Gerry Fialka- speaker/workshop

I thought that the discussions and thought processes presented by our speaker last week was very interesting and uplifting.  It made me feel that my opinions, judgments, and thoughts are just as great and accurate as anyone's.  This is because he is accurate in saying we have all formed into this norm or idea of accepting something for what it is.  There is room for other "theories" and ideas, and ways of completing our everyday tasks.  There are creative ways to explore life and get involved in thinking out of the box. 

Often I was confused by the topics we were covering; however, it was fun to be spontaneous and talk about topics that are not always thought about at school, work, and home.  I agree that is important to combine work and home because you should love what you do.  You should always be critically thinking and observing things around you, connecting your home life and work life.  However, I feel that my work life and home life are so different at the moment that I do not like combining the two.  Emotions and stress, to me, are often brought home from work and school.  Instead, I want my ideas and thought processes to follow me.

I felt that when he asked questions and told us to give one word answers, that my answers were always thought-provoking.  I am unsure this is because I am creative, or because I like coming up with answers that provoke others.  I like to trick or impress people with ideas because often ideas are difficult to come across when we have to think quickly.  I feel it's sometimes easier to think of something when you have less pressure.  For example, thinking of a video topic may seem difficult when you are given certain guidelines and are under pressure to meet the standards.

Fialka made it clear that thinking for yourself is very important and that not even teachers, scientists, or government knows the answers to everything, yet has an "explanation" for everything.  Listening to Fialka's comments and points of view almost upset me because to become an art teacher I have to follow strict courses and procedures.  Yet, he stressed that everything we see and do isn't always the correct thing to do, but is accepted as a norm.