This week in Truth in Society we began studying... PIRATES! MMM!
We began reading an article that I didnt really find that interesting but oh well. We asked questions about the articles content and began research about those questions. We basically researched for the whole two days, errr! I'm beginning to think that this course is only about learning to do research. I guess we'll see!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
longest learning journal of life
Religious Studies:
Are we supposed to talk about Paden? I don’t know. I guess so...
In Religious Studies we studied William Paden’s notion of interpretive frames which I, like ‘Parkhill’, find to be really important and pretty fascinating when you really think about it. I personally believe that Paden’s ideas are useful in almost everything we do, whether we see it to be useful or not. I also now believe that our frames are biased to our own lifestyle. When we read something such as the ‘Nacirema’ text we almost look down at it thinking “what kind of culture does this?” and this is where I find Paden’s interpretive frames to be most useful. I think we only realize Paden’s ideas to be useful when studying something out of our own cultural norm such as the Tibetan book of the dead. The Tibetan book of the dead and the studies we did on Buddhism itself really helped me to learn and develop the capabilities of looking outside of my own frame. I found myself being able to understand and question something I hadn’t really looked at before.
In the world history course I am taking this semester we recently began studying the pilgrimages of Christianity, Muslim and Buddhism. Having learned in Religious studies terms such as bodhisattvas and Gautama Siddhartha has given me an advantage over other students in the course. Also, in the course, with studying so many different areas of the world, I have an advantage of noticing everyone’s personal frame when they speak and with the questions they ask.
English:
My deepened understanding of how reading works has developed mostly and more obviously with the play doubt. I have never read something so in depth before. I think that all the studies we have done of the play have truly developed in me a new level of reading analysis. Reading, if you want it to be can be casual and only for entertainment, but anything can be studied and examined. I realize now some of the many things that reading can do on an academic level, and what it can be for. A written text can help a person expand their thoughts essentially on life. A written text can persuade a person to do almost anything. I see this mostly in the fact that so many people of the class have changed their minds over and over again about father Flynn’s guilt. One minor word of the written text can be interpreted as a suggestion of one way or the other and it can change someone’s opinions completely in an instance. I’m not sure I have really become a better writer myself; I have seen how another’s writings can be shaped for certain audiences and critiques. Shanley, for example, has written the play Doubt with aspects that can intrigue many audiences. He writes for a religious audience and also for a non-religious audience. However, I don’t believe that he has bettered my writing, but more so my methods of interpretation and analysis. Had we of not studied the play so much, my methods of research would not have grown. We used the UNB online library to find multiple sources to help with our understanding of the text. We also learned methods of research on the open web; what is useful and what is not, what sites tend to be more biased and what sites don’t.
Journalism:
In journalism we studied multiple things, from Saudi Arabia and its lack of free speech in the press to how to write a good journalism article. I personally believe that journalism is simply a way of informing the public. Whether there is a difference between serious and light journalism exists I’m honestly still not sure of. After watching the segment ‘College days college nights’ which I personally thought was light, un-serious journalism I was surprised to hear that some people considered it to be serious. This truthfully made me question the existence of serious and un-serious journalism all together. Anything can be serious in the world of journalism depending on the frame you look at it through. In the journalism course, I feel I learned more so what journalistic writing looks like as opposed to what really consists of good journalism. Having not felt that I really learned this, I have come to the conclusion myself after having viewed a story about a man travelling to Saudi Arabia and discussing the issues of free press to a bunch of university students living everyday life that anything in the world of journalism can be serious.
Aquinas what:
The Aquinas program, as said in the prompt given is supposed to help students be fuller members of the academic community of the campus. I personally feel that the occasions have helped me become that. Had they not been a requirement in the course I never would have gone to any on campus events or lectures. Going to these events made experiences for me that helped me meet more of the Saint Thomas community and also helped me feel more engaged in it. Learning, as I believed before, came only in the classroom and only from the establishment of what was declared right by a teacher. Truth in society has explained to me that making a mistake can also be a method of learning and we should not be penalized for it. Many times have I come to class with a prompt in my hand believe it is what was asked to be done and was wrong. It actually has helped to develop my critical thinking. I am now better at “deciphering” complicated tasks.
