Reflection Paper
I walked into literature 131 on the first day of class not knowing what
to expect. I had not thought of school very much since the end to fall
quarter. Now on this first day of winter quarter, I had missed my first class
because I could not find it and here I was in a w-course not sure what to
expect. I soon discovered that this class would be fun and I would learn a
lot both as a writer and as a reader.
During the first week of class I found out about the weekly seminar. They
sounded lengthy and time consuming, not to mention the whole having to talk
in front of the group every week. The first seminar came. It was kind of
quiet in the group and no one seemed really confident on what to say. I felt
that I had written a good paper but did not what to express my ideas without
something to compare them with first. Then the second seminar came. Things
became a bit livelier as everyone became more comfortable with the idea of
expressing their ideas. This time my paper wasn't done as well as I would
have liked, but I did like listening to the differences in people's opinions.
Throughout the quarter we continued the process of writing papers and getting
together to inform one another on our thoughts. By the last seminar I felt I
had a better grasp on how to inform others about my thoughts and feelings
both verbally and through writing.
The next weekly work of writing that helped improve my skills was the
journals. The journals were good because they were similar to seminar papers
but less formal. The journals were shorter pieces that helped with seminars
in that if, like me, a student chose to write on a piece of writing from
Bridges that was in the same section that our seminar was on for that
week
then it was like a practice seminar. The journals were also good for me
because they allowed me to just explore different pieces of writing and
different styles as well as the different messages that were contained in a
piece of literature.
The only part of this class that I think didn't really help improve my
writing was the research papers. It could have just been because I found
every thing I wanted to write on without any digging. I don't really like to
have to go very far to find things that I want to write about. I understand
the need to back up what a writer says with points and evidence; I just don't
like to have to search to find it. The topics I chose for my research papers
were not very good either. I wanted to find better thesis for my papers but I
could not think of anything better than what I chose in the allotted time
frame. I do think the research papers were a little helpful in that I learned
how to properly cite the work and I found that even if I could not get into
my paper it still turned out okay.
Moving back to the more positive aspects of Lit. 131, I learned a lot
about poetry. When I was in junior high and high school I took some English
classes but none of them truly explained how to understand poetry. I learned
the basics of poetry but nothing like this class. In this class I have
discovered how a poem has many meanings, and it is possible for me to find out
what those meanings are. I knew about sonnets and haikus, but I never realized
there were different levels within sonnets and different ways of structuring
poetry. I also thought it was interesting to learn about iambic pentameter. I
knew some things about iambic pentameter, but I had never had anyone explain
the rhythm and foot part of it to me.
The part of this class that really opened my eyes as far as reading goes
was the explanation of non-fiction. Before this class I thought that
non-fiction was generally about just the facts of a situation. I thought that
non-fiction fell in the same class as textbooks and other unentertaining
parts of literature. I did not even realize that creative non-fiction even
existed. To me any story that was based on fact still fell in the fiction
category because it was a story with characters and plot. It is funny to
think how much creative non-fiction I must have been reading without even
knowing it.
The biggest thing I have gained from this class is a true definition of
literature. Before this class I felt that literature was a collection of
poetry, novels, short stories, and plays that were designed to entertain for
limited hours at a time. Now I feel that literature is something more.
Literature is like art. A wonderfully written poem or play can have just as
monumental an effect as masterpiece done in oil paints. Literature is any
piece of writing that captures a reader's attention and holds it even after
he or she has put the book down. Literature conveys different thoughts and
different ideas and sometimes just different perspectives on the same idea.
So this class gave me more than I expected but since I didn't know what
to expect to begin with it turned out in my favor. I enjoyed this class very
much. It was fun and engaging. This class did not involve the same boring
thing over and over again and it really made me think, like you promised at
the begging of the quarter. One thing I did not mention was the book groups.
I thought you should know that while not every one in the class was into them
I thought they were a fun and unique way to let the class know about a variety
of books and their authors. This class has been very beneficial to me as a
writer and as a reader. What's more is that while I was having fun and
expanding my knowledge and abilities I also gained five credits and took care
of a w-course.
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