This class has been really eye opening for me. The discussions were always very interesting and very engaging. They got the whole class to discuss ideas that not everyone agreed upon, but nobody left the class feeling angry or embarrassed. Everyone was able to discuss controversial topics with respect to each others viewpoints. Caitlin did a great job at being the facilitator of all these topics, and she had great insight herself.
The idea of invisible narratives will stick with me for awhile. I already think about the concept on a day to day basis. The only thing is I now know that invisible narratives are everywhere and most people play into them, but I still don't know how to change them, or even which ones need changing. I do not like to judge people, but I find myself doing it no matter what. To rid yourself of judgement would be to stop judging yourself. Without judgment of self our primal instincts would take over. There is a balance between excessive judgement and no judgement. Because of this class I am determined to find the balance between the two.
I also really liked how Caitlin asked us to write in our own voice, instead of writing solely in an academic discourse. To have an english teacher ask us to do that made me feel much more comfortable writing. It also allowed for my ideas to flow more freely from my mind to the paper. The less my brain has to translate, the more fun it was for me to write.
I also really enjoyed the assignments. They were an awesome fun break from traditional boring english class assignments. They were great creative writing outlets that inspired me to have more fun with writing. I specifically liked the fable/parody option. it was cool to choose what form we wanted to write in. I think that because we had so many drafts for each writing piece it made the assignments less stressful to write. It was nice to get to do shitty first drafts before doing major drafts.
Over all, the course was a positive experience for me. I think that this was the best english class that I could have been in, for my style of learning. I hope that there are more teachers like Caitlin who can structure a class that is truly conducive to all of their students style of learning.
very interesting point about judgement and I definitely agree with you when stating that there are two types of judgement. And how this class taught us whether the judgement is excessive or not. Judgement is also learned from the invisible narratives in our class because we may have read something and right off the bat judged the topic right off the bat by how it was written when not knowing the back story behind it.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that Caitlin did a great job leading the class discussions and the class in general. I found writing in our own discourse interesting, but not as easy as I expected it to be. I remember doing the free write in our own discourse and many people could not write like how they speak because it didn't feel fitting for an English class. I like your idea on how to get rid of judgement, and I hope you find middle ground for judgement.
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