Ultimate success strategy—be creative and bring your brain by Nancy

Ultimate success strategy—be creative and bring your brain by Nancy - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

Stay in the guidelines, be focused, respectful, and follow the rules— but don’t be afraid to think for yourself and get creative!
We open textbooks, we write papers and essays, and we listen to lectures…..boring, boring boring. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love to learn. That is why I’m working full time in a preschool, paying my way through college. So that I can learn. Why? So that I can teach others, and help them learn. I want to be a teacher. But all this learning comes at the expense of three key elements; time, energy, and money. When doing a project for school, it requires these things. I don’t want to waste my time, energy, and money; and I don’t want to waste my teacher’s time, energy, and money. So what is my strategy for ultimate success? – don’t keep swimming around the fish tank! Be creative and bring your brain.
You’re probably wondering “What in the world is this young women talking about?” But wait, keep reading……Don’t eliminate this essay just yet. As humans, we can be extremely routine….we get stuck in a cycle. I’d say that it’s time to start “Thinking outside the box”, but that is cliché. People are sick of hearing that. It was funny the first time. Not the millions of times it was used after that. The same with school projects. Be creative.
Why? You may ask? But don’t teachers want to see “Normal stuff”? No, at least the good ones, do not. Here is why—life is not about reading textbooks, and writing papers, and presetting posters. Life is vitality, and energy, and the good and the bad. It’s the ups and the downs and all the middle stuff in between. A poster is not going to make you good at “#Lifing” (Yes, I made up a word…it’s kind of like “Adulting” only life, and “ing” because there is more to life than just being an adult, and doing the responsible things that you should).
For example, the American dream. Have a car, two kids, a small house, and start your own business…………oh wait…………..how can you start a business if you lack all innovation? You think a business will be successful hanging up posters around town?
I recently had to do a project for my Early Childhood Development class. It was a research topic, and yes…..I had to write a paper, which I did (grudgingly and of necessity). I was also required to present a “visual” (a fancy term that means “poster”. I hate posters. Half the words on them people don’t even read, which leaves room for a few pictures that really will not impact the audience whatsoever. Anyway, I’m off topic…….). So I made a poster, and got up to present it. I rambled off about DNA, genetic make-up, and gene mutations. Then I admitted to the class that this was all really dry. So I pulled out a bag with individual boxes inside. I gave each student a box and told them it was their own gene pool, that they got from their parents. I instructed them to shut their eyes and pull two things out. Inside all the boxes where a mix of “punny” candies, like cry-baby’s, air heads, smarties, dumb-dumbs, sweet-tarts, laughy-taffy’s, etc. I explained recessive and dominant traits, and the gene pool. We talked about chromosomes, and genes from father and mother. Than I had a volunteer give me one of their candies, and I squished it up. This lead into talking about mutated genes, and structural variation in the gene pool with genomes. It was creative, but inside a box (get the pun). My class understood it! I really enjoyed watching my fellow classmate's eyes light up as they understood DNA. Many came up to me after and told me they really enjoyed, and understood it.

Extra thought, time, energy and money applied? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. It resulted in my class actively learning about DNA. They went away with knowledge that will actually stick (and some candy too). I was able to teach them something that they will understand and hold on to. Which is my whole purpose of what I want to do with my education— be a teacher and help people learn. It was a success. What was my strategy? creativity and brainpower.