By: Kadyn Matos
When I first registered for this class, I remember being so interested in what the class would be like. I had never taken a class specifically focusing on immigration, migration, and culture representing such powerful stories. I really liked the idea of us choosing our own literature pieces to read, share, and describe the experiences we encountered. Additionally, I enjoyed the class-based discussions without devices of getting insights on others’ experiences, leaving room for anybody to jump in or take us in other directions.
One thing I learned while taking this course was how although many stories that our class has chosen revolved around immigration, racial topics, and equality, one thing they share in common is the impact it has made on others. Reflecting on the different discussions we have had, everyone has shared how their book impacted them in some way or another. Whether that is through critiquing an authors’ choice of technology, or understanding the choices of other characters, and even connecting to stories was the most powerful takeaway I was able to see in this class. I enjoyed hearing other people’s experiences and being able to provide feedback or our thoughts on their experience.
This class made me have more of an open-mind and has gained my interest in wanting to read more stories involving culture and immigration. I chose to read three stories including A Thousand Splendid Suns, Take My Hand, and The Arab of the Future 4. These stories have shown me a direct experience of culture, immigration, and historical influences on characters represented in stories, which increased my desire to read. I love reading, especially when I am able to choose my own stories. With this class and the freedom to choose a story involving immigration, my knowledge expanded and allowed me to connect with characters even though I don’t have a first-hand experience with immigration. I liked the way we were able to make posts in open lab, input texts or pictures of our book which I chose to do mainly, explain our experiences and choose a technology that may explain how we felt what we felt. It was my first time using this website, but I really enjoyed using the different tools to make my posts organized.
I really enjoyed this final exam period because when I was reading through others’ posts, I saw the creativity behind passages, the passion behind stories, and was able to identify with the meaning behind people’s posts. Specifically, the post A Letter. This post really resonated with me as someone who has lost a parent, I was really able to connect with the student who wrote this post and feel some sort of fulfillment that “grief never goes away.” I think even proposing an assignment idea where students view other people’s post, write about it, can allow for some room so students can connect with other students. Then, just like this final exam period, have a class to discuss others post. Allow for communication, more feedback, and suggestions students can use.
I thought the feedback from Dr. Isbel was very helpful, as it assisted me to improve my writing and sound clearer. The feedback videos and comments were extremely useful to me, and I think that giving feedback to students should continue in the future.
Overall, I am grateful that I was a part of this class in discovering the variations of immigration represented in literature. This class has influenced me in reading more stories containing culture and immigration, as someone who does not have a personal experience with these topics. This class led to my desire of wanting to continue reading literature containing immigration. I recommend future students taking this class as a way to extend their knowledge on immigration as it represents such a powerful impact in the lives of many, even if those like me who may not directly relate to it. One consistent experience I had when reading others posts and my own literature choices, was empathy. With this experience I was able to understand others’ choices and appreciate their feelings,
