Ivan Felix
5/09/13
Legacy
ENG 223/ Dr. Urbina
My Legacy
Migrant Literature has been one big roller coaster with its ups, and downs. There have been times when I was feeling overwhelmed, and thought this class was going to be extremely difficult, but things got better real quick. For every stressful moment this class gave me there were five times as many joyous moments. Even though this course was very demanding I gained a lot of knowledge, and insight. I recommend any incoming students who feel troubled to look at this generations Legacy’s for any wisdom or help.
The works I have done for Migrant Literature has been explications on other cultures, essays, and even service learning. Dr. Urbina had us do a lot of different kinds of work. At first it was a little strange to me, I thought they were loosely related, but I soon figured out they were part of a picture. Dr. Urbina is kind of like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid in a sense that when you first start your training (in our case work) it seems a little strange, but as you progress you soon realize that your sensei is teaching you in ways you have never been taught. Dr. Urbina’s teaching is unconventional, but very effective. It’s not something you can describe, but rather experience. For my portfolio I chose to show my poetry explications, letters beyond borders, and the quiz I created, simply because they seemed the easiest and most efficient when it came to time management. All of them can be looked at as guidelines or resources for the future students. They may not be the best in the class, but they can be useful since I tend to keep things simple.
When I walked into class on the first day I had the same mentality I always do, which is to mind my own business. I quickly learned that this mentality will not get me anywhere it Dr. Urbina’s class. If you want to succeed in this course you will need to know that the best way to go about this is with your fellow peers. As a community everyone can help one another when the assignments get difficult or confusing. I know without the student roles every class would be mayhem. It’s funny how on the first day of class everyone kept to themselves, but on the last day everyone was eating, hugging, and taking pictures together. Again I say, Dr. Urbina’s teaching method is unconventional, but very effective. I mean what other college level classes have all the students getting along to this extent? None that I have taken and I’ve taken my fair share. If I knew what I know now in the beginning my experience in this course wouldn’t have been as rewarding. Why? Well because those days when nobody knew what was going on, or what assignments were due, were crucial experiences to our learning process. It’s one thing to have the answers given to you, but a completely different thing when you figure them out as a class.
There were several challenges I overcame by myself, and many more we overcame as a class. One of those challenges was how to manage the assignments. Every week you get a set amount of assignments online via Angel. If you don’t keep up with the week you’re in you can easily fall behind, but after a week or two a pattern is developed. This shouldn’t be frightening by any means though, because there are several resources out there for you to take advantage of. My favorite resource was Edomodo, which a website where you could easily contact your fellow peers or even Dr. Urbina when things are getting rough. I found this very useful being that I’m a social media savvy person and this reminded me a lot of Facebook, except if Facebook was given an academic facelift. Overall there are plenty variables Dr. Urbina has laid out to benefit her students.
This course has taught me to open up and view the world through different lenses. If you see everything with a one sided view it’s very easy for problems to arise. You have to understand your neighbor to benefit yourself, and everyone else. When it comes down to it Migrant Literature with Dr. Urbina has to be one of my favorite classes I have ever taken hands down, no competition at all!
5/09/13
Legacy
ENG 223/ Dr. Urbina
My Legacy
Migrant Literature has been one big roller coaster with its ups, and downs. There have been times when I was feeling overwhelmed, and thought this class was going to be extremely difficult, but things got better real quick. For every stressful moment this class gave me there were five times as many joyous moments. Even though this course was very demanding I gained a lot of knowledge, and insight. I recommend any incoming students who feel troubled to look at this generations Legacy’s for any wisdom or help.
The works I have done for Migrant Literature has been explications on other cultures, essays, and even service learning. Dr. Urbina had us do a lot of different kinds of work. At first it was a little strange to me, I thought they were loosely related, but I soon figured out they were part of a picture. Dr. Urbina is kind of like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid in a sense that when you first start your training (in our case work) it seems a little strange, but as you progress you soon realize that your sensei is teaching you in ways you have never been taught. Dr. Urbina’s teaching is unconventional, but very effective. It’s not something you can describe, but rather experience. For my portfolio I chose to show my poetry explications, letters beyond borders, and the quiz I created, simply because they seemed the easiest and most efficient when it came to time management. All of them can be looked at as guidelines or resources for the future students. They may not be the best in the class, but they can be useful since I tend to keep things simple.
When I walked into class on the first day I had the same mentality I always do, which is to mind my own business. I quickly learned that this mentality will not get me anywhere it Dr. Urbina’s class. If you want to succeed in this course you will need to know that the best way to go about this is with your fellow peers. As a community everyone can help one another when the assignments get difficult or confusing. I know without the student roles every class would be mayhem. It’s funny how on the first day of class everyone kept to themselves, but on the last day everyone was eating, hugging, and taking pictures together. Again I say, Dr. Urbina’s teaching method is unconventional, but very effective. I mean what other college level classes have all the students getting along to this extent? None that I have taken and I’ve taken my fair share. If I knew what I know now in the beginning my experience in this course wouldn’t have been as rewarding. Why? Well because those days when nobody knew what was going on, or what assignments were due, were crucial experiences to our learning process. It’s one thing to have the answers given to you, but a completely different thing when you figure them out as a class.
There were several challenges I overcame by myself, and many more we overcame as a class. One of those challenges was how to manage the assignments. Every week you get a set amount of assignments online via Angel. If you don’t keep up with the week you’re in you can easily fall behind, but after a week or two a pattern is developed. This shouldn’t be frightening by any means though, because there are several resources out there for you to take advantage of. My favorite resource was Edomodo, which a website where you could easily contact your fellow peers or even Dr. Urbina when things are getting rough. I found this very useful being that I’m a social media savvy person and this reminded me a lot of Facebook, except if Facebook was given an academic facelift. Overall there are plenty variables Dr. Urbina has laid out to benefit her students.
This course has taught me to open up and view the world through different lenses. If you see everything with a one sided view it’s very easy for problems to arise. You have to understand your neighbor to benefit yourself, and everyone else. When it comes down to it Migrant Literature with Dr. Urbina has to be one of my favorite classes I have ever taken hands down, no competition at all!