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Like Smacholdt, I also loved the visual representation of Robinson's video/animation presentation. I felt like it spoke exactly to me, as a study of constant motion with a clear narrative and of course, general theme that is near and dear to me (hello, $50K college education). I've been thinking about this video a lot actually, and discussed it in detail with my friend who is also a senior. At this point in my educational career (graduating in a semester, knock on wood, and gearing up for potentially three more years of school for a graduate degree) it is easy to feel reflective. This course has encouraged me to be even MORE reflective about my own role in my education, especially as we get ready to perform our finals for each other and then put together a portfolio. Perhaps I'm pre-empting my portfolio reflection a bit, but I have sometimes found myself frustrated with my own assembly-line-trained academic tendencies. That is to say, one of thing that attracted me to this course was the role we were each expected to play in our the design and implementation of our own educational destiny. I love that, and I think each of us is capable of determining and speaking up for what works best for us, what we want to learn and how. Despite my affection for this pattern of learning, I've become cranky with own tendencies to shy away from this responsibility. I have a hard time escaping the traditional education and approved learning I was taught in the first 22 years of my little life. Obviously this isn't much to be proud of, particularly as I know from my own family experience that the assembly-line / out-dated mode of education doesn't work for a lot of folks. It took my brother 10 years to get his undergraduate BS, as well as struggling through four different kinds of high school environments. Me? I'm lucky enough that brain mostly functions in a school environment, and yet now that I want to think outside the box a little (ie, in this class) I sometimes have a hard time--what is it about this book that I like? What do I want to explore more, just to learn about? I'm embarrassed that it takes more thinking for me to think outside the box, but thanks to our industrial revolution education model, I think I can blame that a bit.

I wish that school had more to do with stories, from the beginning. If I'd been forced to think about the transformative power of stories for stories sake (Coles) and what I wanted to learn (Anne) from an early age on, I'd be in much better practice now. As it stands, this course and (getting back to the original post) this video have been really helpful to me as I get my energies and spirits up for my last undergraduate semester.