Course Projects

"Take an advanced English course," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.
I would be excited to be in an English class where the students make most of the decisions, if I weren't such an indecisive person.

Well, which part scares me the most?
 
Being an indecisive person, the whole "pick your poison" thing seems quite literal. I'm actually terrified out of my mind that I'm going to pick to do a project with a specific genre, only to decide three projects later that I should've used a different genre than the one I wanted at the time. It's supposed to be an exciting opportunity to expand our creative potential and use our imagination. Instead of seeing a floating rainbow of possibilities, however, I see a huge cliff with giant rocks at the bottom and the only way to safety is by jumping on these floating Mario-like mushrooms that could quite possibly result in my untimely death. Too descriptive? I felt like it captured my fear pretty well.

On the other hand...

I am super excited to be working with media. Don't get me wrong, the fear for making the wrong decision on genre at the wrong time is still there, but I enjoy filmmaking and audio clips. I have listened to a few podcasts in the past, so I'm excited for the opportunity to create one myself. It'll be fun, I hope. Especially in regards to the investigation project. Interviews are terrifying, but they are fascinating and fun at the same time. I enjoy talking to people, and the opportunity to interview someone working in the field I'm interested in is an exciting one.

How much work is it gonna take?

The part that I feel like will be hardest for me or the most time consuming is all the research we have to do. I take longer than the average person doing research because I apparently am technologically challenged. I've had to do many a research project in the past and, to be honest, I wish the world could work in a way that I would never have to do one again. It's not that I don't enjoy learning about things, on the contrary. I love learning new things, and I feel a pleasure from gaining knowledge that few other things provide. I simply don't enjoy researching things online and making sure they are accurate and reliable because it takes me so long. Definitely gonna have to work on that.

On the bright side, I'm a little prepared. How much, you ask?

I have loved English all my life, and I'm excited to say that I feel as though I have learned a wonderful amount from my previous classes, especially during high school. This only applies to the projects I choose to do in the written formats. Have I learned anything about making a video essay or a podcast? The answer is a resounding "no". Definitely not. I will however, be slightly prepared to do some deep thinking. The part I have loved about a few of my English teachers is the level of intellectual depth we were required to reach while in the class. I am hoping to be able to apply that in this class.

Any questions I still have:
At this particular moment in time, I don't have any questions about the projects. I have no doubt that will change throughout the semester, when we are required to actually do the projects and I recognize gaps in my understanding. But at the current moment, I'm content with what I do understand. That doesn't mean I'm less scared though...