The Importance of Imagination

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by Diana Ayoub1 view·Updated Mar 8, 2021
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  1. today in literature, we are going to be reading a
  2. new text called The Importance of Imagination.
  3. You can already tell from the title it is very
  4. closely related to the unit for essential question, which is
  5. Where does imagination lead?
  6. This text is a reflective essay, so it's a nice
  7. change from the types of text we're used to in
  8. unit for like plays, poems, fictional narratives.
  9. The author is Ssh Opera, and you will notice she
  10. has a very exotic name that does tie into, um,
  11. some of the themes that she's talking about in the
  12. story. So in this video, I'll be reading the text
  13. with you, and then I will then go over the
  14. comprehension check.
  15. As usual, we like to get a little bit of
  16. background before we start reading.
  17. A curriculum vitae, or CV, is a short account of
  18. a person's background skills, education and work experience in the
  19. United States.
  20. A CV is similar to a resume.
  21. Resumes are usually no longer than one page.
  22. Many employers require these documents for job applications and look
  23. at them carefully to decide who they should hire.
  24. You may be familiar with what a C B is
  25. if you've heard your parents talk about um, sending their
  26. CV if they're looking for a job, for example.
  27. Okay, while growing up, I've never really considered how important
  28. it is to be imaginative.
  29. It's a childhood profession.
  30. You could say it comes naturally.
  31. Then we hit an age when I represented with a
  32. Scranton of bubble in options, a template for a C
  33. V that we need to create and excel at that
  34. point are learning has to fit into certain parameters within
  35. that little bubble within the one page limit and within
  36. a tiny digital graph.
  37. So what happens to our imagination?
  38. It seems to fade.
  39. Okay, before I move on, you can already tell.
  40. Our author uses a lot of sentence variety.
  41. Some sentences are compound and then boom randomly, a short
  42. sentence of three words.
  43. That's a smart way to engage the reader.
  44. We have some words here that we need to go
  45. over Scranton.
  46. You see that number one next to it, which means
  47. that there's a definition somewhere.
  48. So Scranton refers to a paper form used for bubble
  49. for multiple choice tests like the map test, for example,
  50. Excel, you know, excel from it.
  51. It's a computer program for creating spreadsheets and grass.
  52. We also have our concept vocab words, template and parameters
  53. use context.
  54. Clues to figure out the meaning.
  55. Hopefully you're watching this video beforehand, and you're given a
  56. plethora of clues actually, within this paragraph for you to
  57. know what those words mean.
  58. Moving on being Asian as I am doesn't help.
  59. The assumption that you're more apt for engineering or medicine
  60. is like a nagging tail.
  61. We have a so called fondness for numbers.
  62. Apparently, if you're Asian, you must be good at math.
  63. Of course.
  64. Notice the sarcasm she's using in her in her writing
  65. voice. Well, then I turned out to be an oddball.
  66. I developed an affinity for words and images instead.
  67. At the age of 12, my dream was to be
  68. a professional doodler, which could turn into a career as
  69. a cartoonist if it went well and my parents indulge
  70. me in that dream.
  71. Unlike others who may have thought that was ridiculous, they
  72. got me drawing books when my mother saw me sitting
  73. idle or falling asleep among a pile of school books
  74. should suggest, Why don't you draw for a bit over
  75. A decade later, little has changed.
  76. She still chuckles at my drawings, tells me to draw
  77. more often, and has persevered That notebook as I grew
  78. older, as the reading list of books grew longer, the
  79. assignments tougher and jobs took up.
  80. Any spare time as a student in college, that ability
  81. to just sit down and pour your imagination onto a
  82. blank canvas began to disappear.
  83. Rather, that creative side had to reinvent itself.
  84. My high school history teacher once told me that history
  85. is not a timeline.
  86. It's a story she throughout the linearity of history.
  87. She made what was dry and ancient, charming, engaging and
  88. at times even humorous.
  89. That was her imagination at work, and it helped me
  90. develop a love for the social sciences.
  91. Our imaginations can be quite contagious, I learned.
  92. But can this love for the imaginative ever find a
  93. place in the real world?
  94. Certainly, imagination creates not just fairy tales and Children's books,
  95. but a new vision for the way we conduct our
  96. lives. Imaginations challenge the norm, push boundaries and help us
  97. progress. We need to encourage more creative creativity.
  98. Forget the CV for a bit.
  99. If we encourage that brilliant math student to be imaginative
  100. as well.
  101. He could use those algorithms to innovate.
  102. If we encourage the biology students be imaginative as well.
  103. She could design a new, sustainable fuel source for us.
  104. If we encourage that economic stuff to be imaginative as
  105. well, he could build a new people friendly business model.
  106. The tools are there.
  107. You just need to reorient them towards the unexpected.
  108. That's where creativity at home, in the classroom and in
  109. the workplace is so essential.
  110. That's why last week I find my I found myself
  111. sitting with my mom late at night, rereading Shel Silverstein's
  112. Poems for Children.
  113. Turns out they're just as good for adults, maybe even
  114. better. Just so you know, Shel Silverstein is a famous
  115. poet. I used to read his poems when I was
  116. young. They're meant for Children, but they're very interesting rhymes,
  117. and you could enjoy them at any age.
  118. And she's using this as an example of what you
  119. think is just for childhood.
  120. Like imagination or Shel, Silverstein's poem can work for adults
  121. as well.
  122. Maybe even better.
  123. Okay, comprehension.
  124. Check number one.
  125. According to the author, what happens to our imagination when
  126. we grow up.
  127. The author mentioned this in the very first paragraph.
  128. Our imagination fades because we're presented with all kinds of
  129. forms and templates that are learning is expected to fit
  130. in. We also don't have enough time to be imaginative
  131. because a lot of our time is taken up by
  132. daily routines, assignments and jobs.
  133. Number two.
  134. What was the author's dream at age 12?
  135. Referred to the earlier paragraph.
  136. She says her dream was to be a professional doodler
  137. and, if things went well, a cartoonist.
  138. Number three.
  139. What did the author's history teachers say about history?
  140. She said that history was a story, not a timeline.
  141. And Number four write a summary of this reflective essay
  142. to confirm your understanding of the text.
  143. That possible answer could be, um, well, you have to
  144. include the idea that imagination is beneficial for Children, adults
  145. and society as a whole.
  146. It leads to innovation and progress.
  147. So if you include any of that in your summary,
  148. then it will be great.
  149. In our next lesson, we will continue to analyzing the
  150. text and craft and structure.
  151. Hopefully, you're watching this before the lesson, like I said,
  152. so you can already have an idea on the comprehension
  153. check and take a look at the other self assessments
  154. on this page.