Class so far.....

March 25, 2011

Dear  Laura Cline,

This course so far has been really enjoyable. I have actually learned a great deal. I have always thought that I was a fairly good writer but I feel that this class is helping me to be an even better one. One of the most challenging things for me is actually getting my thoughts onto paper. I can think of what I want to say, but putting them down on paper in a way that makes sense and flows is a challenge. Another challenge that I had was making sure that I knew the difference between analyzing and summarizing. I have analyzed things before but I was not aware of some of the things that qualified as summarizing. The assignments that I have had so far have really helped me to strengthen my ideas and writings of analysis papers.  The most difficult assignment so far was analyzing a text through a historical or biographical view. I had never done that before. Even though it was one my biggest challenges I also fell that that pepper was my biggest success.

When I think about it I have done analyzing in my previous class I just didn’t know it. Instead of analyzing stories I analyzed magazine articles and short articles. Instead of looking at things though a biographical or historical view I would analyze things based on Aristotle’s three appeals or how something was portrayed. It was still basically analyzing but in a different context. I had analyzed poetry in high school but it was a nice refresher to do it again. I would say that I even learned some new things about how to truly read poetry and understand it. I feel like I can look deeper into the poem to find the true meaning or underlining theme. I liked poetry before but I feel like I can truly find the meaning of poems now.  

All of the texts that I have read so far were things that I probably would not have read otherwise. They all opened me up to a new way of looking and thinking about things.  I was affects by all of the reading in different ways. Through the poetry of witness I was able to better understand some of the emotions and ideas going on. Huze and O’Brien really affected me as well. I feel like I was ignorant to what was really going on and what the soldier have to go trough and how they cope. O’Brien was able to show me what soldier have to do to be able to stay alive and all the obstacles they have to overcome.  When I was reading Huze play I was able to see the soldiers emotions through their monologues. How they thought of the war and themselves. It gave me a glimpse into how soldier fell about themselves during the war. All of the reading In this class have greatly affected me. Now think more about what is going one with the people than just the war itself.

This semester has seemed to go by pretty fast. That could be because I am enjoying it so much. I can’t wait to start reading “The Handmaid’s Tale”. I am looking forward to seeing what else I will be doing for this class. I hope that I can improve on getting my thoughts onto paper throughout the rest of the semester. My goal for this class is to be a better write. To have a wider range of writing styles. My other goal would be to leave this class with an A. I feel like I am going my best but that would show me that my best  really was the best I could do.

Sincerely,

Kara