First half of the course

I have certainly enjoyed the first half of this course.  I have liked most of the readings and found them interesting to study and discuss.  I also really like it when a course has a theme, like our focus on “the family.”  The only thing I might say about the reading is that it might have been nice to be able to spend more time on some of the works, maybe by including one less text to read.  I personally would have liked some more time to look at the short stories and especially at Neruda’s poetry (and maybe some other poetry?).  But that’s just a personal preference really; I think the amount of reading has been appropriate for a course at this level, but if we had read one or two less texts, it would have allowed for time for more in-depth study in class.

On the other hand, we will be spending a lot of time on Cien anos de
soledad, which I am really looking forward to.  I am enjoying reading it now, as difficult and slow as it is for me!

I have to admit to being really pleasantly surprised by the blog feature of this course.  I had never “blogged” before and never really had an interest in reading other people’s blogs.  However, I have found a lot of reasons that I like the blog: it forces me to keep up to date with the reading, it forces me to spend time reflecting about what I have read, it enables the students to engage in a bit of dialogue about the texts and since I know it will be published online with my name on it, I try to put some amount of thought and effort into making each entry at least somewhat readable and interesting.