Animal Dreams Group Discussion #1 Reflection

During the discussion today with the Dream Team, I found that many other people were finding the same things and connections that I was finding in Animal Dreams. They also had some of the same confusions about the book. It was good to get clarification from both Mr. Cheng and the other members of the discussion group. It’s useful to do this because the book and Barbara Kingsolver’s writing are filled with symbolism, motifs, and because Doc Homer’s chapters are written so that he jumps back and forth between different scenes or moments. One of the things I got cleared up today is that I was confused on Doc Homer’s chapter in which he is developing a photograph of the river and the cactuses I think and he said something about how “the truth can’t be corrected in the photograph.” I was confused because I wasn’t sure what the picture was of at what time he was developing the photograph, more specifically if it was a flashback or the present. At this point in my reading, I don’t really enjoy the book that much. This is mostly for the reason that I dislike the main character, Codi. To me, she seems really sarcastic, especially toward the people that are just trying to help her or be nice. I find this a really annoying quality in people and so this translates over to the book and how I dislike Codi. Another reason why I dislike Codi is that she is very rude to her father, even though her father is losing his mind with his mental illness. Maybe she is rude because that is just how their dysfunctional, uncommunicative relationship has always been. However, I feel like she should be kinder to her father and be understanding of his illness. Having said that, I do think that Barbara Kingsolver is a good author and is skilled at implanting motifs and symbolism throughout the book. We have discussed some of these things in the discussion group.

Education Presentations Wrap-Up/Animal Dreams Intro Reflection

After finishing the Education Innovation presentations, I realize now that my group should’ve been better at organizing our thoughts at the beginning of the project. This is because I felt like we got somewhat lost and weren’t exactly sure of how we wanted to present our information. Also, since we were confused, we kind of just threw visual aids in there. I thought that the project and the Google document that explained it was a little confusing which might have led to the underdeveloped outline or proposal. Overall though, I thought our group ended up with a quality end product. For the most part, I enjoyed seeing the presentations that everyone did. I especially enjoyed the “Mozart Effect” group that presented first. They played instrumental music throughout their presentation which made the presentation more interesting. I don’t know if this is because it kind of filled in the empty spots of their project or if it actually helped me focus in or something else. It might just be a little of both. Either way, it left me with a positive memory of their presentation. I hope that we can implement this education innovation into our class. I have many initial thoughts about the content and the structure and methodology of the next unit we are going to do in which we read Animal Dreams. One of the things I worry about is that I am not going to like the book because I have heard from other students in other classes who have finished the book that it is all about feminism. This might make it harder to connect and identify with the content of the book. Another one of my initial thoughts is about the structure and methodology of the unit. I get that Mr. Cheng is using an incentive for the essay in that if everyone gets an A or A-, then we just have creative projects for the rest of the quarter. Personally, as a concrete sequential, I don’t really want creative projects either. I don’t mind writing essays because I like how essays have a format and a traditional layout. So, I’m not really responding to the incentive in this case. Also, I think that it’s very hard for everyone in the class to get an A. By the way, I’m not going to try and get a B so I don’t have to do creative projects. I’ll do my best to get an A. Also what’s confusing is which essay this deal is for. Is it the timed essay or the second one? I hope that it’s the second one because I think it will be especially hard for everyone to get an A on the timed test. Then we all wouldn’t have to do the second essay. This is another way that I was confused. There are so many overlapping, dependent grading structures in this unit. I left class today confused because the power point was like an hour long which made it hard to stay focused and the unit seems huge and has a lot of tiny projects/parts to it. Hopefully I will enjoy it though.

My Learning Style - Concrete Sequential (CS)

After doing the learning style evaluation, I found that I was a really dominate Concrete Sequential (CS) learner. This fits me exactly after I read the explanation. One of the things it said was that they are very practical and organized. This is one of the things I do best. Also, one of the things it said was that CS's hate working in groups. It sounds like a negative quality but I do really prefer knowing what I'm doing and where the project is headed, which is more easily accomplished individually. I can use this to enhance my learning by being more organized and possibly making concrete deadlines and time limits (which it says CS's do well) to manage my work. Also, I will try to work on the areas that it says CS learners aren't as strong in. For example, dealing with abstract ideas and working in groups. I feel like I now have an accurate representation of the kind of learner that I am which I think will really help in being successful in learning, both in and out of school.