When writing about fiction, I felt myself confined. I was worried about whether or not what I was saying was anywhere near what the author actually intended. Including secondary sources also limited me, as I couldn't write about a story if I was unable to find secondary material to include. It was also imperative that I be able to successfully include the material into my essay.
Delving into my own piece of fiction was a feeling of complete freedom. There were no worries about whether or not I was going in the right direction, as there were no limitations at all as to what I could write about. Having a topic helped. I chose the topic "Under what circumstances would someone play a tuba at a funeral?" This topic seemed challenging to me, because I have no emotional connection to the tuba. While I love music, I do not have an extreme fascination with brass instruments. I am also not a fan of stories that end in death. Even if a movie or book is wonderful and enjoyable, if the end includes the death of the hero or heroine, I will rarely see or read it again. While it is challenging and often unenjoyable for me to watch a sad movie or read a sad book, I found it enjoyable writing a sad story. I actually changed the ending to make it more positive, because I wanted to make it a little more enjoyable for readers like me. It surprised me that, as someone who is extremely sensitive to the portrayal of death in movies and literature, I enjoyed writing about the death of one of my own main characters.
In this experience, I found that I really enjoyed creating my own piece of fiction. It was also fun to get feedback from classmates. I think it is important to encourage students to write their own stories, as it helps them appreciate the work of others, as well as realize that they are capable of writing something just as amazing.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Mythology: Analyzing and Creating
Presenting about myth, and writing about myth proved to be two distinct challenges. When writing about myth, I found myself analyzing another person's creation of a myth. In their work, I learned about the elements that are necessary to create a myth. Prior to the experience, I felt that I knew a lot about myth. Afterwards, I realized that all of the concepts I was aware of had technical terms and ways of describing them.
By studying myths, I found that my own experience of creating a myth was enhanced due to my increased knowledge of how myths were constructed. However, most of my energy was now targeted towards creativity rather than analysis.
In a sense, it is easier to write a myth than to present on a myth, yet when writing my own myth, I felt a conflict as to what to write. There were so many options, and the myths I had already read were constantly in the back of my mind while I wrote. Yet I also felt a sense of freedom as I wrote my myth. It could go in any direction, and any direction I went in was perfectly acceptable. When presenting on the myth in class, however, I felt as if there was a specific direction in which I needed to go.
One of the challenges I had with creating my myth, was the tone I was to set. I wasn't sure if it should be serious, funny, use sophisticated language, use language targeted towards children, etc. I found myself adding lines that didn't match the overall tone, because I had decided to suddenly aim for a more light-hearted myth. It was a struggle to tie the myth together. This struggle was one that helped me appreciate the myths we read for the presentations. Each one had a unique tone that was evident throughout. Reading the myths of classmates helped me to see how others had handled the issue of tone, and also gave me a wide variety of myths that illustrated humor, seriousness, warning, fear, etc.
In the classroom, I believe it would be wonderful to include a similar exercise. I feel that all of the students would benefit greatly from presenting on an actual myth, and then providing their own myth. By giving students the opportunity to analyze and create, they will become more involved in the learning process, and will hopefully have much more interest in what they are doing.
By studying myths, I found that my own experience of creating a myth was enhanced due to my increased knowledge of how myths were constructed. However, most of my energy was now targeted towards creativity rather than analysis.
In a sense, it is easier to write a myth than to present on a myth, yet when writing my own myth, I felt a conflict as to what to write. There were so many options, and the myths I had already read were constantly in the back of my mind while I wrote. Yet I also felt a sense of freedom as I wrote my myth. It could go in any direction, and any direction I went in was perfectly acceptable. When presenting on the myth in class, however, I felt as if there was a specific direction in which I needed to go.
One of the challenges I had with creating my myth, was the tone I was to set. I wasn't sure if it should be serious, funny, use sophisticated language, use language targeted towards children, etc. I found myself adding lines that didn't match the overall tone, because I had decided to suddenly aim for a more light-hearted myth. It was a struggle to tie the myth together. This struggle was one that helped me appreciate the myths we read for the presentations. Each one had a unique tone that was evident throughout. Reading the myths of classmates helped me to see how others had handled the issue of tone, and also gave me a wide variety of myths that illustrated humor, seriousness, warning, fear, etc.
In the classroom, I believe it would be wonderful to include a similar exercise. I feel that all of the students would benefit greatly from presenting on an actual myth, and then providing their own myth. By giving students the opportunity to analyze and create, they will become more involved in the learning process, and will hopefully have much more interest in what they are doing.
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