Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Ruminating on Classes

For my penultimate post of the semester I thought that I would talk about my thoughts on this semester. I enjoyed this semester greatly in spite of the 21 credits. I had a lot of papers due and a lot of books to read but it was worth it I think. I have a lot due this week and then the WPCTE presentation this weekend but after that it is all downhill. So here are some of my highlights from classes this semester:

Arabic 201: This went really well this semester. I know a considerable amount of complex grammatical constructs and I really have enjoyed expanding my vocabulary and understanding of the language. It is exciting to be able to read large quantities of Arabic script without needing a dictionary.

Shakespeare: This class was great. I really enjoyed being able to focus on Shakespeare for a whole class period on monday nights. It was really great to read some plays of his that I had never read before such as "Coriolanus" which is now one of my favorites.

Young Adult Literature: I really enjoyed this class although it seemed a bit unfocused at times. The main thing that I really enjoyed about this class was the practicality of it as well as the discussion. I feel that there were many good discussions and that students walked away with good ideas for use in the classroom.

Writing for Non-Print Media: This class was also good for similar reasons to YAL. I feel that I have several very practical things that I can use in the classroom whenever I begin teaching. It was also helpful just to become acquainted with and begin using some different digital tools. My favorite being googledocs (which i was familiar with but didn't use a whole lot) and googleReader because it is just a pheonmenal tool for keeping up with a lot of websites.

Intro to Professional Writing: I took this class because I was thinking about picking up a writing minor and I just never dropped it. In spite of the fact that it could be viewed as a waste of time and money, I am glad that I took it. It has given me a lot of practice in the area of revision especially. It was nice to have a class that focused on writing because the english ed track focuses so heavily on literature.

American Literature II: The best thing that came out of this class was having to read Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. I absolutely love this book and Faulkner. In my opinion it could be the best book I have ever read. While I did enjoy this class I inevitably found it to be frustrating at times. Because of the subject matter it often gives rise to topics that cause debate in the classroom. This can cause the classroom dynamic to be complicated. Solid literature selections though.

Traditional Grammar: I love this class and topic. I have been in my professor's office a few times to discuss the topics that the books in this class bring up. Linguistics and grammar are fascinating fields of study and I have often thought about pursuing a graduate degree in some related field. You can get an A in this class just by going through the motions, but you only really learn if you put a lot of effort and thought into the material.

1 comment:

  1. I am taking some of these classes in my upcoming semesters, and I feel that your post is much more comforting than the course descriptions. I'm so impressed at your workload... I'm not sure how you accomplished all of this! You should be proud of yourself, for sure.

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