Course goal

The course goal that I think that I have made the most progress towards achieving is demonstrating an ability to make connections between the information, approaches, ideas, and perspectives in this and other courses while discerning connections between the course materials and my own life. This is something that happens from time to time while watching movies or television shows on Netflix and even in conversation with friends. My little group of comrades will be laughing about a dumb video on Break or Youtube, and one of my compatriots will wipe away tears and say something to the effect of: "Why is this so damn funny?"  Here comes Zach to make this a learning opportunity for all, whether they want it or not.  I will dive into Bergson's writings about "mechanical inelasticity" and laughter as a form of correction as an explanation as to why we laugh at a guy slamming his face into a glass door that was so clean it did not even look like it was there.  All laughter has died in the room. I guess it does take some of the fun out of it. 

I would have liked to see more theories of humor or of comedy.  I know that there are more ideas than the ones that we discussed. Though, I suppose the purpose of the class was not to make us experts in humor theory, but instead give us a small glimpse into the topic.  This subtle tease is what is supposed to drive us to dig in and search for the proverbial tree of knowledge (of humor theory).

A commonly repeated phrase was "looking a familiar things with new eyes." A question I have is: how many familiar things did we look at with these new eyes?  I had never heard of any of the works we read in class. I think that having time to regularly discuss modern examples of these older texts and theories would have better facilitated the making of connections.

I would like to take this final sentence to say: I enjoyed this class; I'm glad it was not a bust.

That is all.

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.

Reflection on my experince . . .

I feel this class has been a positive experience for me, although a little challenging at times. I have expanded my knowledge on comedy, and the uses and results of comedy in relation to society and culture. My critical thinking skills are better toward the types of texts we have studied this semester. I have never studied theater or plays, therefore I have a better perspective on how to approach our texts in the future. I am an accounting major, but I am not right-brained or left. I am always directly in the middle, so I think I enjoyed this class much more than some of the others. I would like to share one of my all-time favorite quotes:

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."

~Robert Frost

I sign my emails with this quote, not because I am telling people to do this, but rather to remind myself to keep an open mind when listening to other people’s views and opinions. 

I feel this class has pushed everyone’s boundaries in some way, and for me, that is definitely beneficial to my education. I have to agree with some about the mid-term. I did not think it was helpful- it lowered our grades, and I think we didn’t deserve that because we have all made positive contributions to the class, no matter our opinions. I did, however, like the blog posts, simply because I enjoy reading other people’s perspectives and comparing those views to my own. 

Goals:


By the end of this course, successful students will be able to:

• discuss the central characteristics of several 
comedic forms as well as the range of Digital Humanities research methodologies analyzed in this course
• demonstrate knowledge regarding the interplay of comedies and the historical, political, literary, and cultural contexts in which they were written and performed
• apply this foundational knowledge to approach texts critically, to design research projects creatively, and to present their ideas professionally
• demonstrate an ability to make connections between the information, approaches, ideas, and perspectives in this and other courses while discerning connections between the course materials and the students’ own lives. 

I do feel I have improved on many of these goals. I always relate everything to my own life in order to have a better understanding of my subjects. The only goal I might tend to disagree with is the part where it says present your ideas professionally. Creating a poster feels very ‘high school’, but I try not to judge, and always keep an open mind. I guess we will know more a week from Wednesday.

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?

Course Reflection

            I think the course goal I was most successful in reaching was learning how to “apply foundational knowledge to approach texts critically, to design research projects creatively, and to present [my] ideas professionally.”

            I’m an engineer.  I’ve never been good at reading and analyzing texts, or pretty much anything in the humanities in general.  I’m not terrible at it, but it’s just not my forte.  However, this class pushed me outside of my boundaries.  It made me dig deeper into the texts than I once thought possible.  The blog posts (although not my favorite thing to write) were extremely beneficial.  Not only did they help me try to understand the text better to write them, but being able to read other people’s blogs helped me see different sides to the story.  The different perspectives allowed me to look from different angles, open my mind to the different ideas, and analyze which one I thought was most appropriate.  Furthermore, class discussions were helpful.  Even after analyzing the story to write my blog posts, there would still be aspects of the story I missed or a side that I had not considered yet.  The class discussions were helpful in tuning me into scenarios that I had once found unimportant.  There were many things while watching The Big Lebowski that I thought were trivial at first, until discussing them further and realizing they actually had a purpose to connect throughout the story.  Finally, the application project that we are currently working on has definitely broadened my horizons.  It made me think differently to see how I could help others understand the story better through a different outlet than simply reading.  Also, the fact that we have to present our posters in the Library to the public and not just our class is helping me to prepare better so I can present my ideas to different people, and not people who already know what I am talking about.  Although I am nervous about presenting, I think it will be a good experience and help me to achieve the class goals.

Reflection Post

            Throughout the semester I have gained a lot from Laughing Matters.  I do have to admit that it is nothing like what I thought it would be, but I have come to really enjoy the class.  This is not to say that it has been easy.  This class has probably tested my patience and frustrated me more than a majority of my previous classes.  This frustration was due to being pushed to do something out of my comfortable norm.  This class has pushed me to look at literature of all types, not just comedies, differently.  It has gotten me to appreciate a text based on qualities that I might not even have noticed before.  Of the goals that we set to achieve throughout the semester, I believe that I have improved on all of them. However, the one that stands out to me the most and the one I feel that I have made the most progress on is the ability to demonstrate knowledge regarding the interplay of comedies and the historical, political, literary, and cultural contexts in which they were written and performed.  This may just be a result of having no knowledge of this subject matter prior to taking this class, but I believe it to be the main focus of the class and something I have gained throughout it.

            The aspect of the class that aided in this progress the most and also the part that I looked forward to the most was the class discussions about the plays and articles that we read.  It allowed a comparison to how I interpreted what I read to the various views that other classmates provided.  It was particularly helpful since the class is composed of a diverse group of people, all with different backgrounds and interests.  Discussing the texts and being guided by Dr. Sheehan opened up a deeper, more integrated understanding of the texts than I normally would not have gotten.  As the semester progressed, I noticed more and more my own ability to criticize and evaluate the text based on the time period and style of language used.  These qualities are something that I would never have taken into consideration before this class.  The time period in which a text was written has great effect on the play.  It guides the general attitude towards various subjects and being knowledgeable of it allows you to gain insight into the play and interpret messages the author might have wanted to portray.  Where the play was performed effects the play, what the culture was like effects the play. This seems obvious, but is something I never would have considered before and, therefore, would not have appreciated the text as I do now.

            As I stated above, I have enjoyed this course, but if I could change anything I would like to discuss how similar texts would address the problems of today.  It is something that I ponder on and would love to see various approaches to it.  It is one thing to look back and pretend to understand, but I believe that if this was done then it would allow for a greater appreciation and understanding to the past texts.  The blog posts were very frustrating at points, but I see how they are beneficial in stimulating deeper thinking and preparation for class. 

            Overall, I believe that I have been a successful student in the course.  I understand that I probably struggled at first attempting to understand the meaning behind the, what I thought was “over-analyzing”, but I also believe that is why I have gotten so much out of the class.  I do feel like now I have a better definition of the word comedy and how it effects and reflects the culture and time period.  As time progresses and culture changes, so does comedy.  Through this class, I feel like I have a stronger appreciation for comedy and the impact it has more than just a couple of giggles.

           

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.