Week 8, Reflections: Looking Back

I have really been inspired by my classmate's weekly stories. Specifically the imagery, word choice, and general creativity has motivated me to enhance my own writing. After the first week I noticed a lot of my peers were re-writing stories in a more modern context. I tried this for the first time in my week 2 storytelling assignment, and I enjoyed it so much that I've written pretty much every other story after in a modern setting. I think having a weekly storytelling assignment has encouraged me to be more creative, thoughtful, and has generally improved my writing skills.

My favorite reading so far has been The Ramayana A Shortened Prose Version of the Indian Epic by, R.K. Narayan. I was not expecting to get so "sucked into" this book. I truly couldn't put it down. There were so many different kinds of characters, so many elaborate stories, and lots of twists and turns in the plot. I think my favorite character in this story was Sita, however, I longed for more of the story to be from her point of view. That is why I enjoyed the next reading assignment where I got to watch a film that told the story a little more from Sita's perspective.

Ravana Sita Painting,

Author: Nina Paley, Date: 2008, Source: Wikimedia

As far as interactions go, the commenting and feedback from our professor has been really helpful. I like how each week after I've completed my progress on my storytelling assignment, I get personalized and specific feedback from professor Gibbs. This feedback has been encouraging, but also constructive, and has taught me a lot.

I usually work on this class between my other classes. I have random large chunks in the day between classes that are long enough to get something done, but not quite long enough to walk all the way home. I am very fortunate through my major to be allowed access to the Industrial and Systems Team Room. Basically it's a lounge with couches, tables, a refrigerator, a microwave, and computers that ISE students have access to. When I'm not in class during the day, I'm usually there either doing homework or working on this class and eating.

I feel like through this class I've grown in my understanding of Indian culture and literature. I also feel like I've learned a lot about learning online. One major lesson I've learned is how crucial it is to keep yourself organized, and that there are lots of tools that can be manipulated for the virtual classroom. Bookmarks have been the most helpful tool for me. After using them for this class I started using them to keep all of the links for my med-school secondary applications organized and in my other classes.