Final Thoughts

Sadness in Final Thoughts

Well, it’s been a long 6 months using this blog and a long 3 months using my twitter. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did but I will truly miss connecting with the class as much as I have been over the course time of this class.

Choosing a favorite assignment is truly a difficult thing. Although, I do have a few favorites such as: Newspaper blackout poetry, Twitter fiction & The Buried Life project. I have different reasons for loving each one. Newspaper blackout poetry was an amazing thing. The beginning was hard because all you were doing was searching for words in an article, which is the equivalent of searching for a needle in a haystack. But once the words began to come together and you began to blackout others, the article transformed into something completely original, which was the part I loved. Twitter fiction, now that’s something I thought I would dislike from the beginning but it sure surprised me. I love writing stories but the challenge was that you had to do it over twitter which only gives you 140 characters at a time. On top of that I had never liked twitter and saw no purpose in it at all. When the stories began to come together, my mind began to change and I began to love the challenge of it. Some of my stories came out beautifully and I truly was happy. The TBL project was amazing all on its own. It was such a personal project and I loved being able to dig down deep within myself and try to find all my hearts desires. It for sure was a process but I was happy with the result. I also now have a Bucket list to change and finish for the rest of my life!

To be honest, I don’t think I truly hated any of our assignments. Sure there we’re some that I didn’t think I would like at all, but I began to love every single one in their own way while I was completing them. It’s crazy to think of how many ways there are to be creative and this class brought out many of them.

Friday reading I’ve always looked forward to. I’m an avid reader; I read probably 100 books per year (if you count rereading stories as well). I read all the time at home and during any spare time I can find. It’s always been something I’ve enjoyed so being able to read for class truly made me happy. It gives teenagers a break on Fridays to not have to do work and it generally put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

I think the only part that became a hassle throughout the course was the Reading reflections. I generally read to escape reality and if it’s truly a book I love, it pulls me completely into the story as if I’m there. The problem with doing these reflections was we had to analyze the book, ask questions, make comments and make predictions. It took me away from the story and I found I didn’t enjoy reading as much when I had to keep leaving the story to analyze it. It took away from the joy of reading.

The writing reader’s notebook started out pretty well, but when you have a blog to write in all of your thoughts, why writes it in a notebook? At the beginning of the year it had a purpose in getting us going on the course, but soon after that it just got put to the side. It became something solely used for notes in class and that was it. In the end it just became useless which is kind of sad. It proves that we use technology for writing way more than we use an actual paper and pen.

I LOVED the blogging. Blogging is something teenagers generally use; twitter, tumblr, Facebook, an actual blog, etc. So the fact that we got to use it for a class was very appealing. I loved being able to personalize it and make it represent me. Sure you had to post assignments on it, but you also got to do personal additions, which had to be my favorite part. You could write a story, a poem, put up your favorite song, anything that shows who you are. It was kind of liberating in its own way. Watching your hits go up and seeing that people actually took the time to go to your blog and read what you read or listen to your favorite song made me happy. Blogging was for sure an awesome idea for keeping track of assignments. It gave something to the teacher and the students. I think I will be keeping my blog even after the course is finished.

Twitter was a surprise. I’ve never been interested in twitter at all. I actually thought the purpose of twitter was actually it was actually pretty pointless since we have facebook. It’s snuck up on me though. It makes it seem as if it’s easier to communicate with your peers. You can retweet what they said or tweet at them to give comments, suggestions, or just to talk. It can be frustrating that you can only do 140 characters at a time but surprisingly you get used to it. I encourage people to use it for class. You can communicate with your teacher and peers very quickly.

The integration of technology into this course was a phenomenal idea. These days, everyone depends on technology. You can always have access to a computer; phones are glued to people’s hands, the internet is growing immensely every day, etc. So why not embrace it. You will never be able to stop teenagers or even kids from texting in class. They will always find a way to hide it or get around it. So why not use those phones to further their education in the class? It’s something that is inevitable for the future. It was also very intelligent to use programs that teenagers love to use already; twitter, blogging, photo editing sites, etc. Students will be more motivated to do the work with familiar programs, especially if they use them quite often just for fun.

I learnt so much about myself as a creator in general. For my writing, I learnt that it can never be forced. I can’t just sit down and make myself write something, it tends to turn out terrible. The inspiration has to be there for me to create something magnificent. It’s truly as if the story writes itself. I also learnt that my writing will always include love; whether it’s heartbreak or true love. My obsession of romance has yet to die. Also, I can write short stories, I’m generally not a short story writer, I love writing long stories but knowing I can do short is an accomplishment. As a reader, I can never dissect a book. For me to be able to enjoy the book, I let it take me to where ever it takes place, and I live the story with the characters. I can’t leave that place and try to ask questions and make predictions or it ruins the story for me. It also takes away from the story. Just enjoy the reading. As a creator, I love to watch transformations. I love being able to take one thing and change it to create another. Even with pictures; I love to edit them to make the colors brighter, to change the view of the photo, to make people see the subject as I see it. It’s the same thing with the Newspaper blackout poetry; you take a newspaper article and change it into something completely your own, everything about the article has changed. The transformations are amazing and for sure my new favorite thing to see. This course has challenged me and helped me begin making my own creations. I’m so glad I took it.

Mrs. McLauchlan, thank you so much for making this course so unique. I’ve never enjoyed a class more than this. The technology aspect really was an awesome idea and you really should convince more teachers to incorporate it into their classes. I don’t think I have anything to criticize you for because I didn’t have any problems in your class at all. Maybe don’t continue with the notebooks because aside from notes, we haven’t opened them since the beginning of the year. I’m sure it’s not easy taking care of more than 25 blogs at a time but it’s such an awesome part of the class and I encourage you to keep doing them. I loved every single project so feel free to keep those as well (: Even if I am the only one who enjoyed them. 

My advice for future Creative writing students is to just be open-minded. Some of these assignments you may think that you will hate but once you actually do them, you may learn to love them. I thought I wouldn’t like twitter at all and now I’m on it at least once a day. There are so many amazing things that happen in this class and so much creativity. Just stay open-minded to the assignments, to others comments and critiques and to your own creativity. If you do all of this, I’m sure you will love this class as much as I did.