Fall 2017

In this fall semester, I began my graduate studies in the English Department. This semester, I decided to dedicate my graduate studies to first focus on my writing and become a more well-rounded story-teller. I was noticing that in my mental health studies, I was neglecting my writing and my studying of writing. I did not feel like my undergraduate English studies were enough to help my craft, so I decided to switch my graduate plans to first do a more in-depth study of English literature, rhetoric, and writing. In this semester, I took two courses: Teaching of Writing and Texas on Film.

Teaching of Writing

My teaching of writing course was interesting because it helped prepare students who had a desire to teach. This course aimed to help students get their hands wet in how teachers and professor must prepare to teach a certain topic. Part of our assignment as graduate students was to develop a lesson plan that we presented to our class. Of course, I did my lesson plan on teaching creative writing with my fascination being creative writing.

Texas on Film

This course design was very interesting and innovative. With that being said, it was very challenging as well. In this course we had to view a selection of films:

The Searchers, Dir. John Ford, John Wayne, 1956; The Wild Bunch, dir. Sam Peckinpah, William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, 1969;  The Last Picture Show, dir. Peter Bogdanovitch, Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, 1971; Tender Mercies, dir. Bruce Beresford, Robert Duvall, 1983 &/or Trip to Bountiful, dir. Peter Masterson, Geraldine Page, 1985;  Places in the Heart, dir. Robert Benton, Sally Field, 1984; Blood Simple, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, John Getz, Frances McDormand, 1984; Lone Star, dir. John Sayles, Chris Cooper; No Country for Old Men,  Joel and Ethan Coen, Tommy Lee Jones, 2007; Bernie, dir Richard Linklater, Jack Black, 2011; Boyhood, dir Richard Linklanter, 2014, Hell or High- Water, dir David Mackenzie, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, 2016.

Our course work required that we view films as we do literature. That as a challenge for us all. It was a very interesting take on viewing movies, and our main goal in this class was to focus on the depiction and history of Texas. This course was one of the more challenging course I have taken, and it definitely challenged me to me more careful and thorough in mu analysis and writing.