Some excerpts, organized according to the sections of the original document:
Under the heading of Reading Texts, the goal of recognizing that initial responses are different than those after reflection, and that reflection is valuable and can be pleasurable is one that I would like to further study mainly because I have found to be excruciatingly true. I have found that after reading something for the first time, many important points are unclear or may perhaps go unnoticed. As someone who wants their own reading to be truly read and understood, and as someone who feels sort of frustrated when he takes points the wrong way, I want to learn how to make my first impression of a piece of writing more and more valuable and accurate. I suppose that I would like to more so elaborate on this point, seeing as with help from professors or peers, the second (or third…) time through seems way better!
Out of the above four goals, I think the most important goal is number one ["Be able, and disposed, to read and value literary texts from a wide variety of genres and periods"]. I chose this goal because I feel that we haven't looked at literary texts from a variety of genres or periods. I have learned a lot but I feel that we are looking at recent texts, which deal with the government or journalism. We have looked at numerous articles but I feel somewhat worried that I will have a harder time dealing with literature from different eras, like Shakespeare for example.
Although I do like the aspect of reading literature with a group of people and being able to discuss it with others I disliked how it seemed in high school that a class would discuss a book until the actual book was irrelevant. I find that books can have many different meanings for different people and can affect them differently according to experiences that they've had in their lives. Therefore I think that discussion shouldn't be led so much by the teacher and what the teacher's book says it means but more on how the students interpreted the information. I think that this is something that we would be able to do within our Aquinas class, as feelings seems to play a central role. I also think though, the our discussion shouldn't just be centered around feelings as much as interpretations and what scholars have interpreted books to mean. I think that this idea is very feasible within the structure of our class as it is right now and I feel that reading great texts or novels and discussing them would be just a beneficial as us all reading different texts and teaching each other. New perspectives and thoughts could be introduced to each reader. It seems that next semester reading a novel, or a literary classic as a class would be something that I would not only benefit from but also enjoy.
The first is to "be able, and disposed, to read and value literary texts from a wide variety of genres and periods". This goal jumped out at me as I feel it is something we have not yet done extensively in our English class. We've looked at some modern texts on recent issues in society but haven't really delved into writing from other eras or surrounding other topics. I think a comparative study of various genres and eras would probably help us better understand how writing has developed over time and to what degree it still varies from genre to genre. I think it is important to recognize these various types of writing. A tie-in to this would be to be "increasingly disposed, and accustomed, to value diversity in cultural, social, and political manners". Again, this is simply looking at a wide variety of texts with a broad scope of viewpoints on a particular subject. All of this contributes to the "whole picture" or perhaps "wholish picture" of a topic and helps to uncover an "objective truth" as best we can: something I think should be a focus in studying texts.
The goal for "increased, and growing, ability to read and derive pleasure from texts" is one I wish to achieve in order to make reading texts for classes more of a pleasure than a chore. When I read standard literature in other English classes, I don't only want to know what it means, but also how to enjoy its content. When reading a text, I want t to love or hate its ideas and/or characters in a way that makes it entertaining. Enjoying a text is a useful tool for drawing meaning from it; you're more like to analyze a reading if you appreciate what's written. I think English 1006 should emphasize this goal by discussing what elements of a particular text pleasure or bore us. Also, we could explore the many ways to pull pleasure from texts by breaking the class into groups and having each one select a text that they collectively enjoy. The texts could then be talked about in class, and each person would be exposed to new ways to appreciate text.
I think that the work we have done thus far has been important to the goal of getting us to be able to derive more content and meaning from the texts we read. In looking at the way texts are written and the spin which is evident in them is essential to the ability to think for ourselves and not take what we read as the ultimate truth. This type of analytical reading is especially important when examining academic studies or opinion pieces. However, this skill does not seem to be as useful when looking at artful writing, such as Shakespeare or any other of the classic poets or writers. Perhaps I am wrong on this notion, and if so, I would like to learn how I am wrong and so then what kind of reading is necessary to gain the full value and meaning out of such material. So I hope that we cover some ground on this topic. For it seems that one would approach poetry with a different mind set than one would when reading a piece such as the Robert Bork article. So far, I have gained a lot of value from the work we have done. It has been an incredible learning experience which varies significantly, and for the better, from the work I did in high school. I hope for next term to start perhaps looking at poetry, drama or literature
I found the goal that states "Be able, and disposed, to read and value literary texts from a wide variety of genres and periods" has remained the most important to me. I think that this goal goes hand in hand with "Have increased, and growing, ability to read and derive pleasure from texts." In order to study English, I feel that one needs to be exposed to different kinds of texts. In the past, I have encountered certain texts which have been difficult to read and I have therefore cast the text aside. However, I feel that combining various types of texts with a goal of increasing one's ability not only to read, but also to find pleasure in reading texts that one might have abandoned previously, is important and definitely something I would like to strive to achieve. My English classes in high school did not even begin to enter the world of literature, as they simply puttered around the front gates. I love to read and to talk about literature, so I hope that this is a goal our class will achieve, or at least focus on somewhat.
Another goal I found to be important was "Be disposed to attend, and attend to, public realizations of texts (for example, the theater, movies, readings, lectures), and able to be engaged with them in a reflective and responsive manner." I know that we have addressed this somewhat in terms of occasions, however, I hope that we further address this goal next term. I find it interesting to relate public realizations of texts, such as theater, to the text itself Comparing these different perspectives of the text (i.e. a theater production of Hamlet and a film production of Hamlet) to that of the original text can create some interesting discussion and further elaborate on aspects of the text.