Are we supposed to talk about Paden? I don’t know. I guess so...
In Religious Studies we studied William Paden’s notion of interpretive frames which I, like ‘Parkhill’, find to be really important and pretty fascinating when you really think about it. I personally believe that Paden’s ideas are useful in almost everything we do, whether we see it to be useful or not. I also now believe that our frames are biased to our own lifestyle. When we read something such as the ‘Nacirema’ text we almost look down at it thinking “what kind of culture does this?” and this is where I find Paden’s interpretive frames to be most useful. I think we only realize Paden’s ideas to be useful when studying something out of our own cultural norm such as the Tibetan book of the dead. The Tibetan book of the dead and the studies we did on Buddhism itself really helped me to learn and develop the capabilities of looking outside of my own frame. I found myself being able to understand and question something I hadn’t really looked at before.
In the world history course I am taking this semester we recently began studying the pilgrimages of Christianity, Muslim and Buddhism. Having learned in Religious studies terms such as bodhisattvas and Gautama Siddhartha has given me an advantage over other students in the course. Also, in the course, with studying so many different areas of the world, I have an advantage of noticing everyone’s personal frame when they speak and with the questions they ask.
English:
My deepened understanding of how reading works has developed mostly and more obviously with the play doubt. I have never read something so in depth before. I think that all the studies we have done of the play have truly developed in me a new level of reading analysis. Reading, if you want it to be can be casual and only for entertainment, but anything can be studied and examined. I realize now some of the many things that reading can do on an academic level, and what it can be for. A written text can help a person expand their thoughts essentially on life. A written text can persuade a person to do almost anything. I see this mostly in the fact that so many people of the class have changed their minds over and over again about father Flynn’s guilt. One minor word of the written text can be interpreted as a suggestion of one way or the other and it can change someone’s opinions completely in an instance. I’m not sure I have really become a better writer myself; I have seen how another’s writings can be shaped for certain audiences and critiques. Shanley, for example, has written the play Doubt with aspects that can intrigue many audiences. He writes for a religious audience and also for a non-religious audience. However, I don’t believe that he has bettered my writing, but more so my methods of interpretation and analysis. Had we of not studied the play so much, my methods of research would not have grown. We used the UNB online library to find multiple sources to help with our understanding of the text. We also learned methods of research on the open web; what is useful and what is not, what sites tend to be more biased and what sites don’t.
Journalism:
In journalism we studied multiple things, from Saudi Arabia and its lack of free speech in the press to how to write a good journalism article. I personally believe that journalism is simply a way of informing the public. Whether there is a difference between serious and light journalism exists I’m honestly still not sure of. After watching the segment ‘College days college nights’ which I personally thought was light, un-serious journalism I was surprised to hear that some people considered it to be serious. This truthfully made me question the existence of serious and un-serious journalism all together. Anything can be serious in the world of journalism depending on the frame you look at it through. In the journalism course, I feel I learned more so what journalistic writing looks like as opposed to what really consists of good journalism. Having not felt that I really learned this, I have come to the conclusion myself after having viewed a story about a man travelling to Saudi Arabia and discussing the issues of free press to a bunch of university students living everyday life that anything in the world of journalism can be serious.
Aquinas what:
The Aquinas program, as said in the prompt given is supposed to help students be fuller members of the academic community of the campus. I personally feel that the occasions have helped me become that. Had they not been a requirement in the course I never would have gone to any on campus events or lectures. Going to these events made experiences for me that helped me meet more of the Saint Thomas community and also helped me feel more engaged in it. Learning, as I believed before, came only in the classroom and only from the establishment of what was declared right by a teacher. Truth in society has explained to me that making a mistake can also be a method of learning and we should not be penalized for it. Many times have I come to class with a prompt in my hand believe it is what was asked to be done and was wrong. It actually has helped to develop my critical thinking. I am now better at “deciphering” complicated tasks.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Week sixxxx
This week in Truth in Society religious studies was really interesting. For tuesday we read "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" which I really found to be a great text. Most people didn't catch on until class time what the reading was really about which I found a little shocking but oh well! I keep finding all the texts given in religious studies to be extremely catching, major maybe? I dont know. We also watched a video about Budhism, something I was always interested in but never took the time to learn about. I learned SO much. Very please:) In English we discussed more about "Doubt: a parable". I'm not even going to go there, but I hope we get to watch the movie soon:) In Journalism we finished watching "College Days, College Nights" I'm honestly still not sure what I think of it. Until next week!
