Bonus 13 - Class Review by JJ Leath

        Overall, I think this was a great class. I transferred to UMKC from the University of Arkansas, so this was the only discourse class I had to take. Because of this, I didn't really know what to expect from this class and I have nothing to compare it to. I really enjoyed this class, though. The format was great, and I felt like a learned some cool stuff. Further, I felt like the format gave me the opportunity to get to know my classmates, and that was great. I really enjoyed being able to connect with others, especially since this is my first semester at UMKC. The only thing that think could be improved was the discussion leaders.

        The blogging format for our assignments was very interesting. I felt that it really pushed me as a writer. I am used to academic writing, but I do find myself lacking when it comes to informal writing. I'm still not superb at writing informally, but I did get to practice it and feel that I will continue to get better at it. Further, the blogging format was enjoyable. For whatever reason, I felt far less stressed writing a 1500 work blog than I would a 1500 work paper. Additionally, the way that you structure the content of the class was enjoyable as well. I really enjoyed reviewing and writing about films. I especially enjoyed the section over Film Noir.

        In addition to being enjoyable, I felt like this class was informative as well. I had no idea about film analysis or Film Noir before this class. I really enjoyed learning about both of these topics. It definitely changed the way I look at movies, and it has made movies all the more enjoyable for me. Even though I didn't agree with all of it, I also enjoyed learning about film critique theory. I think that the paper I wrote on Big Trouble in Little China might be a little far fetched, but this class did force me to recognize that there are underlying messages in all forms of media, and I feel that this class has equipped me with some tools for uncovering these messages.

        The only thing that I would say could benefit from a little tweaking would be the discussion leader portion of the class. I think it might have been better to space it throughout the entire semester instead of cramming it into the last half of the semester. I really enjoyed the discussion leader portion of the class, and I really enjoyed the assigned readings that I was able to read. I especially liked the Omelas story. The problem was that I couldn't always make time to read each story. I work full time and go to school full time, and there are just so many hours in the day. If the readings were more spread out, I definitely would have read each. I wasn't able to read the story about the old man with wings, and I would have really liked to been apart of that discussion. My time constraints are obviously not your problem, and I am definitely not trying to make an excuse for why some of the readings weren't done, but I feel like there will be students in my situation in classes in the future that could benefit from the readings being spaced out more.

        Overall, this was a very enjoyable class that I felt I got a lot from. If you teach this class again, I would definitely recommend sticking to the structure and content used in this semester.