ELA (Fall Semester 2014-2015)

ELA is my favorite class. It has just about everything I want in life: a good book, interesting discussions, the occasional laugh, and lots of writing. But, most of all, it makes me think critically. It makes me question my surroundings, instinctually analyze media, find deeper meaning in the world around me, and stay honest. This mindset of this class is very straight forward, which I like. The books we have read this year have not been so straight forward, but that allows for the novels to let us personally invest time thinking and debating about them both within our minds and with our fellow peers. Seminar wise, I think that there are a select few who talk so much that everyone else either a) feels like they can't follow b) is intimidated or c) is anxious enough at the mere idea of speaking, let alone doing it while trying to bud in between two dominating folks. As someone who tends to be a bit overbearing and way too talkative, I try and step back from the seminar to allow for others to speak. I like that we are proactively pursuing individuals who speak less but this is utterly unnatural for those who are called upon considering that people tend to speak if they have something to say. I think that the individuals who choose not to speak or feel as if they cannot are just as much to blame as those who are unaware and talk too much. With both of these parties actively and effectively communicating how they feel, both parties can be satisfied. In terms of blog posts, I'm just bad at those. It's not the class, it's me. Vocabulary needs help in my opinion. I think that having a announcement about a quiz a week before would really help because personally, I often turn in my vocab the day before or day of the quiz and only upon reading the assignment am I informed that I do, in fact, have a quiz. If there was an announcement or a separate assignment for it that ran biweekly or weekly, that would be AWESOME. Besides that, ELA has been great(z