Literature/Reading
Blog Post Number Three 😓
One experience that I recall in connection with Literature/Reading is the first time that I wrote a descriptive essay in my English Survey class. My previous experiences in literature classes have typically resulted in a grade of no lower than a B-. At that point in my undergraduate studies, I was pretty proud of how well I thought I read and excelled in literature. Most of the papers I wrote resulted in high grades with helpful feedback, but nothing too outstanding that required drastic revisions. I struggled immensely in my first Survey class, and I still look back at my time in the course fondly. Before enrolling in Survey of American Literature, I had just recently found out from my advisor that I needed to enroll in the course in order to stay on track to graduate, and I had missed the deadline to enroll online. My advisor instructed me to meet with the professor for the course and obtain their permission to enroll. I didn’t think too much into it and had assumed it wouldn’t be difficult…Hahah, I swear I have the most random luck. I met with the professor, and they were a bit intense, to say the least. The professor threw a barrage of questions my way and expressed concern about my ability to handle the course load, as well as the conflicting times the course had with my film studies course. Initially, their behavior and intensity seemed intimidating, but ultimately, they wanted me to be successful in the course and recommended that we have weekly meetings to discuss any questions or concerns about the material, since I was late enrolling. Fast forward to the course, it was a course that kept me on my toes and demanded my attention with the fear of falling behind, which could ultimately lead me to needing to withdraw. I had relied too heavily on my previous experiences of excelling in writing, so I had my ass handed to me in the writing and reading aspect of the course. The First Diagnostic Essay I wrote for the course serves as proof of how far I’ve come in reading and analyzing a text to provide my thoughts on the response. Much of the material covered in the course required a more in-depth reading, as well as meticulous note-taking. Before the course, I had always refused to write or highlight books. This course taught me the importance of taking notes in the book or highlighting anything that stands out to me. This course revealed another vital aspect of my academic career, specifically the texts I was taught in primary and secondary school. Like many other students, I was taught about the “Great Books,” and other texts within the canon are essential in English. My Survey course challenged the foundation I was built on and ultimately pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, despite my multiple attempts to avoid or ignore it. This course taught me that numerous voices outside the canon provide the same, if not more, significance than the texts within it. This course also taught me the importance of using reading material to support a claim or thought that I shared in class, whether it was in a discussion or a paper.
Another experience that I recall in connection with Literature/Reading is reading “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as well as a few other texts, before my senior year for my AP English course. I remember reading the text back in Middle school and was excited to reread it. I created a scrapbook that contained quotes from the text that I believe connected with the different excerpts. I had the option of writing an essay, which many students ultimately chose to do, but I wanted to create something with my hands and make those connections with my personal life. The reading and projects were required to enroll in and continue the AP course. On the first day of class, we submitted our assignments and immediately began reviewing and re-reading the texts assigned to us in the summer. The course was designed to simulate a college-level course, and discussions were a required component. Looking back, my AP course did a lot to help me prepare for college courses, but there were some areas that I wish had been different. I wish I had been exposed to other texts that weren’t as well-known but still provided similar, if not more, information about differing contexts and themes. I recall discussing my concerns with my former AP teacher, expressing frustration about the lack of varied texts in the course, following my first experience in a Survey of Literature course. She did chastise me and went on to explain that our school had a limited amount of resources. She was a bit combative, but I don’t blame her. I think it is a valid point to address, especially when schools don’t have access to other material, but I believe there are ways around it. I appreciate the experiences and use them as examples whenever I talk with students.
The last experience I recall in connection with literature and reading is my final project, which I completed for the AM Horror and Folklore course a few years ago. The purpose of the course was to explore the different aspects of horror and folklore within the literary world. The course was completed over Zoom, but that didn’t hinder my ability to engage in discussions with my peers regarding the role that horror and folklore play in literature. One question posed by the professor prompted us to challenge the canon and its limitations in literature. I had taken previous courses with this professor in the past, and I was excited to be in a course that focused on horror. I am an avid fan of horror and always enjoy exploring the various elements that connect horror in literature, particularly in film. Throughout the course, we were required to read multiple texts and supplemental materials. Every module was meticulously thought out and provided with ample opportunities to discuss the different texts and films that focused on that specific module. Each module had a slew of reading and writing assignments that needed to be completed. Still, most importantly, they would eventually lead to us submitting a final project of our choosing, focusing on a specific topic, theme, or novel/film included in the syllabus. The primary complaint students had was that the reading was too heavy for the course, to which I had no problem with. However, I will preface this by stating that, having had this professor in previous classes, I knew better than to complain about the reading load and was aware of the consequences of not completing the work. Each week, we were required to submit a writing proposal or creative piece related to our final project. I spent each week taking notes on the different components and themes I observed in the readings and supplementary materials, such as films, as a way to draw connections to the module. Ultimately, I decided to complete my final Project for Horror “What is Horror?” with a series of canvases and a “book” I created about the chaos of unreliable narrators, such as Johnny Truant in “The House of Leaves.” I found myself with multiple ideas, and I wanted to create a piece of work that differed from my previous work in this particular professor’s class. The “book” was a compilation of different works that I had created to mimic an unreliable narrative and delve deeper into the various ways to showcase the knowledge I had learned in the course. As the course came to an end and the due date for the final project drawing closer, I ran into an issue with transforming the “book” into a flip book that would allow the reader to access it. After multiple attempts to upload the “book,” it was finally uploaded and transformed into a flip book, but it glitched in an odd way that worked to my advantage. It ended up changing all the work I had completed, which was roughly 20 pages into a 495-page book. With the introduction of a new page, it would restart from the beginning, ultimately forcing the reader to review all 495 pages to ensure they hadn’t missed anything.
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