Reflection Post

       Applying foundational knowledge to approach texts critically was a goal I think I made the most progress towards. And by using the foundational knowledge, I was able to design a research project creatively and will present my ideas professionally with my partner. I will have progressed greatly in presenting my ideas because I hate giving presentations. And I think this will help. For me, reading the texts was not easy to do. I had difficulties comprehending the context. But as we got into groups and discussed the readings as a class together, it really helped me understand the texts a lot better. That aspect of the class was what I enjoyed the most along with reading other classmate’s blog posts. The blog posts helped me see other classmate’s interpretation on the text. And no blog was the same, so there were lots of varieties.

            I think I benefited the most from forming group discussions. One of the texts I had trouble understanding was The Contrast. Group and in class discussions helped me understand it better. It was a small group so we had the chance to hear everyone’s option at the table and it made me not afraid to speak my mind versus speaking in front of the entire class. So small group discussions should be kept. A thing that I would change about the class would be the blog posts and comments. We all know that everyone has other classes other than this course and so much is going on with our lives, I think the blog posts should be made every other week.

            Throughout this course, I struggled with topic ideas for blog posts and understanding the texts. But overall I think I was a successful student. I know I made progress in this class and I found ways to better grasp the context of the readings.

Goal

I believe the course goal I made the most progress towards was applying the knowledge from our class periods to approach texts critically, to design research projects creatively, and to present their ideas professionally. There was only one example from the semester that is needed to back up this assumption: The Beaver Coat.
 Right after I read The Beaver Coat, I said that it was one of the most pointless things I had ever read. However, when we discussed the text in class, some interesting discussions were brought as to why the play ended the way it did, the reactions of the audiences in Berlin when it was first performed, and the feelings my fellow classmates had about the play. The knowledge I gained that night led me to the idea to create a new ending to The Beaver Coat in order to see if the play’s unusual ending makes it special to a particular type of person, those who are right brained or those who are going into fields absent of science such as English and history, and hated by another type of person, left brained or those who are entering science related fields.
 Next time this course is taught, I would get rid of the blog comments and make them extra credit opportunities. The blog posts helped me spot aspects of the plays that were interesting to think about. I would also suggest watching two movies because it was fun applying what we had learned over the course of the semester to The Big Lebowski.
 Finally, I think that I was a successful student in this class. I think the bulk of it was due to the in-class discussions. I do not feel like the blog comments benefited me in any way. I also feel like the midterm was pointless and the only thing it did was bring students course grades down. How about making students watch a comedy on their own time and have them apply their course knowledge to it by writing a one page paper?

Reflection Post

I believe that I made the most progress on the following course goal:

Demonstrate knowledge regarding the interplay of comedies and the historical, political, literary, and cultural contexts in which they were written and performed.

The blog posts were really helpful to read and see what other people in the class thought about the texts.  The most beneficial blogs to me were the ones that incorporated history and what was going on in the world when the plays were published.  I am not a big history buff and have only taken two history courses while in college, so some of this information was new to me.  By reading what other people had to say, I was able to form a more well-rounded view of the text. 

Another aspect of the course that I found helpful was the ‘What-If’ discussion questions.  What if all the genders in The Broken Jug were reversed?  Would that have made a difference in our attitudes towards the characters?  What if Alceste and Celimene from The Misanthrope used social media?  I found it helpful to discuss these questions in our small groups, because everyone had different opinions.  These conversations led me to think deeper about the texts we read and make connections to previous texts. 

Overall, I feel like I was successful in this course.  Even though I sometimes struggled to write the blog posts, I think that I gained a lot of factual knowledge about comedies and how they are used to make statements about society.  Before this class, I thought that the purpose of a comedy was strictly to entertain and evoke laughter, but now I see that comedies are effective ways to convey ideas about social order and make an audience think about the world around them.  This class was a good change from my usual STEM-related coursework.