Wednesday, June 19, 2013

How I met the Learning Outcomes for English 251!

1. Know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. 

I know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about any type of literature because these skills are ones that I have had to understand in my other English classes for the past four years. The evidence that I can do this lies in my midterm essay, my post about "Beloved", and in my final essay, where I take slam poetry performances and analyze why they are more effective at transferring emotion than poetry written on paper.


2. Know basic literary genres and representative texts in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction.  During the creation process of my final essay, I had to understand the difference between all of the mentioned genres in order to separate slam poetry. This process is evident in my blog post entitled what is the genre of Performance poetry anyway?! in which I defined the genre of performance poetry by partially defining what it is not. 




3. Write literary arguments. This outcome was met primarily through my construction of different types of thesis statements (which are essentially arguments). Look at my post Claims about Slam Poetry to see how I manipulated essentially the same idea into different forms and came out with a satisfactory thesis by the end of the exercise. To see my thesis in its stages of development, look at any one of my posts on my essay (there are other literary arguments in my essay besides my thesis too, of course).

 4. Engage literature creatively and socially. For this outcome, I was socially engaged with others during the creation of my final paper. All of my blog posts about my paper support this fact. In my post Let's Rewind to My Love for Slam Poetry, I entail how I engaged slam poetry with others on Facebook by posting my thesis as a status. I then found out that one of my random Facebook friends is a theater major at NYU and studies slam poetry. We talked about my ideas for awhile and he was extremely helpful in regards to my writing process.
Some other people in our class who are also friends on Facebook were intrigued by slam poetry and we also discussed the subject in depth. Almost everyone who I mentioned my essay topic to was interested and wanted to know more. Slam poetry became a common topic of conversation for me and whoever I happened to be talking to (I don't know how to prove this, but it is true! Ask my roommates and friends!). My last post which contains my entire essay goes through my process and further describes how I engaged literature socially: My Paper: A Memoir. I really enjoyed this learning outcome because it made me realize how literature really is just a connecting bridge between people! I have made a couple really good friends in this class that I hope will always be willing to hear my literary ideas!

5. Use emerging communication tools and pedagogical methods. Using Facebook as a stimulating academic tool by posting my slam poetry thesis as a status was using communication tools in a way that I hadn't before (look at "Let's Rewind"). I realized that Facebook provides me with an incredible network of people that can help me develop my academic ideas if I just ask. For me the conversations I started over Facebook changed my outlook on this social media and fulfilled this learning outcome. I also have used You tube a lot In my research of slam poetry. Lastly, I would like to propose that my entire experience with blogging qualifies as fulfilling this outcome as well because before this class, I had no idea how to blog and did not have any desire to. However, now that I have been exposed to it and have learned its ways, I see how useful blogging can be for any facet of life.

With regards to my personal learning outcomes for the semester, I was fairly alright at #1 (procrastination) until after the midterm and my other 6 credits of upper level English classes became hectic, so even though I didn't fully reach this goal, I am going to have mercy on myself and say that I did the best I could with the time I was given. #2 (reading a book I've never read before) went well because I read a total of six novels I hadn't read for one of my classes and also read tons of new literary theory for my other class. I also found the time to read "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. #3 (wanting to write my final essay on something that is interesting to people) went over well because of the curiosity I received from all kinds of people on my topic. Since Slam poetry is a relatively new artistic genre, not a lot of people knew about it and wanted to know more. For #4 I memorized Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson (and also inspired my dad to memorize it too!). With regards to #5 and #6, I learned and relearned so much about the basics of English, such as the basic genres of literature etc. and after researching slam poetry on my own, I have come to love it so much that I want to continue to study it! I have effectively found something that I am passionate about and to me that is one of the most important take-aways from the class. I give myself an A!
 

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