Caroline Key Portfolio Reflections

[0:00] Text appears of the audio as the dialogue is heard:

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

[0:10] Silent clip of author talking plays

Sir Kenneth Robinson, an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education and the arts said this in a TEDtalk about the importance of creativity and education. This English class definitely merged creativity with learning, as it encouraged the use of creativity and originality in projects such as video essays and e-poems. Being a part of this English 150 has been quite a learning experience. 

[0:41] An image of a math student in front of a blackboard is imposed over the e-poem

As a math major, the thought of taking an English course was a bit intimidating, as the subject has never been my strong suit. Since high school, I had not taken a class that had allowed me to express my creativity and originality until I took this one. 

[1:00] the words COMFORT ZONE appear on the screen in white font.

This class pushed me out of my comfort zone of writing structured essays, and forced me to unleash my creativity through transforming my interpretations of literature into my very own works of art.

[1:20] An essay in google docs is seen.

Our first assignment in this class was to compose a four or five page essay in which we were to discuss a poem in terms of related concepts or readings. 

[1:30] An animation of a crowd of people cheering appears, along with the text, “Yay! I’ve written essays before!

I was relieved that our first assignment turned out to be writing based, as writing essays is a skill that I have grown very accustomed to.

[1:35] The UNC homepage

For a poetry essay, we are allowed to choose any poem that we wanted. This ended up being a little overwhelming, but I was glad that we were given the free-reign.

[1:40] A google search for poems, scrolling through the image results.

We could express our originality by choosing any poem that our heart desired.

[1:52] Blue text appears, saying, “SO MANY OPTIONS!!!

Finding a poem that I liked was difficult at first, because of the extremely wide range of options. 

[2:02] An video of Maya Angelou appears with the white text: “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou

I began thinking of poets that I have enjoyed since high-school, and started thinking of Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise” that I read in my AP U.S. History class. In my paper, I discussed the poem from a historical standpoint, relating the poem to the United States civil rights movement and the struggles that Maya Angelou faced as an African American woman during the time. 

[2:15] News footage of civil rights demonstrations plays on the screen

I believe that my creativity was put to the test during this assignment, as interpreting an essay through a non-literal lens requires a great deal of critical thought. At first, it was difficult for me to look beyond the literal meanings of the words that Angelou used, and finding ways to connect the lines of the poem to history.

[2:45] A body of text displaying the poem and the words “Hidden Meaning” are shown

There are many hidden meanings and factors that go into a piece of poetry, and putting each of these elements together to form a cohesive argument definitely required a great deal of creativity.

[3:00] Her essay is shown

Although planning this essay was challenging, it was fun for me to innovatively find the connections in the poem. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this essay, and becoming so familiar with Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise”

[3:13] A clip of Angelou reading her poem plays

Our next assignment was a little more intimidating. We were asked to use Camtasia to create an e-poem. 

[3:30] An image of the Einstein quote

Albert Einstein once said: “Creativity is seeing what others are seeing and thinking what no one else has thought.

[3:35] The e-poem silently plays

I believe that this quote is applicable to my e-poem project. I chose the poem, “There is Another Sky” by Emily Dickinson as inspiration for my e-poem. To create my video, I read “There is Another Sky” line by line in order to decide how I wanted to create my e-poem. I used the words and imagery that stuck out to me to create a story of my own by using various clips of YouTube videos and other types of media available on the internet.

[4:16] 

My creativity was definitely put to the test by my e-poem projects, but I am immensely happy with my end products

[4:22] The Video Software is seen

I had a lot of fun making my videos, and I am so glad that I was introduced to Camtasia, because I believe that knowing how to create videos is a very valuable skill in this day and age. By using Camtasia, I was able to express my creativity in many ways. For example, I was able to show my innovation through finding various media sources and fusing them together to create a video representing a single literary work.

[4:54] Browsing through YouTube

I spent hours searching YouTube for the perfect clips that went along with the vision that I had in mind. There were so many options and room for originality. I was also able to show my creativity through the many different features and tools that Camtasia offers. The possibilities seemed endless on this program.

[5:17] The e-poem is shown again

I loved this class because it strayed away from the traditional structures of writing based English classes, and instead encouraged innovation and creativity. 

[5:25] The quote by Einstein is seen along with his picture

Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on,” and I will definitely strive to pass on the importance of creativity in my future endeavors