Post #9 of my English Class: Mini Sagas Conference

Last week General Studies Faculty offered an activity called Student Research and Writing Conference. I went to the panel  " Mini Sagas: My Creative Process" on March 25th at 10:40 a.m. In this conference I saw some students of Pre-Basic English exposing this new genre in a wonderful way. Before this, I did not listen about mini sagas before and they really surprised me.

The first one was Kathyria and her saga was about a bulimic woman. The second was Paula that talks about racism. The third one was Tatiana who write about Jesus. The fourth was Ashley who talks about finding a husband. The fifth one talks about ecology and the importance of saving animals lives. And, the last one was Mannelli who write about his girlfriend and for our surprise his girlfriend was one of the other writers. I think they all did great works it was just flawless and interesting. I have to say that each one were very unique and special.

With this conference, I learned a lot about mini sagas. I think they were really great and creative. They emphasized in creative process because is the important thing here. I think is very hard to say a lot of things in just 50 words. I personally love the Paula's mini saga about bulimia because of a personal experience and because it was very touching; but, I also liked the Ashley's mini saga because it was unexpected that she were talking about finding a husband. Also, I have to say that this is a great and interesting way of starting the writing process. I would like that this would be implemented in some schools because it might be attractive to the students, because this is not just throwing some words in a paper, is making an analytic writing with creativity. 

Post #8 of my English Class: Journey Conference

Last week General Studies Faculty offered an activity called Student Research and Writing Conference. I went to the conference  "Interrogating the Journey: Literature and Personal Experience" on March 25th at 10:00 a.m. that was supervise by Dr. Pittmann. In this conference I saw my classmates of my Journey in Literature Class: Laura, Carla, Sahara, Lorna and Sylvette exposing their essays about journey. They related the identity and journey concept with the writings of Jim Cooper, Jamaica Kincaid and Petter Roberts and also made a connection with their personal experiences.

The first one was Laura and she talks about the Puerto Rican identity and how the  world see us through her experiences in the United States and Canada. She says that although Puerto Rico has an undefined political identity each one of us can have his own identity as a Puerto Rican. The second was Carla that talks about the differences between helping and cheating, and also said that a successful communication is very important for not misunderstandings. The third one was Sahara and she talks about the view that foreigners had about Puerto Rican highlighting the hospitality. The fourth was Lorna and she defines the identity and it concepts, including it sameness/difference concept. The last one was Sylvette and she talks about the behavior of the tourists and their expectations of Puerto Rico. She mentioned that tourists come excited about visiting the paradise and meeting new people; however, she said that when you are a tourist you don't meet new people because the locals are people just like you.

I think that the journey theme explained through the personal experiences was very cleaver. My favorite presentation was the Laura's presentation because it was natural. and flawless. The essay was full of amazing experiences and wonderful thoughts. It also makes us thought about our identity. Finally, we were able to distinguished between the external and internal journey, the external is more a physical journey but the internal is the real, the one that keep in you forever.