The energy in Tuesday night's class was absolutely suffocating. Walking into a seating chart with no explanation seemed to raise suspicions as to what the problem could be that we had to be assigned where to sit. The confusion over when assignments were due caused quite a bit of unease between some students and definitely Dr. Panning, and then the conversation in regards to the lack of responses, the party invitation being pulled... not to say anyone was in the wrong, but holy shit, you could cut the animosity in that room with a butter knife.
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't commented on pretty much anything all semester on the blogs. I am not going to make angry excuses, or say it was because I haven't been getting comments myself (although, if you scroll down a bit, you'll notice that I've pretty much been writing for myself this entire semester seeing as though there's no proof of anyone reading my stuff) but I am feeling a bit of that frustration in terms of the class not really being what it was initially meant to be. I think Dr. Panning set it up beautifully so that we could have this cool, experimental and modern experience, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I really feel as though we just weren't ready to handle it. And it fell apart at the seams.
I share Duane's frustration in the lack of response. Not only in a lack of blog comments, but in the returned manuscripts during the workshop even more so. I mean, come on, if you're going to mark up my essay during class, cool, but could you PLEASE not insult my intelligence by writing verbatim what someone else said during the workshop?! I take my own notes, I don't need 13 copies of the same thing repeated. I would honestly rather receive nothing than a rushed, scribbled response that's not even your own original thought.
And really? Doodling all over my essay? Really?
I don't know, I guess this rant really isn't going anywhere, but I definitely have lost motivation in this class, which is horribly disappointing due to how unbelievably excited I was the first few weeks. I would have loved to see this blossom into what it was originally supposed to be, and I wish that all of us (myself included!!!) had taken the time and energy to use the tools supplied to us to make it be super rad. But more so than anything, the animosity in the classroom was toxic, and contagious, and I really hope we're able to shake that off before next week, because man.... that was brutal...
I agree Sami. Without pointing fingers nor pushing and pulling, Anne said it best...we are a team and need to focus, work together, and make the last few weeks really count...a total effort and commitment in making up for lost ground; a huge surge by 14 people and I am all in. I sincerely hope you are as well. Let's book-end the enthusiasm we started with.
ReplyDeleteThis whole class has been one, absolutely insane experiment and I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. I'm not entirely sure if the blog setting was appropriate for this type of class, but I've genuinely enjoyed the pieces people have managed to pull out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the comments go, I'll be the first to admit I haven't been as up to date on them as I should be. But, frankly, I've got a hectic life. Graduating semesters can suck a fat one. I go on huge commenting sprees when I get the time and I'd like to think that I'm putting in something worthwhile.
You're right about the animosity, but my reaction to it was suppressing a laugh; a deep, intense fit of laughter to be exact. It's not that I don't agree that most of us have been slipping, heck, I've been awful at commenting, but seriously, I felt like all of us just decided to take ourselves way too seriously for like 30 minutes, and it was ridiculous. I'm here at college killing time, not tricking myself into believing that I'll walk away any smarter than when I walked in. Yes, we should take it seriously, but no, in the long run, we shouldn't be stressing out over blogs, or about any class really.
ReplyDeleteI am looking for your workshop essay revision. Please let me know when it's posted.
ReplyDeleteAnne
I think everyone needs to take a deep breathe. I have a lot of opinions about the whole situation, but I think at this point there isn't a point for me to worry. We're nearing the end and it's not like any problems at this juncture would be cause for concern.
ReplyDeleteI think you get what you put into things.
ReplyDeleteI find myself torn between agreeing with you and agreeing with Ellen. Yes, this class was an experiment, and yes, I'd have to say that the experiment failed. And honestly, I'm not sure if the reason why it failed was the people or the format. I'd be inclined to place the blame on both, though honestly I will say that while I enjoyed the blog format, I also feel that it's a fairly bad pedagogical device and that attempting to hybridize the class as being both digital and traditional is an ultimately self-defeating act.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'll admit I laughed a bit at your rant on written responses. You touched on exactly the reason that I don't write on people's essays (barring a sort of mental block to writing on any sort of written work): if I have something to say, I say it. Reading the responses I got, it was roughly ninety-five percent things that people had already said and five percent new, useful contributions. That said, I have major issues with the general workshopping process in general (not specific to this class, but to every workshop I've participated in), and this is only the tup of that iceberg.