Personal & Social
Author identity: Someone in the class old me early on that I have a good voice for my blog and since then I have tried to maintain that voice. They something like they liked the voice because it was like a conversation and since receiving that, what I interpreted to be, positive feedback I have tried to maintain it.
Documentation of Process: I have mixed feelings about this bullet. I understand that it is the only way you know we are working on our blogs but as I have said before, it does not accurately portray the time and effort put into each post (this is me trying to be the voice of the people). Additionally I personally had trouble because I felt that I had to many ideas and not all of them panned out so I would put in the effort and it would not yield results. In retrospect I should have just posted every time but alas I did not.
Interactions: I have really tried to interact with the class. Commenting on their blogs has not been my strongest suit in this category but I feel I met this requirement to a point because of a few things.
1.) The Movie nights in the beginning of the semester ( I was involved in 5)
2.) The Interview with Fred Adams
3.) The Dramatic Reading of Shakespeare
Post
Quantity: I have not done as many posts as I should have the second half of the semester but I was called prolific during the first half of the semester. But overall I have 52 posts 8 of which are related to my topic though to are short so you could count it as 7.
Content: In the second half of the semester I have two topics really. The first was the arranging of the dramatic reading of The Tempest. The second was my focus, proving that Shakespeare was an optimist. There were several posts on each topic.
Format: I have had trouble in throughout with make my posts look like essays however there are several post where I branch away from this by using bullets and bolded headings. There was also a complaint about me not using the read more>> option for my posts because they are so long and I have gone back through all of my post and added it to most of them.
Research
Thematic Focus: Once I was finally able to figure out an applicable and interesting (for me) focus for my blog I stuck with it. It may not seem important whether or not Shakespeare was an optimist or not but I feel that it is important. I know that many critics discourage biographical analysis’s of works but I feel that it is enormously applicable in understand how and why what was written. And the means of demonstrating that he was an optimist was his works so it I feel it is applicable to this course.
Thesis and Cohesion: Once I figured out what my thesis was I stuck to it and supported it as best I could. Apart from post related to the dramatic reading most of my posts towards the end of the semester have been concerning my focus and working to develop it. As part of this I make an effort to include my thesis, as far as I had developed it at certain points, within each of my post related to my topic.
Sources: My research for my blog is not too extensive but I did reference an article about the tempest, a book by Stephen Greenblatt, several of Shakespeare’s works, and Wikipedia. I realize that Wikipedia is not always thought of as an good academic source but I have yet to meet a college student who does not use it and every time I have looked to verify the information it provided this semester the sites I have found verify it but do not provide as much or as helpful information as the online encyclopedia does.
Design
Appropriate Theme: I address this above
Side Content: With regards to side content I have tried to make it applicable to others in that class while still researching things that interest me. I will list a few that come to mind below.
1.) The weaponry post after reading Henry V. This added perspective to the war scenes in the play enlightening how they might have been enacted in Shakespeare’s day as well as how they should be performed, if done according to the time, today.
2.) The next post that comes to mind is the one entitled “Dr. Burton Is Right.” The purpose of this post was to share my exciting discovery as well as a type of issuance of a call to action. This meaning that I was hoping the information would keep people wanting to post because even though most of the time they were just being read by the class, once in a while they were being read by people outside the class.
3.) Something else I did recently was to go to Boarders and look up a few books about Shakespeare and share my findings with the class with a little bit of side information out the book. While at boarders I had kept in mind what some members of the class had told me they were working on and tried to sculpt my searching to them. I realize the book store might have been more beneficial for this but I find it overwhelming and I have a strong penchant for book stores.
*One last thing I want to point out is that I have made an effort to fulfill the requirements form the learning outcomes that I had not prior to the midterm since the midterm.
*One last thing I want to point out is that I have made an effort to fulfill the requirements form the learning outcomes that I had not prior to the midterm since the midterm.
