December 14, 2015 - 15:57
Overall, I missed only one day of class due to unfortunate circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed attending classes and conferences and found the course to be difficult, but very worth it. I usually have difficulty speaking up in class, but I felt very comfortable with my classmates this semester and I am very proud of how well I was able to participate in discussions. I have no idea how much I was able to contribute to my classmates, but I hope my presence was helpful in some way! I generally found myself spending most of my time listening to the ideas of my classmates, which I found incredibly valuable to my learning experience. Every member of my class section contributed greatly in their own way, and it was exciting to see the various perspectives present.
The readings for this course were a great supplement to my learning as well. They were difficult, and I spent many hours working over the concepts in my head. This was definitely not a negative thing. I loved being challenged to think outside of my usual parameters. My favorite readings were Ursula LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” and Bruno Latour’s “Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene” as can probably be observed from my portfolio. I found these two readings especially challenging in regards to the complex ideas presented. On the other hand, I struggled to connect with the readings by June Jordan and Cheryl Strayed.
While I enjoyed writing most of the essays, I actually had more trouble with the Monday postings. I’m not entirely sure of the reason, but I often got stuck with my ideas. Maybe it was because I was nervous about writing something completely off track from the course and the thoughts of my classmates. The essays were probably the most important are of growth during this course. Having my ideas constantly challenged helped me think more deeply about the messages I try to convey and how to present them in a way that will make sense to my peers. The range of topics we explored within our essays was also fascinating to say the least. The course worked almost as if it was a puzzle itself that we needed to piece together. And we did. In great depth. I was constantly intrigued by the surprising directions we would explore, and even more pleasantly surprised to see how perfectly each subject was connected in …if I dare say… an ecologically intelligent way.
Regarding my own writing style, I discovered that the majority of my writing process involves staring blankly at a freshly created word document and contemplating life and the various facets in which it may be affected by the concepts introduced in class. Usually this would lead to one, bold idea which I would then attempt to delve into in great detail. Or sometimes I would be more stuck than before and need to take a break for tea and Hot Cheetos. Over the course of the semester, the time in which I spent thinking became disproportionately large compared to the amount of time I spent writing, but I haven’t found this to be a bad thing. Overall I’ve noticed that the more time I spend thinking about my writing, the more fleshed out my ideas become. This is where I think I’ve developed my skills the most.
During the six-week project, Isabel and I gathered most of our information online. We did extensive research on topics relating to animals and humans even though our topic had been narrowed down to animals in captivity for human entertainment. I was disappointed by our presentation because we spent a lot of time making connections between subjects and working with not only ethics, but psychology, economics, history, and zoology, to make arguments about our topic that I didn’t feel like we got to explain. It was a very interesting project. I just don’t know that the presentation portion of the project is necessary. I believe that a more effective use of our research might be to create a report or display of some sort that we could make a class gallery out of.
After taking this course I will have so many new ideas that I can bring to future classes and that will influence my actions when dealing with the world around me.