After taking this class I wasn’t expecting to learn the things I have and to really apply them to not only the rest of my college career but also my life after college. I would say one of my biggest take aways is the ability to question what I’m learning. I have had no other class be able to show the “so what” aspect of the class or why it’s important to learn what they’re teaching or if it’s even credible and how do we know it’s credible. A lot of my past professors have just lectured without the importance of why or how this is relevant and the moment someone questioned something it was almost like a crime to do so. This class showed me the importance of questioning what I’m learning and that it is okay to do so.

Another big take away is being able to have an actual discussion. Some classes before signing up are labeled as “discussion” but there’s nothing really to them, other than 20 or so students all staring at each other without a single thing to say. This class allowed for conversation to be built, where our opinions/thoughts mattered as it contributed to conversation in any way. There was really never a right or wrong answer with what we had to say but instead it allowed for either the conversation to grow further or it really just sparked a completely different topic.

Finally it allowed me to work better on my writing and really analyze what I was reading, why it’s important, how does it relate to the bigger idea we’re learning, and how does this impact my perspective on topics. This is one of the class I feel like I actually learned something not just about literature, environment, mermaids, but more about myself as to how to be better as a student but also in my writing for future classes. It was a challenging class but in the end felt worth it as I have taken away so much from my professor but also my peers.