Progress Report on Personal Learning
Write a concise narrative in which you give a progress report on your personal learning plan. I will be looking for these things in your report:
1. Learning Outcomes -- Are you meeting the goals you've set for yourself? Has your reading, research, and writing fulfilled specific learning outcomes?
- I think I'm doing a fairly good job of meeting my learning outcomes. I'm not seeing as many performances of the plays as I originally said I would, but I'm finding other things--articles, digital media, critical theories--that offer a broader perspective of the works for me. Still, I should probably get around to seeing more of Shakespeare's plays enacted. I'd probably grasp more on the humor (which is what I'm focusing on) to see it performed. But of my other learning outcomes, I've got a pretty good cloud label on the right of this screen. ... LO#4B is pretty dang big. I should work on beefing up the others.
2. Reading and Research -- What works by Shakespeare have you read so far this semester? What secondary (critical) works or other resources have shaped your learning? What independent kinds of inquiry have you pursued?
- I've read Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It, Othello, and The Tempest. I've looked at some articles, scouring our library's databases at hand to try and find what other people say on the social environment when these plays were written/originally performed. Understanding the social environment surrounding these comic details in Shakespeare has really been what I've been drawn to when studying the humor, probably because social commentary is so engrained in humor. You learn about the society, you learn about the writing, and ultimately, you learn about the writer. Bill. (:
3. Links and Connections -- Within the report, do you link back to blog posts that demonstrate meeting the course learning outcomes? Do you make explicit connections to other learning and learners or to non-Shakespearean texts?
- Yessir. I love links. I have an original post I refer back to from time to time. Not to mention Max's blog I refer to when discussing our class Flash Mob. Too much? Okay, I'll ease up. I could probably be better though about including other people's posts in mine. We have some great contributors to the Shakespeare discussion in this class. I should really take advantage of that.
4. Personal Impact -- How has your study of Shakespeare been most engaging for you personally? Are you noticing any pattern in your own interests -- a theme, a play, an approach to reading? How is this course helping you to developing life-long learning skills and interests?
- This has actually been an enjoyable class. I've picked up things with Shakespeare that I didn't think to pick up on before. I think he really is a genius, but I'm focusing on his use of humor and how he implements that, and, considering the setting he grew up in, I think he's quite the comedic genius as well. I would love to get up onstage with him and do some improv or something. I think he'd totally kick my butt.
5. Personal Evaluation -- What have you done best so far? What needs most attention?
- I think I've done well keeping to my focus of humor. I could probably go deeper into these scholarly sources I've looked at. Cara mentioned a really helpful suggestion with expounding more on these sources I talk about when using them in my posts. Because, who's going to go and read the source I mentioned? No one. It's up to me to bring it back to my blog and minimize it to be reader-friendly.
- Also, I should probably post more often. Right now it's hard with life getting in the way. I'm writing more for our impending DC shows than anything else and that probably isn't good. I'll work on this. I'll get cracking on some more substantial posts and try not to get disconnected.
6. Peer Influence -- What specific fellow class members have positively influenced your learning experience with Shakespeare? This need not be long. Identify two or three peers and state briefly how and why they have been influential (an in-class comment, a peer comment left on your blog, any out-of-class interaction, a specific blog post they wrote to which you can link, etc.)
- I love comments that people either reply to my comments or leave on my blog. Mandy is a specific classmate who is consistently leaving me great feedback. Also, I think we can all agree that David Tertipes wins the award for consistently fantastic and insightful blog posts. I should comment more on his blog and let him know that, because his posts seriously blow my mind.
BOOM. Midterm Evaluation evaluated.
