Basar

What conclusions about reading, writing, and risk can you draw from your reading/writing experiences in this class? What questions do your writing and our texts leave you with?

I don’t really know how I feel about the blog experience. I honestly don’t know how much I really got out of writing in it. I almost feel like I did my entries just to get the points to be completely honest. I wish I had sought to take more risks and really use this blog as a tool. I do think that the blog idea does provoke a lot of really opportunities for taking risks by, one, getting your thoughts out for the world to read, and two, receiving positive, or possibly critical feedback from classmates. I really benefited from you making classmates comment on our blogs, especially the feedback on the Powerbook essay post. The comments from my friends on that post really helped me rework my thesis for that paper.

Some of the blogs I thought were relevant, but didn’t compel me to think much. I think that instead of trying to fit a blog into the theme of the book, an even more beneficial blog assignment would be to simply just journal. I think that a lot of people need a way to express themselves in a way they are too afraid to in person. Having the freedom to simply “write” or compose poetry every once and a while may help kids reveal things in themselves, and will help you, as a teacher, know your students better. I know I would have loved to be able to take more risks in my blog by speaking of my faith more.

Moving away from the topic of blogging and looking at the texts from the class, I really liked the novels we read this year with the exception of The Powerbook. I just didn’t enjoy it. I thought the writing was confusing and the text made me feel uncomfortable. However, I can see why we would use in a “risk-themed” English class.

I loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It was very quick-paced and interesting read. I really loved the plot line. One interesting thing between all three books was the use of inner-stories. Each book we read was one novel with many stories making it up. Maybe that plays a part in the risk factor?

I also really liked The Bloody Chamber. It really caught my attention because of how the author took common stories and transformed them to go against the stereotypes of the world. Not every fairy tale had a “happily ever after” and not one story had the women in her typical role. I like how she empowered different roles.

Getting to write on these novels also taught me a lot about the risks that we must take sometimes as writers. As I wrote in my ELIC rewrite writer’s memo, I learned a lot and grew a lot in my writing by taking a risk that fell back in my face. I caused me to reevaluate my thought process and develop in a way I never had before. I also learned that writing with strong opinions and evidence is taking a risk in itself. Anything that may cause people to disagree with you is putting yourself out there for criticism.

Thank you for being a good critic. In the past, I have had teachers who praised my writing and automatically gave me good grades. I feel that I am pretty book at bs-ing my way through a paper, but walking into your class wasn’t so easy. Thanks for challenging me and not just giving me an A. I learned how to deserve and work for even an A-.

I guess the only question I am really leaving with is how to improve as a writer. I feel that I have grown a lot this semester in my development as a writer and I would love feedback and pointers. I do not fear honesty, so please let me know (to the best of your memory ☺ ) how I can improve.

Thanks for a great few months. Sorry I was often tired in your class. I wasn’t able to sleep a lot this semester. I also apologize for the times our class was inconsiderate. You didn’t deserve to be treated the way you were sometimes. Have a great summer. Good luck with your graduate program!

-Jen Mott