Class Journey

Initially in this class the topics were about destinations and facts about areas in California, and sometimes outside of California. The further into the course we got the topics became more reflective. I need to try to relate to the readings in order to write my posts. The first part of class seemed to composed of research projects, and the text readings were more about information retention and how to explain the stories in a way that others would understand without having to read the story themselves.

In regards to the book Train Go Sorry, I did not find to much variation in the opinions. We all read the same story, and other than choosing a line from the book to include in our post, much of the essays were similar. The My California readings were intersting because not everyone read the same stories. Again, there was not much exchange of opinions here, but seemed to be more about people's story telling capabilities. I think the first half of class showed more variation of topics because we could choose our places to post about. Those topics were often different then the topics that I choose for most of the assignments.

I had to keep reminding myself that I needed to write in a way that would help another person, or peer rather, understand the story as if they hadn't read it themselves. That is a relatively new way of writing for me. I am not much of a writer to begin with, so that was the most challenging thing for me. I think that writing this way encompasses Freire's way of teaching. To write as if you are teaching others.

I had a great time with this class and with these topics. It was interesting to do research on places in California that I had heard of before but didn't know much about. I am a California native and with each assignment I learned more and more about my state. I enjoyed the text part of class as well. Each story was a story that I would not have choosen on my own. I knew very little about Deaf Culture before this class, and I walk away knowing much more.