Our class has many learning objectives, but I believe the most important and the one I wish to master most is within the areas of the "Habits of Mind."
Curiosity – the desire to know more about the world
When I read our course's central question of how Disney has influence gender roles, I wasn't very interested in the subject, which subsequently led to the terrifying thought of going through a whole quarter writing about a topic I dislike. I soon discovered that the course question wasn't the issue, it's just that I hadn't tried to analyze and answer the question yet. After Week 1's writing, I was intrigued to dive deeper and research more to enhance my arguments.
Openness – the willingness to consider new ways of being and thinking in the world
After reading other students' explanatory writings every week, I've learned many new ideas I would never have thought of myself. From Week 1, I wrote mainly to criticize Disney's influence on society's beauty standards. However, after reading other posts, I realized that Disney's recent films have been progressive and fighting traditional norms, which I never gave them credit for.
Engagement – a sense of investment and involvement in learning
I am impressed by how simple Connect it. I greatly enjoy the concept of having each assignment adapted for every student's pace and knowledge. If you already have mastery of specific topics, the work will come easy for you. I was amazed by this week's punctuation assignment because I finished it relatively quickly compared to the suggested amount of time.
Creativity – the ability to use novel approaches for generating, investigating, and representing ideas
The "Me in 6 words" presentation is where I invoked the most creativity. Typically, we perform presentations in person, but this one was just through our writing. I've never been challenged in such a way; I needed to create a story. Thus, I chose to write in a storytelling format rather than keeping everything formal.
Persistence – the ability to sustain interest in and attention to short- and long-term projects
Our course has only one prompt, so I assume most of our work will be dedicated to answering that prompt of gender roles within Disney. So far, I haven't felt any sense of burn out. More importantly, if I feel like the topic is worn out, I have to understand there are still many more perspectives that I haven't seen or heard to discover.
Flexibility – the ability to adapt to situations, expectations, or demands
In Week 2, I decided to split up the explanatory writing, something I've never done before as I would always procrastinate until the last minute to rush through my writing. My goal was to complete a paragraph or two each day, so I don't feel overwhelmed with having to write 4 paragraphs in one sitting. As a result, I felt much more engaged with my writing, making it one of my best essays I've written.
Responsibility – the ability to take ownership of one's actions and understand the consequences of those actions for oneself and others
Due to the current pandemic, all our courses are held through online teaching, which means students have to create their own learning structure. I have to develop my schedule, forcing me to decide when I should do certain assignments. Specifically for this class, I have committed to work on the weekly explanatory writings at night because that's when I feel most comfortable generating ideas; whereas, I would do Connect assignments and writing blogs in the morning/afternoon.
Metacognition (reflection) – the ability to reflect on one's own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes used to structure knowledge
I have a better understanding of why peer review is so critical to the improvement of our writing now. Getting other people to challenge or agree with some of your viewpoints makes you reflect on your writing from a different perspective. Even when reading other people's posts, I feel indulged in their claims, allowing me to approach the prompt from an open mindset now.
Hi Wei!
I am really interested in your idea in the "Flexibility" part about splitting up the exploratory writing into small pieces since I have never tried this before. I prefer to finish my assignment at one time, which always makes me very tired.
Hi Wei! I hadn't thought about an explanatory writing can be split up. I always thought a writing should be finished in one time, otherwise, one's thinking will be interrupted. This new way of writing is very interesting, I'll try it next time.