UMPI Class Review Master Thread

[yc1981]

Name: ENG 211 Intro to Creative Writing
Subject: Creative Writing
Semester/Term: Spring 1
Instructor: Frusciante
Long or Short?: Medium
Number of Milestone Activities: 4
Type of Milestone Activities: mini essay, short story, poem, all have screencast components
Type of Final Assessment: revision of previous work with screencast component
Notes & Overall Thoughts: I have a really *thumbsdown* view of this course. I don't feel it incorporated creativity well at all unless the creative aspect was supposed to be slotting in all the very specific topics the professor wanted to appear in the pieces. I felt like the written pieces were more about 'word tetris'. By the time you ended up figuring out how to slot all the things in that she wanted (example: 2 city names, 2 refererences to a town in the media, 2 restaurant names... all the way up to 10 references for 1 very short piece) you then had to try and work around those references and make a piece of writing that fit the criteria. It was more about box ticking (I assume this makes it easier for her to quickly grade assignments). Some people might enjoy this, but I did not. I also really enjoy modern/contemporary poetry that doesn't necessarily align with old style rhyming schemes, or even rhyme at all. And that wasn't really allowed here. Her examples of good poems included Robert Frost. I just felt like I was back in in high school doing work that made me hate writing Again, just my personal experience. Another big issue with this course for me is that there was a screencast component to each one. I wouldn't have taken it had I known I would be graded on a verbal presentation for each milestone. I'm not good with speaking or vocal inflection, which is why I chose a writing class, not a public speaking class. All in all I'm just glad it's over. Again, your mileage may vary and someone else may love this format.