1. One of my main goals for World Literature in Fall 2004 was to improve my writing skills.  Recently, in order to prepare to come back to this class, I read over all of my writing from last time.  I was struck not only by how much my writing improved over that semester, but also by how much better my writing was then than it is now.  Last semester when I came back to school I did a little writing, but for the most part my classes did not focus on it.  It is a little disconcerting how fast I lost much of my writing skills, but I’m confident that with the almost daily discussion board assignments they will soon return.
  2. I’m also excited to experiment with new forms of writing.  Previously in this class I tried writing my projects with multimedia and web formatting.  It was tedious at times, but I found that the process of including pictures and formatting for HTML helped me gain a clearer picture of the story in my head.  The finished product was much more engaging than if it had been simply an essay.  I’m hopeful that writing for the MOO will be a similar experience.  I think it will be quite interesting to create a world with words.
  3. Another goal of mine is to become more comfortable voicing my opinions about literature.  While sometimes I’m fairly quiet in class, I think this semester will be different.  Besides the fact that the class participation policy will motivate me to talk, I think that the alternative college experience I’ve had will allow me to bring a unique perspective to many of the discussions.  I’m hoping that this unique perspective will allow me to at times be a leader.
  4. When I began this class one of my biggest goals was to improve my emotional intelligence.  This is something that I believe I have been very successful at.  Previously in this class I wrote about my emotions quite a bit and made progress in gaining clarity.  Then, in the spring, I traveled alone and spent much of my time in the evenings writing in a journal.  I found that being alone for extended periods of time made me understand myself and my feelings differently.  In my journal I could all of a sudden write about my feelings with ease.  Even though I’ve been successful in achieving this goal since last year, I’m hoping to continue to improve my emotional intelligence over this semester.  Sympathetic imagination—emotional intelligence about others—is something that I still do not feel too competent with.  I’m hoping that will change during this course.