What Does Communication Mean to Me?

            Communication is the goal of all human beings. We are all searching for a way to connect on some level with those we interact with, whether it be through words, art, song, or some other form of expression. This class has really expanded my ability to express myself through means other than the spoken word. While we discuss and debate often, our collections/reflections and our papers are where we make our opinions known. Through these mediums we are able to voice our opinions and back it up with reasoning and sources from outside our class. This form of communication can actually be more beneficial than debate because the arguments are more organized and thought out.

            Another form of communication that we have focused on is visual literacy. We have viewed many different works of art and been able to draw our own conclusions about the message the artist is trying to convey. It is through these activities that we are learning to look at another person’s work and form our own opinions on the subject, regardless of what the artist may have wanted to convey. We are now seeing that we can tie art into our own lives and make it mean something personal to each of us as an individual.

            Throughout the course we have expanded our knowledge of different forms of communication and learned new ways to express ourselves, but the most important thing we have learned is to listen. By practicing listening to other people’s opinions we have been able to open our minds to many different points of view and patterns of thinking we may have never considered before. I think the best thing we have taken away from this term is that the greatest part of communication is to listen.