This Critical Reflection post is for ECI 521, a graduate class at North Carolina State University.
As I reflect on the first few weeks of class, I realize that I’ve experienced a paradigm shift in my assumptions regarding Young Adult Literature, student presentations, and graduate classes.
Prior to beginning this class, I LOVED reading but had largely neglected the genre of Young Adult Literature, considering teenage-centered books as lacking the depth found in “real” literature. The Printz criteria and selections changed my mind. With low expectations, I opened The Drowned Cities and my curiosity was piqued with the introductory escape scene of the “dog face,” Tool. Although I had to steal minutes throughout my days to race through the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about the story whenever I wasn’t reading, and my thoughts were consumed for days after I finished. “Shallow” books don’t usually have such a hold on a person. The Scorpio Races and The Fault In Our Stars were equally thought-provoking, with their realistic characters and struggles resonating deep within me. I sheepishly affirm the value of the genre and am eager to explore it further and to include YAL literature in my future classes.
For someone with the shockingly-dull perception that all student assignments took the form of essays in response to prompt questions (is it that obvious that I process best by writing?), since starting ECI 521 I’ve been awash in alternative ideas that appeal to a wider variety of learning styles for student presentations. I like the idea of collaboration through VoiceThread, and SoundCloud presentations add variety to blogposts. It’s actually been fun to announce my assignments through Twitter (although I feel like a poser). I like the time for critical reflections. Next week I’ll have a better idea regarding my thoughts on bookcasts. Through exposure to these innovative ideas I’ve finally crawled out from whatever rock I was living under and joined the modern era–and it feels good!
Before I entered the Moodle on Aug. 16, my perception was that graduate classes were necessary, but dull, flooded with tsunamis of complicated text clinging to academic journals that were suffocating to wade through. This class has been a burst of fresh air: bright colors and pictures and even a painstakingly-hyperlinked separate course site, YAL, book responses, and campfires (or at least the wood?) and Orcas in Second Life. It’s inspiring to see that education can break out of the mold, instigating contemplation instead of lethargy.
Life with unanticipated paradigm shifts is a constant adventure.
#bookhenge
w0rdlvr 
Teresa, you seem to have embraced the love/hate relationship with technology, joining the camp I am currently a counselor at! My biggest lesson since I began the M.A.T. program is not how little I knew, but how much I didn’t know! I feel like a newborn yanked from her comfy, warm womb only to find that life on the outside ain’t so bad after all! Cheers.
Jill
HAHAHA!!! That analogy is perfect, Jill! Glad we’re in the same camp–I can always use some moral support.
“Life with unanticipated paradigm shifts is a constant adventure.”
I promised you a journey, Teresa. But I can never promise shifting paradigms and constant adventure. You were prime and ready to boldly go where your love of literature and creativity took you. I’m thrilled that ECI 521 has given you that space to explore and grow.