Week 8 Reflections

A student thinking about reflective feedback

In regards to the reading assignments, there hasn’t been much of a choice in my opinion. However, I preferred the Mahabharata over the Ramayana when it was not during the war. The Ramayana was better at holding my interest throughout the whole story, but the Mahabharata has so many different side quests which make it more interesting.

My notes are not written as suggested, but not like I am prepping for a test either. I have to understand things certain ways, but when something seems like it might be interesting to play with I bring attention to it and question myself why. I “react” to it in my notes, which is the best reminder for me to draw a story from and this has been working well thus far.

I will be reading a few Freebookapalooza books which include rewrites of Nala and Damayanti to get different perspectives for my storybook. I also hope to look through more of the Epified TV options though too!

I am pleased with the stories I have written in class. I definitely see that I prefer to write in first person perspective, it is much easier for me. I am stretching myself for the storybook with the dialogue and third-person narrative/descriptions. Since each page will be about the overall story I am not certain if the same style will have to remain, or if it can be just one person talking. That is going to be hard for me. I also found, which I kind of knew, that I do not write dialogue. I like to read to my kids and know the importance of the different action beats and dialogue tags so they can feel immersed in the characters of the book, but my mind doesn’t easily think like that. We will see how well I can make the wheels turn in the second half of the semester.

Several students in our class are very fluent in writing dialogue, whether or not it is correct with punctuation I haven’t paid much attention. It is just that they are able to make a pretend conversation between characters sound realistic, which is admirable and something I hope to accomplish at some point this semester. I often see basic words being repeated, a lack of imagination on other word choices. I do worry that I am too direct with feedback. Coming from a corporate world it is the best way to decide what you believe and what you want to work on, or what you disagree with and want to throw out the window. That is all it is, feedback, and without it, you never know what others think about your work. I think that as there are more stories to read in the storybooks I will have the opportunity to provide better feedback. 

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