What did you like
best about the readings for this class? Are there any general suggestions you
would make about how the readings are set up?
I liked the diversity of the readings in this class. I was
able to read Greek Mythology, folklore tales that I have never read before,
Dante’s Inferno, and Alice in Wonderland, just to name a few. We truly took a
trip around the world in literature, which I was not expecting. I think the
readings are set up well. Perhaps this would just turn the class into an uncontrollable
circus, but if you just posted all of the Units and students got to pick a
reading each week, regardless of region that could be fun. I know there were
some weeks I wanted to read 4 or 5 of the units from!
Did you find some new
reading diary strategies that you used in the second half of the semester?
The first half of the semester I found myself spending too
much time on the diary, so the second half I still summarized the story for my
later reference but I included much less detail.
What did you think of
the overall balance between reading – writing – commenting in the class
assignments?
I think the balance is great. Sometimes the storybook
commenting seems a little length but this makes sense because it is worth 6
points every week.
Do you think I should
offer a reading assignment extra credit option?
I didn’t realize this was a question when I talked about
just opening up all units for each week earlier, so this would probably be a
way better alternative to my above idea!
As you look back from
the end of the semester, what advice do you have for students who will be
getting started next semester?
I worked ahead all semester and it was great to have a
little leeway in the weekly assignments. Even if you can get one week ahead you’ll
be in such a better position than just meeting deadlines each night, which
probably gets daunting.
Of the possibilities
listed, what do you think would be the most useful priorities?
I definitely think adding more notes to the units would be
the most useful. There were times that I got a little confused within the
stories and some notes would have been great, but they were also things that I
could figure out on my own by going back a few stories or just doing a Google
search. I think the introductions are good how they are, I usually chose the
units I wanted to read by just reading the first story or two, which is usually
enough to get a feel for if you would like the whole unit or not. I honestly
don’t pay much attention to the images while I’m reading but they are great to
have even if simply for the reason of breaking up the monotony of text. I also
think there are plenty of units as is and more notes would be more useful than
more reading options. I think the anthology units sound good, but I also
noticed simply just be reading different stories that there were hero stories
and love stories that seem similar across the world and I would use the weekly
essays to talk about that. So the class almost takes care of anthology units on
its own!
Thanks for doing these posts, Jeremy - it is such a big help to me! Your comment about how sometimes there were more readings you wanted to do for a give week makes me think that some kind of extra credit reading would be good and would help people explore more of all the great stuff there is to read. And of course I will keep working on adding the notes... it is really fun to do; I just need to find the time, ha ha. Anyway, THANK YOU for your comments here and in the writing post. They are super-helpful and I really appreciate it!
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