Reflective Essay week 6

           As I started class late because of my wedding and the visit of my family from Brazil, I had a hard time keeping up with the great amount of reading and writing required by the class. Fortunately I had all my writings posted by the date required by Doctor Brandon.

            I suppose that because the themes are so broad, I did not realized the necessity of quotations in my first drafts and in some of them I did not relate, before the revision, as much to the class’ reading as required later by our professor.  I had then, to revise my essays, and unfortunately, because of my recent illness (pneumonia) that has kept me in bed for one week I had again less time than desired to go through them.

            I consider that I have participated consistently with the Committee of Correspondence, although, I am not as prompt with my answers to my colleagues as the rhythm of the class requires. I think I can try to do better this second half of the course by checking my email more often throughout the day. I also have started conversations and followed with discussions that helped me to better understand the subject of study.

            I believe that to make the conversation more enjoyable I would like for more people from our New York Committee to participate on them, as the saying goes “The more, the merrier”. More people, brings more point of views, different perspectives, more knowledge and it all enriches the discussions.

             The readings of the Wikipedia are helpful to the understanding of the subject, and have been more used by me for the essays than for the weekly discussions. Our group, especially me, has brought more personal perspective and contemporary examples to the discussions than relating directly with the readings. I should probably do better than that and keep focused on the subject matter. On the other hand, the class announcements have always interesting facts that makes the subject of study more tangible.

            I am working hard to get an A, although, I understand that this class’ requirements are greater than I expected, specially the amount of time that the readings and many responses require and I will have to work even harder to follow up with the class this second half of the semester, and try to arrange time to work on some extra credit activities. Hopefully my health will improve so I can devote more time and energy to the class.