My school district back home had certain students placed in a different curriculum based on learning styles, work ethic, etc., and I was placed in an English class veeeeery similar to Truth, Lies, and Literature. That being said, this class still came as a total surprise. Before Hamilton, I was used to “lenient” teachers and random and creative class discussion. When freshman year started, I was kind of let down by how structured every single class was, and I felt like such a sponge (meaning all I did was soak up info and spew it back out on an exam). I found that I wasn’t in any of the small, intimate classes that Hamilton advertises, and I didn’t think I was really learning effectively or relating to any of the material as a result.
This class was/is so different from every other class I’ve taken here so far. It is like my high school English class in that in order to extrapolate any sort of meaning from the class, we each really have to be engaged and active participants. It has made me more aware to detach myself from an environment or experience in order to examine any underlying manipulations that might be (and probably are) present. This is the sort of stuff that we should have learned throughout our lives in school because it is so valuable as we get older and really begin to learn how the world functions.
Sarah I share you experience. TL&L has been a different classroom experience than any I have had before. As we reflect upon the semester, what I think is so special is that although we all took away somewhat similar things from the course, those takeaways have unique meanings to all of us. We are all manipulated in different ways and some manipulation bothers certain people more than others. What is important is that we learned out how to think about the manipulation that surrounds us and be conscious of the ways it effects our lives.
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