Small Group Response

I definitely prepared a good bit more for this class.  I made sure I read the story in depth, and that I understood completely what I was reading.  Normally when I read the stories I make sure I get the main points, and get the overall idea of them, but this class really forced me to look at the details of the story.  It also made me try to think of different ways of looking at the passages.  Normally I would probably just take the story at face value, but this class made me look for other ways of interpreting the characters actions than just what was given on the surface.

Three things I learned from the class were…

1.  You are basically going to get out of the class what you put into it

Even though I heard and been told this a thousand times, this class just seemed to reinforce this idea.  If you really prepare for class and come with a good understanding of the material than you will probably get more return on your investment, than if you don’t have a good grasp of the reading from the week, or haven’t read it at all. 

  

2.  I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be an English Lit. teacher or literary critic

I really wasn’t leaning toward this occupation anyway, but this class definitely confirmed my suspicions that I don’t want to be teaching English lit or critiquing it.  There seems to be a whole lot of subjective material in literature, and I guess I have a more objective outlook on things.  And I’m not really sure why the reasoning behind the characters actions in the story matter?  It seems like a whole lot of discussing without accomplishing a whole lot, in my opinion.  But it must have some significance because people have been studying literature for a long time.  And if studying literature is your thing, then I’m definitely not downplaying the significance of it, it’s just not one of my interests. 

  

3.  People have a whole lot of different opinions about the same topic

This idea kind of goes hand in hand with what I discussed in my last point about literature being such a subjective topic.  Ten people can read the exact same piece of literature, and have ten different interpretations on what the author meant, or what the character’s actions mean, or even what the message of the story is.  And all of them can make pretty good cases for their arguments, and thus everyone has come to their own “right” answer or interpretation.

Overall I’d say the class was a good learning experience, because it made you pay attention to the details of the story, and forced people to communicate their thoughts on the topic at hand.