Sometimes the Photo Doesn't Work Out
How can time move so quickly, every moment so rich in experience and meaning? Sometimes, the beauty in a single moment is overwhelming. While I was sitting in my garden this week, a hummingbird joined me for a brief moment, drinking from the flowers. The sunlight filtered through the tall flowers and glinted off the colorful feathers as he swifty moved from bud to bud. The beauty in this single moment was captivating and stunning at the same time. An attempt to get a photo proved to be in vain, and so I drew a picture of him instead. Sometimes the photo doesn't work out, and that's okay.
It is hard to believe that I am mid-way through my summer course in Digital Storytelling. In the past four weeks, I have made significant progress in my own practices of creation and production. Lots of new ideas, projects, and blog posts. So why does it feel like the more I learn the greater my awareness of what I do not know is? What will the second half of this course inspire in my own learning and leadership? There are so many things I want to learn and do. This week was a bit of a mixed bag for me; probably ranked an 8/10. While I completed all of my projects, looking back on them I wish I had pushed myself a bit more.
I am really connecting with the course text, and I am finding lots of ways the theories of literacy and social practice connect with my own experiences in art education. In this formative reflection, I am now seeing that with a solid foundation from the first half of the course I am ready to challenge myself in new ways. In the remaining weeks, I hope to refine my creative productions in several ways. First, I want to develop my skills in design programs. Although I have the basics of many programs down, I really want to dive in and learn more advanced features. My peer's projects have been incredible inspiring for me to push my abilities. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate this goal into the remaining projects for this course. In addition to adding to my technical skills, I would like to continue developing my connection to my focal theme in my projects. I hope to develop resources that could possibly be used by the nonprofit I work with in order to promote awareness of heritage conservation and sustainability topics.
After reading my peer's reflections for this week, I see that many of us are sharing similar successes, struggles, and experiences. It is so rewarding to know that I am not alone. I am so thankful of being able to share these thoughts with each other and promoting an environment where we can grow and learn together. Cheers to an inspiring course, instructor, and cohort! Looking forward to the moments to come.
