Reflecting upon the semester

For the first half of blogging today I asked students to think about what "Toward a New Consciousness" may have with reflection--why would I have assigned this reading? It's a particularly difficult reading for students to do, especially because of the dispersal of Spanish throughout which may throw them off. I really like "Toward a New Consciousness" because it does a good job of summing up Anzaldua's book "Borderlands/La Frontera" by engaging readers in an activism of sorts: we need to come together in order to make progress rather than trying to remain separate. This is a good debatable topic, but I have a feeling students may try to avoid that controversy--if it is a controversy to them at all.

Looking at some of the students' blogs I see that they've ALL progressed quite nicely from the beginning of the semester. Their writing is much more developed and their ability to articulate themselves through their writing is really a privilege for me to see. They're learned how to use different modes and genres in a way that conveys themselves in REALLY effective ways.