What did I learn this week in class?
What if I didn’t learn anything? What do I do then?
This week in class was kind of a rough one. It seemed to me that there was a bit of tension because people hadn’t been doing what they were supposed to, or simply weren’t keeping up with the class work. Which got me thinking.
Even though certain aspects of this class are based on group work, most of it comes from the individual and working by yourself, on your own time and depends largely on individual discipline. The deadlines that are given are few and far-between and, for the most part, are not flexible. The plays we see create our due-dates, and we can’t beg for an extra performance if we miss the ones that are presented.
This brought me to the conclusion that a person taking this class who had no, or very little, self-discipline and time management abilities would be in pretty big trouble – assuming they care about their courses.
It’s hard to get a move on when working on things that you know aren’t due for another two weeks, or even in a month or more. “There’s no rush,” is a common thought for me. But then the time that I was going to use for that Far Far Away Project fills up with other things by the time I get to it, and what’s really let is just a teeny sliver of the whole cake.
Nobody likes being left with just a sliver.
Take these blog entries as an example. I’m supposed to be thoughtfully considering my activities of each week, sharing what I’ve learnt. Carefully organising all of my new reflections into a this little blogspace, and creating something that will eventually supply me with material to write my final learning synthesis. Thing. But sometimes – some weeks, rather – I find myself not really thinking about what I’m doing as I’m doing it, and just doing what seems like the ‘right’ thing to write at the time. So, by the time I get to working on my weekly blog post, I get a little stuck and can’t figure out what to write about.
I think that this whole class works in pretty much the same way. If you don’t take a second to actually think about something in this class while you’re doing it – reading a play, researching something about it, or even just writing an ‘inkblot’ – then you’re not going to get a whole lot out of it. And if you don’t even get as far as doing some of this stuff because you just can’t seem to motivate yourself for whatever reason…well, the rest of the class will be getting a bit of a let down, and you’re probably not going to have all that great an experience in the course.
I need a day-planner.
[Sorry for the over-use of the ever intrusive “You” in this post. I don’t mean “you” the reader. It’s merely meant to be an inhabitant of my hypothetical situations.]
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Take 3! And…
Monday, February 8th, year 2010.
Briefly: We split up into our Task Force groups for the first time (except those people working on Problem Child, I suppose) and briefly outlined and discussed our plan of action. The task force for Problem Child presented their Wiki to the class that evening as well, giving the rest of the groups an idea of what ours will have to look like.
Outside of that, there isn’t all that much to reflect on from our three hours of class this week. I did take the time to read the script for Frost/Nixon outside of class, and can add more on that subject.
I will of course be expanding on these ideas in my reflection of the play that I will be posting on the forum soon enough, but just to give an idea – a sneak peek, if you will…
It came to my attention while reading the script that, much the same way as prior knowledge can influence your viewing or reading of a play one way or another, the opposite is true as well: reading a script may alter your opinion of what you think you already know. I’ve learnt a lot about Nixon as a President between Journalism and Politics classes taken in both high school and here at St. Thomas, mostly about his involvement with the Watergate case.
Truth be told, I’ve never been overly fond of him, a bias probably partially inherited from those who have taught me about his history – though he did, admittedly, do some good things during his career. Peter Morgan’s play succeeded in making me wonder about this opinion, and induced feelings of sympathy for the man that I hadn’t had before even though I knew I was reading about a character Nixon, and not necessarily the real guy. I think that it was those scenes with the loafers that got to me.
That’s all for this week. It’s that time of semester when everyone wants something handed in, and learning begins to come in bursts.
Briefly: We split up into our Task Force groups for the first time (except those people working on Problem Child, I suppose) and briefly outlined and discussed our plan of action. The task force for Problem Child presented their Wiki to the class that evening as well, giving the rest of the groups an idea of what ours will have to look like.
Outside of that, there isn’t all that much to reflect on from our three hours of class this week. I did take the time to read the script for Frost/Nixon outside of class, and can add more on that subject.
I will of course be expanding on these ideas in my reflection of the play that I will be posting on the forum soon enough, but just to give an idea – a sneak peek, if you will…
It came to my attention while reading the script that, much the same way as prior knowledge can influence your viewing or reading of a play one way or another, the opposite is true as well: reading a script may alter your opinion of what you think you already know. I’ve learnt a lot about Nixon as a President between Journalism and Politics classes taken in both high school and here at St. Thomas, mostly about his involvement with the Watergate case.
