DUE: 12 December 2013 @ 12 noon EST(≈250-400 words)
Please post here, and to the parallel Blackboard (Bb) Discussion board thread by cutting and pasting from your word processed comments.
English 289
Official Course Blog–Fall 2013
DUE: 12 December 2013 @ 12 noon EST(≈250-400 words)
Please post here, and to the parallel Blackboard (Bb) Discussion board thread by cutting and pasting from your word processed comments.
Rob Mendez
Dr. Weinstein
English 289
12 December 2013
Discussion Board 15
In English 289 I learned many valuable skills. At first I treated the class as a class I had to get out of the way for my General Studies requirement, but as I got deeper into the class I began to enjoy what we studied. I think the upmost valuable concepts I took away from this class were first the correct way to cite research papers in a variety of formats and how to read and interpret different styles of poetry, and genres of poetry I did not even know existed and where they came from. Emily Warn had the most substantial impact on me compared to the entire course. The way she taught us poetry through her lesson plan really stuck to me and opened up my eyes to the aspect of basic poetry.
My all time favorite aspect of this class was when we had Emily Warn come and speak to us in the art gallery in the library, as well as when she came to our class and taught her lesson plan. I always had an appreciation for poetry but I was not sure I was the best writer or poetry. When Emily Warn came to our class and taught her lesson plan she allowed the class five uninterrupted minuets to write and I enjoyed that very much. Also she explained to our class where her inspirations came from to write a lot of her poetry. The inspiration I found the most interesting was her poetry about nature she wrote by going into the wilderness and essentially interacting with nature and taking it all in.
When I saw the list of readings for this course, I was pleasantly surprised. I knew they were going to be helpful as I prepared for my next career as a high school English teacher. They turned out to be right on target. The combination of extensive reading from a variety of authors and the requirement/opportunity to reflect on the material really broadened my horizons and improved my analysis of literature. There are two areas, in particular, where I have seen improvement: close reading and appreciation of alternate interpretations.
I had a tendency coming into this class to read just enough to understand the basics of a piece of literature. Sure, I recognized character development, plot, mood, setting, and most of the basics of writing, but as the semester went on, I found myself going deeper into the text. I started to find new meanings by looking for elements like textual context, irony, imagery, rhythm, voice, and other literary elements. I believe this attention to detail increased my understanding and appreciation of the material. It also broadened my scope when it came to alternative interpretations of the same material.
One of my other courses reinforced this point. In my textbook for Theory and Criticism noted feminist literary critic Annette Kolodny said “that different readings, even of the same text, may be differently useful, even illuminating, with different contexts of inquiry” (2063 Norton Theory and Criticism). I intentionally applied this pluralist approach to our later readings. I believe this approach helped me open my mental aperture and consider alternate interpretations of a single piece of literature.
Chloe Logsdon
Dr. Weinstein
English 289
12 December 2013
Discussion Board 15
I believe the course Approaches to Literacy Study, English 289 was helpful and I learned many skills. I came into the beginning of the course with some knowledge and I took this class to complete one of my General Studies requirements. The course had many different types of genres and the course was more interesting as we went along. As the course went on, I found myself getting deeper into the text of the books and poetry. I was satisfied when I received the list of many different books we had to read. I was not familiar with some of the books we had to read but I enjoyed learning about many different types of books and authors. I was very interested in learning new skills and to expand my knowledge of many different types of literature. I learned how to cite research papers and how to analyze different types of poetry. I have wonderful writing skills and I improved on them. I really enjoyed learning the true meaning within the lines and understanding the message the author was trying to prove when they wrote their books and poetry. This course was valuable to me because I learned a lot about the different types of literature and it made me realize the beauty within the words of poetry. The two amazing poets, Emily Warn and Richard Harrison made a huge impact on me. Emily Warn and Richard Harrison both really opened up my eyes about the beauty of life and love.
During the course of the class, I learned many things about the evaluation of literature as well as the critique on the lives of the people that wrote them. The works that we read made me more familiar with authors that I had only heard very little of before. I had never before learned so much about the free form style used by Walt Whitman in his leaves of grass poems. I have never been a fan of the free style form of poetry, more attached to the rhyming styles of poetry, with any rhyme scheme. I also like the in house poets that we had at the school, the second being my favorite, due to the fact that his poetry has to do with his life experiences and those of his family as well. Though I had heard of Shakespeare prior to the class, the reading of his poems shed him and his ideas in a new light, one in which his uses wit in his love poems to describe the sarcasm in his voice during a number of his poems. I had also not know much about his life and history before the research in this class for the final paper, though I knew who he was, I never knew that he was married or had children and I did not know the past of his parents as well. I have learned many things through the research process for this final paper.
English 289 has definitely been a roller coaster ride for me. At the beginning I was in awe of the amount of books we had to buy. However, after our first class meeting I knew I was going to like the class. It all became very interesting to me. I had never rwally had an appreciation for poetry as much as I do now.
Emily Warn had a really big impact on this interest. Her craft talk and class visit really made me appreciate the way that poets do what they do. She also made me realize that you can turn the simplest little thing into a poem.
I now have a greater appreciation for poetry, tge differences between different authors, how tk correctly write and cite research papers. As this was a fast paced class it really made me see the bigger picture and helped me move forward into what the real world would be like. I would have to say I have learned a lot from this class, not only from the teacher but from my peers as well. All of which I will carry with me.