plan for it--hence why I haven't posted since March. In an effort to be more "organized" and in touch with my writing (something that has significantly fell off the wagon since I was younger) I'm going to utilize this space for my class and hopefully it will carry over after I've completed it. Our first assignment was to link our sustainability practice document so here that is:

https://docs.google.com/a/iliff.edu/document/d/1GVFcjgdUCyAWzz2Jor16coQKoB3AGIIevUNflDeQZfA/edit

Three cheers for productivity and sustainable practices ^_^

Denora