Week 8 Reading and Writing

My thoughts and opinions on this class thus far happens on both ends of the specturm: more time invested than expected, but more exposure to brand new topics than I could have ever imagined. Let me elaborate on this..

More time invested than expected: I know at the beginning of the semester, we set a schedule for when were going to complete our work, and it was made known that the class needed 6 hours a week. What I did not realize, however, was that each assignment takes a tremendous amount of brain work if you really dive into the material. I used to not treat course material in the way that I do now, I used to quickly skim, thinking that that would be enough to get me by. It took me some time to realize that if you want to be successful in any material, you have to be holistic in learning it. The units that we choose to read can get dense, depending on the unit you chose. Ten stories can be hard to get through, if your heart isn't all that into it. You can look at this on the other side of things, if your heart is into it, then you quickly lose yourself in the story, and before you know it, a significant amount of time has passed- and you still have to make reading notes! Majority of the time, I will have completed reading notes for part A, and then I find I have to take a little mental break before doing it all over again for part B. This process can get drawn out, easy. So I will say that I have experienced a little frustration in terms of not being able to crank out all the work in one sitting, but rather space it out throughout my week.

More exposure to brand new topics than expected: I knew that the UnTextbook contained hundreds (if not thousands) of readings right at our finger tips, but it wasn't until we got into the units that I realized just how much variety of material we had. I have long had a desire to begin learning biblical material, but never the opportunity or organized material to learn it. Things like the bible can get so dense for someone who has never picked one up. The way things were laid out in the bible unit, was beyond incredible for someone to come in and just start reading. I wish I was kidding when I said I got lost in the readings for that unit for over an hour and a half. And as we continued to go along with the units, you begin to recognize stories that you heard in your childhood, which makes the experience that much more interesting.

Looking forward, I hope to continue the pace I kind of fell in the past few weeks. It was rough at first, but eventually I fell into a rhythm, and I have come to accept that I need to focus one assignment at a time, without stressing myself about working ahead.

This is the photo from the story over the Birth of Siddhartha. It was by far my favorite unit that I have read for this class thus far. The style and imagery used gave me motivation for many of the stories that I wrote following reading this unit. 



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