Where Do I Stand Now? Personal Reflection

Well the time has come for me to evaluate my progress and learning experience for ENG 251 up to this point! I will begin by outlining the Learning Outcomes for the course:

1. Know the basic literary terms and methods
2. Know the basic literary genres and representative texts
3. Write Literary Arguments
4. Engage in literature creatively and socially
5. Use emerging communication tools and pedagogical methods

My goal from the beginning of the term was to fulfill these. Furthermore, after having identified in my personal learning plan my weakness in poetry, I have placed learning focus in the literary genre. Here was what I mapped out on my plan (PO):

1) Becoming acquainted with the different types of poetry
      - I will attempt to do this by studying samples of each type (LO #2)

2) Acquiring skills that will aid me in understanding and analyzing poetry (LO#1 and #3)

3) Develop a work of my own from a chosen genre after gaining enough understanding of it (LO#4)

4) And finally, learn to really appreciate this form of literature (through sharing with my experiences with people in social media and learning from others) (LO#5)

Along the way I tailored my plan to match whatever we were focusing on in class. So how have I done so far? Let's examine (as categorized by learning outcomes):




LO#1:

• I published a post in which I identified fiction literary terms that I found present in the novel I am reading, Rebecca, for my personal study.
• I also did this as I attempted to analyze short stories: "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin (part of an assigned reading) and "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov (personal study.)
• I showed more examples of this in my Personal Literary Narrative where I analyzed Gwendolyn Brooks and her poem represented in the media.  
• I did this when we were studying poetry once again with "The World is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth.

LO#2:

• I categorized Du Maurier's Rebecca as a work of fiction.
• I pointed to "The Story of an Hour" and "The Last Question" as being short stories part of the fiction genre.
• I identified Shakespeare's "Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault" as a sonnet and "The World is Too Much With Us" as a petrarchan sonnet. 

LO#3:

• I approached this outcome as I took a stance in interpreting "The Story of an Hour" and talking about the importance of a third person point of view used by Chopin. 
• I also argued that Brooks diction in "We Real Cool" helped to invoke great meaning in such a short poem. 
• I finally pointed to Wordsworth's use of a sonnet to enhance the meaning of "The World is Too Much With Us." 

LO#4: 

• I worked on this learning outcome first by choosing a novel to read for my personal study plan through the use of my Goodreads account based on the recommendations I received there.
• I also talked about the importance of learning to appreciate poetry by analyzing it here.
• I talked about poetry being shared creatively in the new media through Prezis  and Youtube videos as part of my Poetry Adaptation Analysis. 
• I engaged in literature socially, furthermore, by posting one of my blog posts in a personal social network site.
• By posting my literary experiences in this blog I have also engaged in literature creatively and socially. 

LO#5:

• The main way in which I achieved this learning outcome was through interaction in this blog with my instructor and fellow classmates.
• I also explored this by looking into Prezi presentations and Youtube videos as ways of portraying poetry
• Furthermore, I have used my Goodreads account to shape my personal study plan. 

Another thing that I would like to note is how my peers have helped me to work on the learning outcomes through the comments they have left in my blogs. I specially appreciate Jocelyn's comments on my description of choosing a fiction work to read because we connected in thinking about fiction as a way to travel and her comment on my post where I analyzed "The World is Too Much With Us" because she expressed how I had helped her better understand how to break down a poem for analyzing. I also very much appreciated Leah's comment on this blog post because she helped me better understand something I had misstated. Finally, I'd also like to mention that Chaly, Kimara, and Lindsey's comments on my post about posting my Personal Narrative on a personal social network encouraged me to want to do this more!

How is everybody doing with tracking their progress?