Dear Marlen,
Throughout the time I spent in your Humanities Literature course, I was able to learn a lot of valuable information. To be completely honest, on the first day of class I thought “this guy is hilarious, he’s a bit assertive but he dresses nice”. You were throwing a lot of terms and information at us very quickly. I also noticed that there were about 7 different windows opened on the Internet Explorer you were showing on the overheard projector. I thought, how am I ever going to be able to complete all of this work? There were poem booklets being passes around, side conversations about the problems my classmates were having with their blogs, and complete chaos erupting inside my head with all of this information I had just received.
The first challenge I had was actually deciding if I should in fact stick with your course. My major is pre-med/Biology and as you’re aware, there are numerous required science and math courses that must be taken to receive a degree in this major. When registering for my classes, I noticed that the Organic Chemistry courses I needed were all filled up. I began to stress so I signed up for an override in the Chemistry Department. I received the override, but the problem was that the time of the Organic chemistry class conflicted with the time of your Humanities Literature class.
During past early morning classes I have taken, I seem to not do well in them because I am not a good morning person. I have a problem with waking up out of the bed in the morning, I am very irritable and frustrated, and my mind seems to wonder about me just wanting to go back to sleep so I’m not able to focus during the class. I felt the best decision for me would be to stick with your course this semester and then wait to take the Organic Chemistry course when I’m able to register for a time that is more suitable for me. Also I found your course to be a lot more interesting and intriguing and would provide motivation for me to get up out of bed and go to class. I look forward to every class because I laugh, I learn and I feel the class helps me to handle my current life situations.
If you don’t mind, I would like to give a small suggestion for future courses. Most of our course is centered on the internet. In order to complete assignments in class we need the internet for our blog, readings and related videos, and most importantly our class syllabus. I feel it would be best if the class was taught in a computer lab. This is because it would allow our class to flow a lot better. Instead of having to read off of the overhead, or half of the class turning in quizzes in paper form and half posting it in blogs we all can have endless information from the Internet at our fingertips. Unfortunately, immediately following your class I have 4 classes back-to-back as well as work. This prevents me from being able to bring my laptop to class but I’m sure it would make the class experience easier for me.
Ok, back to the topic of class. Now I noticed that you very creatively allow us to use our own experiences to guide us through the course. I like that you tie everything together with such a smooth transition. When I saw that we were reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker I was so excited because I feel this book and movie is a huge staple in the lives of African American females. I do not know one person who has not read this book or watched the movie. You selected books that you felt would appeal to the different types of students you would be teaching. I really like that because a lot of professors stick to the basic outline of their course and just use a basic textbook, but in you class were allowed to find information from sources other than a boring text book.
I really enjoy this class a lot because it’s very entertaining. This is one of the very few classes when you can learn a valuable life lesson and laugh at the same time. I am very happy I stuck with my decision to not let your emails intimidate me. I will make sure I suggest this class to my freshman friends.
Sincerely,
Tanshanique Binion