Monday, October 19, 2009
week five?
This week in Truth in Society I'm not really sure if I learned a lot but I sure did hear a lot. I'd also like to agree with Brittany Moore when she says that her blog's really seem to be lacking what she refers to as "meat". I believe mine are too, maybe I'll add some in next time. ha. In religious studies we read a passage by William E. Paden. I really enjoyed reading this because I felt like it expressed in so many words everything that I had been trying to explain to myself for awhile now. I really appreciated this reading mostly because I can relate to it. Also, in religious studies, the president of the university came, he talked mostly and some things I took in and some I didnt, but over all I thought it was an interesting time just hearing him speak in general. In english I really found that we have been dissecting the play "Doubt" so much that our class discussions are starting to get personal. After reading many others' journals I find everyone else is feeling the same way. I think everyone loves the play but is not yet used to analyzing something to such a degree. We have talked about the play to the point where there is not much else to say except to express your own beliefs, and when coming together with such a vast group of people each with their own beliefs can be like walking through a mine field. However, it was a very interesting discussion. In journalism, we discussed good interviewing skills and good writing skills. I used to write a small article for a paper called the "KV Style" in my home town so I felt like I went into the lecture already with a basic sense of what I was doing, but I found that you can always learn something new which is something I think I have learned multiple times before and always find a way to learn again. We also watched a video, I'm not sure if it's caught my attention yet but apparently is has others (Lenny, what?) however, its not finished so we'll see. :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Week Three
This past week in truth and society we finally finished working with the Rwanada Genocide article. Like I mentioned last week, it was a very long process but necessary. We started the individual courses which I really enjoyed, I enjoyed discussing what it is that we want to learn in religious studies and I enjoyed having such an original assignment of going to see a play for english. I'm finding a lot more this week that blogging and responding is a very big part of this course, its a quick thing to do but time consuming too. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks classes and what's in store:)
Monday, September 28, 2009
Week Two
This week in Truth in Society I personally learned a fair bit about how really analyze something, how to push past how annoyed I am and how tired I am of dealing with that certain piece. I learned that there is always another angle to look at it, there is always something new to ask and someone will always see something different within it. I'm still really looking forward to starting the individual courses but I also think that these first weeks, especially this one were critical to whats coming up in the year. It was a very long two days in class but a learning experience at best.
Monday, September 21, 2009
First Impressions
Univeristy is not High School. It is the beginning of my second full week here at St. Thomas and I'm already realizing for myself what that really means. I'm looking to this truth in society program to help me make a smooth transition and give me the right skills to help me through my next years here.
Education should be highly valued, as should opinions, and through these first classes of truth in society I have noticed both are appreciated and welcomed in this group and I hold a lot of respect for that. However, I'll be honest, I have found myself a little muddled with the wording of assignments and what exactly it is we're supposed to do. I hope that eventually I'll become adapt and be able to better understand them. I'm excited to start the individual courses and for all the things this program has to offer and I really do aspire to learn how to think for myself.
Education should be highly valued, as should opinions, and through these first classes of truth in society I have noticed both are appreciated and welcomed in this group and I hold a lot of respect for that. However, I'll be honest, I have found myself a little muddled with the wording of assignments and what exactly it is we're supposed to do. I hope that eventually I'll become adapt and be able to better understand them. I'm excited to start the individual courses and for all the things this program has to offer and I really do aspire to learn how to think for myself.
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