Course Reflection

This course was nothing like what I expected. The most intimidating aspect of the class for me was the forced participation. I do not usually offer my ideas in class because I do not really like speaking in front of people. When we were told that we needed to participate at least once if not more a day or our grades would suffer, I was a little worried. Through having to participate I have grown more comfortable with speaking in front of a group. The class really helped me to analyze something in my head and then articulate it.
Close reading was also fairly new to me. While I had done analysis papers before, I had never heard of the term 'close reading'. The analysis we have done in this class was definitely deeper than I have done before for class assignments.
Some of my favorite readings were "This Blessed House", "Writing from the Center", and Translations. My least favorite was Othello, I am not comfortable reading the language and that made it very hard for me to understand.
To be honest the only part of the course that I did not like was blogging. I don't really feel like I got anything out of it. It seemed to me that if I did have something to say on the topic that I would just say it in class. It is an interesting aspect to the course but for me it always felt forced. Also, this is of my own doing, but I did not feel like I gave each blog 100% effort and I don't like turning in assignments that I did not put full effort into.