Reading
The first time I read through the essays for this class I attempt to make realizations and connection to what the theorists are explaining/saying. After reading through a first time I try my hardest to go over the reading a second time and skim the things I underlined in an attempt to better understand what is being said. I work on soaking in as much as I possibly can and try to make sense of the reading. I make my own conclusions about what I think the theorists are getting at and write my blog post from there.
Writing
Often times when I start writing my blog a lot of other points start running through my head. I try to pull together whatever I grasped from the reading, like a puzzle in my head, and work on finding examples that will best support my interpretations. Sometimes I try and write them down in a scattered way and then go back and dwell on things I found most interesting and rewrite the blog so that it makes sense. Other times I forget what I wanted to say and completely lose the idea I had because the content can become very overwhelming at times. I find that a lot of what I’m trying to get out becomes unclear to me once I need to put it in writing. I know what I’m thinking and trying to make sense of, but writing it down and having it make sense is difficult at times.
Conversation
Our class conversations are very helpful a majority of the time. Someone usually brings up one of some of the things I understood in the reading to discuss in class and I find it a lot easier to listen to what everyone get from it and compare it to how I grasped the same concept. There are also times when at the start of a discussion I have the feeling I’m beggining to understand what was unclear and then suddenly I completely lose it. I try and bring the content of these theories to my roommates or in the middle of reading an essay I’ll walk into the room and read them the most confusing line ever. I think the fact that other people get the HUH?!? feeling after reading a complex line from Derrida, for example, makes me feel a littler warmer inside and give me another burst of faith to continue reading.
Group Work
The class group work is helpful to me because it breaks up the reading and gives each group a chance to analyze one point and put it in their own words. Not only is this helpful in focusing on one aspect of the reading, but it is just as helpful to hear everyone elses interpretations of their groups piece of the reading. I try to take notes on each break down of the reading and then pull it all together. At times, I must say, I don’t fully grasp what is trying to be said and then at the same time it makes it much easier to summarize the reading.
What else Can be Done
After the first few reading for this class I start to get a hold of what was needed from me in order to really attempt to understand what these theorists are saying. Sometimes it helps to look at a picture of the author(s) or skim through the bibliography when its offered. Peter Barry is really helpful to review before begginning a reading or even looking through what he says in the middle of the reading. The way he phrases the concepts of these theories makes it much easier to understand the main concepts these theorists are trying to get across but in much more familiar language.
It’s clear from your writing here, Marina, that you’re into s-t-r-u-c-t-u-r-e. It’s no big surprise, then, that you describe your process as one that is using different texts, re-reading, and writing to get some concrete ideas about the theories thus far.
I like, too, the ways that people’s reactions to the readings have a positive emotional response–hooray for warm fuzzies! Now, how do we get you to do the same for other people in class discussions?