Wednesday, June 19, 2013

How I Met the Learning Outcomes for 251

1. Know basic literary terms and methods.
This is one that I specifically needed to focus on, after meeting with Dr. Burton after midterms it was made clear to me that I wasn't too great at the terms. I buckled down and really tried to focus on the terms. It was hard for me to remember to bold the terms like we had been asked to. It was also hard for me to remember to explicitly state them. But there were a few blog posts where I was able to look at certain literary terms and methods. Like when I analyzed T.S. Eliott's poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I also analyzed a poem that I really care about, Richard Wilbur's The Writer. Two others, not poems, that I was able to analyze and look at literary methods were The Things They Carried, and A&P. In the Drama unit, I was able to talk some more about literary terms when I discussed plays I was reading, for instance: the deconstruction I did of Death of A Salesman. Though I didn't post much about literary terms in and their uses during the week we look at nonfiction, we talked in class so much about it - I took so many notes - I really feel like I have improved in this learning outcome.
2. Know basic literary genres and representative texts.
I DEFINITELY know basic literary genres and some representative texts for each. I might have thought I did before, but after Dr. Burton's post about all of the sub-genres of nonfiction, now I really realize what all it entails! Of course I know theatre genres, theatre is my area of expertise. When I was looking at different plays to possibly direct, I posted about the genres of each. When I read nonfiction I commented on the genres. I also did an entire post of how I WRITE nonfiction (not necessarily so 'literary') every week in my own blog and didn't realize what it was! Back when I was taking the midterm, I was a little rocky on the different kinds of genre in poetry so as part of my personal learning plan, I have read more in the textbook trying to learn the difference between poetry genres. I feel like I understand better and can tell the difference between lyric poetry and elegiac poetry and sonnets and such! Also, thanks to my ENG 420 and TMA 397 classes, I have been reading books every week that fit into our four MAIN genres: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction. 
3. Write literary arguments.
My literary arguments are mostly the same as when I talked about certain posts in learning outcome number one. When I would analyze the two poems and the two short stories. I would say, however, the main literary argument (and where I have been most successful with this learning outcome) was for my final paper. I think the best example of that is when I wrote why I care about the play I chose. In preparation of my paper I looked at some articles that defended dark themes, like I did, and wrote a blog post about how this could help my argument. Also, my ENTIRE paper is a literary argument for 'Night Mother!
4. Engage literature creatively and socially.
 For me, since the midterm, my two favorite ways we have engaged in literature creatively/socially is when my Drama group did our presentation and everyone got to perform in their assigned genres (yes it was my group, but I am not trying to brag - I really had a lot of fun watching all of the performances) and when the Nonfiction group assigned us to write an argument for or against technology/family in the assigned nonfiction genre. I was assigned to write a political speech, and I'll be honest, this is my FAVORITE thing I have written in this class. It was my pride and joy :) I've also been trying to give more useful feedback on other people's posts, instead of some that I see. I didn't just want to fulfill the requirement, I wanted my feedback to be useful like some were for me! Particularly in the last few weeks when we have been focusing on writing our paper, I knew that if I had something helpful to say then it would be beneficial for my classmates for me to say it! It was nice, also, to receive helpful comments in return. 
5. Use emerging communication tools and pedagogical methods.
I wasn't sure if this next example fit into #4 or #5, probably both. But I loved the assignment to use social media and share a modified version of our thesis statements. I thought it was incredibly helpful and it was also exciting every time I got a notification that someone had commented on one of my two facebook posts. Of course, I've also kept up with my goodreads account. I've made my paper available by using emerging communication tools. I think the main thing that I have done to fulfill the requirement, using pedagogical methods, was the initial idea, process, and completion of my outside learning plan. I said I wanted to choose a play. I had eight plays I was reading. I completed my goal! Along with that, I've been reading required reading and I've been reading on my own in each genre to fulfill this.

If you were to click and read my midterm progress report, you could see how I've improved in all five learning outcomes!

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