I thought my mind would barely have to lift a finger with this project. Find quotes about love, copy, paste, and repeat. But once I started working, I realized there was so much more to it than that. You had to choose what order to put things in, how to arrange them, find meaningful connections between passages, and think.
When I began thinking, I realized the project created a new dynamic for me. I hated this at first, but grew on it as time went by. The Mashup forced me to research, without knowing what I was looking for. The claim would be formed after the fact. I immediately deemed this an unstable and risky endeavor, but realized there was no other path to arrive at the destination. I wish my mind had been open to that style of thought from the beginning. As it was, it only took about fifteen minutes of research to recognize the fun and spontaneity present in forming ideas as you go. Rather than a typical research paper where you find evidence that supports your claim, I was molding a claim that supports my evidence!
I was surprised at how well this project got all of our brains moving. We began moving past finding evidence. Rather, we were finding ways the evidence was related, and ways we could arrange the evidence to emphasize our point. I worked best and was the most productive in regards to our project when my mind was open to making connections, rather than focusing on one thing. One really achieves a better understanding of something when they have to think hard enough on it to relate it to something else. I really like that this project introduced me to this style of learning.
I like that eventually my brain started working in the two ways outlined (evidence before claim, and connections), but I hope I can use this experience to be able to think like that without having to be provoked by an assignment.
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