This is a skill that everyone in the class has shown through reflecting on occasions. Sharpening such a skill can only enhance one's ability to appreciate all forms of entertainment. This makes you a more attentive and interested observer of all the films, books, lectures and plays you witness during and after university. If this course can help make us more confident and informative critics, we'll be better equipped to analyze realizations of texts in future courses. Forming educated opinions and expressing them effectively is both academically and socially beneficial.
Also in that category was "be disposed to attend, and attend to, public realizations of texts (for example, the theatre, movies, readings, lectures) and be able to be engaged with them in a reflective and responsive manner." This is, I think, the essence of work with occasions but perhaps something we could expand upon in English. For example, if we knew a certain play was going to be showing in the Black Box, we could analyze the script in advance of the performance or some work of that nature. I believe this is something that could give us a new perspective as reading words is an altogether different experience than hearing them, and a playwright would most certainly employ different language tools than a novelist, for example.
As we move down to Writing, the goal of being accustomed to have their writing make a difference was quite attractive to me, and I was also persuaded by the sort of reality check built in to the goal that referred to grammar. When I think of my writing making a difference, it seems like a great skill to acquire both for learning and teaching sakes. Learning how to write effectively, in order to truly get to people and make them think (or feel) deeply, has always been something to aspire to. The all mighty grammar part of things is one we cannot ignore, and so odd hints and comments on how to improve the structure of our writing would be great. However, basing units on grammar can put the capital "tee" on Tedious.
Though I found them all to be of equal importance, I think that the last one ["understand and use capably the conventions of the forms of writing which literate people use for sharing ideas and values"] is one that we should pay particular attention to next semester. I think this because it is the one which we have spent the least time on so far. I also think that it will be quite a useful tool in the future.
This goal is the most important to me, not because the others seem somehow less important, but because this whether I like it or not, seems the most important at a scholarly level, to be able to articulate well in written format. To be able to use grammar correctly, tone, etc., would be a valuable tool in presenting one's ideas not only properly, but also powerfully. The real world does not function on Aquinas time, and likewise the expectations in other courses are very much different from Aquinas, to be able to have great ideas and disseminate information is one thing , but to be able to put that information and those ideas in a way which is both cohesive and logical to the rest of the world, would be just as useful in academia. I think this section would also safeguard the most actual learning for me, and others.
"Be aware that writing is a powerful and necessary means of discovering what one thinks and making sense of it." This has been one of the more immediate goals thus far in English; we've read pieces in search of the manipulation of writing, and weave written down our own interpretations and feelings based on those pieces. We've spent every class dealing with "spin" in writing, and I think its given everyone an appreciation of how powerfully or subtly writing can convey messages. I think our preoccupation with "slant" has been warranted, for we communicate with the world through reading and writing every day. Observing how writing can be crafted to send certain messages in a classroom is helpful because the knowledge acquired can then be applied to more practical experiences, like reading a letter, newspaper, food label, etc. I think that this is an important skill to have! In a world where communication is so important – it would be nice to review the technical stuff.
. . . the writing aspect of the outline struck me most. I have always been greatly interested in literature that has the power to change how I feel/think. I am greatly appealed in the text that has the ability to adjust my emotional state as well. Within the outline I came across "having writing make a difference to the actions, thinking and feelings of others" which relates to what I wrote above.
Now we have arrived at the section discussing Libraries and Technological Resources, and the goal to value the processes by which we come to agreement with truths is one that has much meaning in our struggles to withdraw the venom from biases and not just fall in line with what the media presents to us. I suppose the reason that this goal appealed to me is that it is one that we have certainly hit on this first term, but to really value the process by which we accept or deny a production says a lot about who we are, so it might be worth taking further.
To "have a growing ability to understand and use the resources of the library" is of particular interest to me as a first-year student who has little experience with the Harriet Irving Library. I avoided that massive building at all costs as a high school student as to minimize the confusion of essay research. As a result, I'm terribly dependent on the internet to do my research for me. This leaves me in a precarious position because I know I'll be specifically asked to use the library as a research tool throughout my stay at STU. I've traveled to the library to complete a religious studies assignment, and already I feel more comfortable with the library setup and processes. I wish to extend my library know-how in this course as to reduce the number of problems I have with library research in the future. Such experience will allow me to focus on the task of writing an essay or preparing as report rather than worry about how to find the materials necessary to do so.
Using technology is a must when you want to learn all that you can and take advantage of our world full of computers! The library, with their computer catalogues is full of resources that are available for US to use! Learning how to use these better will help us in learning all that we can in university!
Finally we gaze upon the holy grail of all English goals: those related to the act of Learning itself. In order to tie in with one of the unique approaches of Truth in Society, understanding evaluation could be undertaken simply by redefining what exactly what it means to be evaluated, and to make sure that how this new definition relates to the various Truth students is kept clear. From what I can see, our domain of the Aquinas program puts into play different (and more relevant, in my opinion) criteria when determining "grades", and studying these (whether to know how well we are doing, or to have an idea of alternative ways of evaluation for future reference) cannot hurt. One of the final goals stated pertained to being responsible for our own learning, and taking it upon ourselves to continually learn without the course is obviously something that most university students come to grips with. Once learning becomes something done by choice for the first time (in university) we may realize that this is the way it should be for our entire lives- hopefully elsewhere it won't cost as much! English is a great area to start seeing as we may deal with writing and words for the rest of our lives, and the sooner we discover learning for its own sake as a part of becoming who we are, the more free we are to explore all walks of life.
I would not only like to read such literature, but experiment with writing it also. I have long been able to able to write in a way which makes the people I know laugh. I would now like to develop my writing to a new level, allowing me to not just write comically, but also joyful, heartbreaking and livid. I hope to accomplish this in second term.