Week 15: Writing Feedback

I would like to start by saying that I did more writing for this class than I have for any other class in my college career, and it has done a lot to strengthen my writing. What I liked best was all of the feedback from everybody, especially Laura. It was really cool to hear everybody's ideas about how to improve my stories, and every one was always so polite. I can honestly say that this class has done a lot to improve my grammar and creative writing skills, much more that I ever thought that it would.
For my project, I chose the storybook option and I don't have any regrets for doing so. My experience with the storybook played the largest part in my enjoyment of this class, and I think that it is something that all students should at least try. In my opinion, the storybook option is more organized and really encourages us to choose our favorite topic and learn as much as we want about it. While there is nothing preventing students that choose the portfolio option from writing in an equally organized manner, I tended to notice that the portfolios contained a more random assortment of stories. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with writing unrelated stories, but I really enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment as I was making the final revisions to my storybook and saw how well it came together. Another thing that I appreciated about the storybooks was the titles. I was always much more likely to choose a storybook as my free choice each week because I knew what I was getting myself into.
In regard to the commenting system, I don't really have any suggestions. I think that it's great that we're paired with different people each week but also have a free choice to allow us to follow our favorite stories without neglecting to respond to the other projects. The comments were always very helpful in catching grammar/spelling mistakes, as well as helping to make sure that the format was consistent.
The only advice that I have for future students is to be on the lookout for a topic that really interests you at the start of the semester. With a good topic, the storybook can be a lot of fun and reveal a lot of information about the stories that you might not otherwise come across.

Week 15: Reading Commentary/Suggestions

I really enjoyed the readings this semester! My favorite was Narayan's Ramayana. I think that the idea of offering more reading options is great. While Buck's Ramayana certainly provided a lot more information about the story, having read Narayan's version took away from a lot of the surprise. I enjoyed the freedom of choosing from the reading units, and it was nice to change the subject each week. Offering the reading units in place of the second version of each story would probably work perfectly, especially with the extra credit reading option. I found so much supplemental information while working on my storybook, and I really think that it helped me appreciate the Ramayana even more. Perhaps the extra credit reading assignment could allow students to look up additional information about their favorite characters or stories from the Ramayana, and they could share what they learned in a short blog post.
In regard to the balance between assignments, I tended to spend much more time on the readings each week. This is probably because I spent a lot of time taking notes and editing my notes to prove that I was doing the readings instead of just commenting on my favorite parts of the story. My advice to future students would be not to get too preoccupied with taking notes while reading. Enjoy the stories and use your reading diary to summarize and comment on your favorite parts of the story. It's okay if you read several pages without taking a note because the stories are loaded with surprising events.