Non-Fictional Prose

 In the past, radio was a source of entertainment for people, but also a source of news. This explains why the people have trusted the radio show, War of the Worlds, as they thought of it as a reliable source of information. I can't deny that the way the story of the radio was presented had some effects that made it sound so real. Here are a couple of examples: choosing real places and names of cities, constantly reminding the people of the places, bringing people from different parts of the country from scientists to eyewitnesses, and the background noise made the experience of listening to the radio show more real. They made the radio show so personal to the listener by bringing it close to the things they are most familiar with.

 I enjoy this course and I've noticed that I've been able to find something in each of the books useful or interesting, even if the work as a whole did not impress me. 

I like what we've done and I'm really interested to see where we're going, especially now that we're going to be shaping the course ourselves. 

 So far I am really enjoying the direction of the course, and I think the variety of material that we will be covering over the course of the upcoming quarter will bring in a lot of different angles and perspectives on nonfiction. Looking back on the past quarter, however, I feel like we have had a lot of arguments and point-proving sessions that have drifted away from our main points. I live that in the class we can stray from the main point and explore new ideas surrounding it, but this is only constructive when the class is having a discussion, not always an argument.

 As a notorious clock watcher I have to say that I have not glared down the clock once in Non-Fiction Prose.  For those of you unfamiliar with clock watching it is the practice of giving your undivided attention to the timepiece on your wrist or on the wall in an attempt to make time pass faster.  But to say that I have not been clock watching makes it seem that this class is only entertaining, which it is, however more importantly it is educational.  I have seriously changed the way I read, write, and interact with my peers as a result of this class.  The reading selections have prompted members of the class to engage and respond not only to the text but also to one another in our class discussions.

Please, before we return from break: say here, @ mid-semester, what's working in the class, what's not. Thanks--

Anne

 It seems obvious to me that we're probably going to end up excerpting works for the next part of the semester. Very few classes could reasonably expect anyone to--for example--read the O.E.D. but multiple groups expressed an interest in reference material. One of interesting issues for the form of reference is that they are not narratives written to be read as whole texts. 

And if we're going to be talking about parts of texts, I think it's important to pause and consider the nature of reading partial non fiction texts. 

I've really enjoyed using Serendip for this class...I think its a great way to communicate ideas informally and it makes me feel a lot less stressed about submitting written work. I've also liked the types of books that we have read. I feel like they are the kinds of books that I would never have had the opportunity to read and discuss in a more conventional English class...I look forward to reading the books we have chosen for the rest of the semester. The main thing I would change about the course is the way that we discuss the pieces we read. I feel as though we spend a lot of time discussing the authors' opinions and our own opinions about them rather than the form of the work itself and how the piece relates to the genre of non-fiction.