Weekly Reflection 10/28/13

          We presented our project on tricksters today (with a heavy emphasis on Loki <3 ). I pushed our group to explore the story about Loki, and we all voted yes on it. Turns out, we were all secret Loki fan girls. Ha ha. I thought it was kind of great coincidence that the group ahead of ours also concentrated on a Norse myth, which correlated very well with our own. There was some overlap in terms of characters, especially since Loki was such a prominent figure in Norse mythology.... honestly, he had his finger in every pudding! It was a nice segway into our own presentation which really concentrated on the character of Loki and tricksters in general. One of the most interesting thing about tricksters is that they are agents of chaos and change. They often learn nothing at the end of their stories, even if they are punished for their misdeeds. Many tricksters, like Curious George, are mostly mischeiveous and harmless in their adventures, but tricksters such as Loki and perhaps Batman's Joker seem to harbor more malice in their mischief. I guess they would be "dark" tricksters.

Weekly Reflection 10/21/13

          We presented our myth projects today, but our group was unable to present ours due to running out of time. We will present next week instead. It was really interesting hearing everyone else's presentations! Some of them were really expansive, especially in comparison to our topic of "tricksters" which are more character-oriented and character driven. I immediately decided to go with tricksters as my topic, because Loki was my favorite Norse God. I really enjoy reading about characters that are not good or bad, but somewhere in the mysterious middle. I like the fact that the motives of trickster characters are rarely known. They may as well betray you even if they were once your friend! Those types of characters are so fascinating and interesting to me. 

Weekly Reflection 10/14/13

          I'm excited about my Myth Collaborative Project. I've always been fascinated with both Greek and Norse Mythology from a young age, and always bemoaned the fact that we rarely get to explore mythology in school! I had a brief taste of it way back in middle school and I was hooked ever since. I remember reading about the journey and deeds of Hercules in class. I immediately went to the library and borrowed on book on mythology. I remember being fascinated by Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite,and Ares. I soon read about the lesser known characters like Jason, Medea, Cupid and Psyche!Some of those stories are so timeless, I really wish it was part of the curriculum in middle school and high school! I would love to teach my students some Greek mythology and analyze the stories.

Weekly Reflection 10/7/13

          This week's class was short but effective. I think having to peer review each other's works is a great opportunity that is always helpful in creating a better final draft of your essay. Often, my peers will offer great advice or catch errors that I missed. They also help to clarify any ideas I failed to express clearly in my essay. I ended up writing about Robert Frost (My Favorite Poet!) and "Mending Wall," because I really enjoy the whimsical undertones in the poem. I took a different look to it, however, taking a more "property" and "ownership" approach to the poem, which gave me a new perspective on it. When I first read the poem, I always assumed the neighbor was a fuddy-duddy, but years later, upon reflection, I think thew neighbor was perfectly in his right! LOL. We all love our privacy.