College Essay

Lateralization of the brain; the brain's distinct hemispheres and their functions. William Herrmann, a man known for his research in creative thinking and whole brain methods, developed a system to measure and describe the ways people think. His model introduces four dominant methods of thinking: Analytical, Sequential, Interpersonal, and Imaginative. He labels the brain's hemispheres with the letters A, B, C, and D, in a counter-clockwise fashion. Analytical and Sequential on the left side of the brain, and Interpersonal and Imaginative on the right side. I would consider myself a right-brained person. On the interpersonal level, the qualities that identify this hemisphere are feeling based, kinesthetic, and emotional. Closer to the cerebral mode, is the Imaginative traits; holistic, intuitive, integrating, and synthesizing.

I was handed a box of crayons in the second grade and asked to begin by sketching an illustration of an event that had happened that week, then below on the piece of paper, accompany the image with a short story. I reached for the black crayon first; I drew my people. I pressed boldly onto the paper, imperfectly drawing a circle for my father's head, then my mother, my older sister, me, and my younger sister. Unlike the rest of my classmates still using crayon surrounding me, I used my pencil next. I made the lonesome circles into lollipops by lightly adding bodies to my family. Following the body, I added arms and legs. I had carefully anticipated that I was going to be erasing some lines as my drawing progressed. I chose the brown crayon next to outline a t-shirt onto my father - knowing to avoid the pinks and purples for him. Before completely shading in the empty shirt, I erased the line piercing right through the shirt, and the lines I had drawn for what I called arms. I repeated this process meticulously until my family was complete. "Everybody hand in your work!" This phrase was the deepest of my concerns at the time. I hadn't written anything. I had yet to explain my picture.


Since then, it has become obvious that I am a right-brained, "kinesthetic" learner. Carefully detailing each drawing? That's where the analytical hemisphere contributes. I've always found it harder to understand anything but some form of media. There's no way for me to connect to my learning experience on the emotional, personal, expressive, and intuitive levels. I remembering going through the last 8 years of school feeling as if I had to struggle to find the answer to a simple but complex math problem, while in seconds, my classmates could tell you every exact calculation. It wasn't that I was slow, or that I didn't know how to solve the problem, but because I learned differently. I comprehended the information a more visual way. This, I now understand.


Most people would try to change themselves for the good of their future, but I have chosen to embrace it. Instead of being taught how to graph a line by hearing, I physically apply myself to the problem by drawing out the graph and plotting the line, taking the extra step in order to learn. Outside of the average classroom, I participate in art classes. When placed into an art class as a student that is not artistic, most people's attitudes would be "YES! An easy A," or "Great. I'm not doing anything, this will be simple". As an artistic student, I see having an art class as an opportunity for expressing myself, my thoughts, my stress. I see an opportunity to evaluate balance, evaluate the world, and to evaluate mood.