Jessica's Learning Outcomes

I believe that sometimes you can only truly measure what you have become and what you have gained by measuring where you have come from.  Before this class I knew a bit about Shakespeare, I knew that he was a famous playwright that wrote amazing plays that have withstood the test of time.  Now I know details of his employment, am familiar with many more plays, and why they have not faded away into obscurity.  I know or am at least familiar with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Caomedy of Errors, Measure for Measure, Taming of the Shrew, Othello, and As You Like it.  I gained a greater depth and understanding of Taming of the Shrew than ever before.  Previously I had only been familiar with the movie however, now I would be comfortable having a scholarly discussion about it because I know where to look in order to obtain the research I would need.  We discussed the legacy of Shakespeare and why he is so permanent.  His permanence results from his ability to describe the universal experience: happiness, sadness, tragedy, comedy and history.  As part of our discussions we talked about various aspects of Shakespeare performances.   Some things like character expressions remain the same regardless of the medium.  Other aspects are specific to the medium like camera angles are specific to film because there are no camera angles on stage.

I knew how to analyze a piece of literature thanks to the many English classes I’ve already taken for my major here at BYU.  However, interpreting a Shakespearean play was somewhat outside my academic reach.  I knew that I could use similar tools that I would use to analyze a poem and so I started with imagery, allusions and the like.  Now I feel comfortable discussing theme, language, the placement of conventions, and other formal devices.  In this class I learned that there are ways to analyze the text by comparing the historical events that occurred around the same time that a play was written.  These events could also lead to comparisons between the Elizabethan culture and modern day culture. By analyzing the text with this context I found little gems of knowledge that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. 

Well we shared a lot about Shakespeare through online writing and social media.  There are groups on Goodreads that didn’t respond until after the paper was due but I think that it will be a fun conversation to continue to pursue over the break.  I found myself discussing my paper with friends in my dinner group, sometimes talking up my paper to roommates, and sharing my knowledge with my parents.  I started out writing this paper as any other, with research in the library and then started organizing the facts only to find that they were so interconnected they basically linked themselves.  After revising with both classmates and others in my social circle I now feel that I have a paper that’s ready for publication.

This was the hardest learning objective for me to fulfill because I am not out there on the social media sites.  I use Facebook to organize face to face parties rather than for communication and Twitter is something that my sister does.  However, I was able to get past this bias and learn how to use Tweets in order to link to people who had performed in a Shakespeare play in the past.  I also engaged in a conversation in Goodreads that I hope will continue and spark more discussion.  And of course by submitting our papers for publication we are able to put our papers out there both on the Team Shakespeare Blog and out in the public eye for others to see, comment and criticize. 

             In this class I learned more than I originally thought possible.  I gained knowledge of how to find information through social networks.  As a class, I think that we bonded more than any other English class.  Sure it could have been that we were few in number or that we always had a few minutes to talk before class but I think that it was more than that.  I think that we were able to share ideas and learn outside the classroom but link that knowledge to the blog.  Some people who I would not have approached (simply because they were on the other side of the room) commented on my paper and gave me great feedback.  Overall it was a great experience and I'll be sorry to say good bye to everyone.  Hopefully we'll see each other around campus and have a brief moment to refer back to this class. . . Remember that time when we had that horribly long paper due in Shakespeare? Yeah, and it was due BEFORE Thanksgiving!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!