Truth be told, I’ve never been overly fond of him, a bias probably partially inherited from those who have taught me about his history – though he did, admittedly, do some good things during his career. Peter Morgan’s play succeeded in making me wonder about this opinion, and induced feelings of sympathy for the man that I hadn’t had before even though I knew I was reading about a character Nixon, and not necessarily the real guy. I think that it was those scenes with the loafers that got to me.
That’s all for this week. It’s that time of semester when everyone wants something handed in, and learning begins to come in bursts.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Dawn of the Second...Post?
Inkblotting.
The exercise that we did in class on February 1st reminded me a lot of grade school when we were told to write a Stream of Consciousness in order to help us plan out our essays, short stories...whatever we happened to be working on at the time. This time, unlike all of those other years, I think it may have actually helped.
Not to mention that, by reading the inkblots of others, the exercise brought me into contact with some thoughts and opinions that I may not have stumbled across all by my lonesome.
We talked about what kind of information we thought would be important to share with people going to see a play. I couldn't help but think of how, last weekend whilst doing homework, I rewatched Disney's Mulan (yeah, I know. It's a classic, give me a break) and how this time around I was able to focus a lot more on the details outside of the main plot because I already knew the gist of the story. For example, the lucky Cricket. He is a lot more entertaining to watch than I would have ever realised had I not rewatched the film.
That's why I think that what kind of knowledge you try to share makes all the difference. Background info that people may not have known beforehand can deepen the experience, helping the audience to appreciate some of the references and nuances that the playwright included to enrich the script.
The exercise that we did in class on February 1st reminded me a lot of grade school when we were told to write a Stream of Consciousness in order to help us plan out our essays, short stories...whatever we happened to be working on at the time. This time, unlike all of those other years, I think it may have actually helped.
Not to mention that, by reading the inkblots of others, the exercise brought me into contact with some thoughts and opinions that I may not have stumbled across all by my lonesome.
We talked about what kind of information we thought would be important to share with people going to see a play. I couldn't help but think of how, last weekend whilst doing homework, I rewatched Disney's Mulan (yeah, I know. It's a classic, give me a break) and how this time around I was able to focus a lot more on the details outside of the main plot because I already knew the gist of the story. For example, the lucky Cricket. He is a lot more entertaining to watch than I would have ever realised had I not rewatched the film.
That's why I think that what kind of knowledge you try to share makes all the difference. Background info that people may not have known beforehand can deepen the experience, helping the audience to appreciate some of the references and nuances that the playwright included to enrich the script.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 30th
Well, well, what have I learnt in this class so far?
The most obvious thing that I’ve learnt is that there are different ways of looking at scripts. Normally while reading a script I am reading to analyse, not an actor or just for the heck of it. I didn’t realise that there was another way to look at it – the point of view of an audience member. I’ve learnt that what you already know about the background of the play can affect your perception of the script or performance as well. Take the play Life Without Instruction, for example. Once I had done some research and reread the script and found out that it was based on true events, I had a whole new appreciation for the story.
I’ve also begun to learn how to work on my own and reflect on what I’ve been reading and seeing. In previous years, when asked to review things, I was asked to write about whether or not the production was good, and whether or not I liked it. That’s not the case in this class. Here I am asked to reflect on the elements of the play, which is a refreshing change and opens the door for more discussion than what I’ve become used to.
The most obvious thing that I’ve learnt is that there are different ways of looking at scripts. Normally while reading a script I am reading to analyse, not an actor or just for the heck of it. I didn’t realise that there was another way to look at it – the point of view of an audience member. I’ve learnt that what you already know about the background of the play can affect your perception of the script or performance as well. Take the play Life Without Instruction, for example. Once I had done some research and reread the script and found out that it was based on true events, I had a whole new appreciation for the story.
I’ve also begun to learn how to work on my own and reflect on what I’ve been reading and seeing. In previous years, when asked to review things, I was asked to write about whether or not the production was good, and whether or not I liked it. That’s not the case in this class. Here I am asked to reflect on the elements of the play, which is a refreshing change and opens the door for more discussion than what I’ve become used to.
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