LITR 4328: American Renaissance

Model Assignments Final Exam Essays 2018 (final exam assignment) Sample answers for A1. learning about American Renaissance

Michael Powell

The Romanticism of America

          I walked into this course not really knowing a lot about the Renaissance period, and unlike most of the literature majors I have met I had not read many of the classics before returning to college.   So for me, this was a course that was available, and I needed to complete my degree.  I had heard of the time period, but on the first day I knew I would enjoy the readings, knowing of Poe and Dickinson.  Then, once I received the syllabus, seeing titles like The Headless Horseman I was excited, because I have never read it, but had seen the children’s cartoon for it, and knew I liked the story.  But, everything changed for me after the midterm, and for the better.  I always have enjoyed reading the gothic genre, but knew nothing of Romanticism, until now. 

          Coming into this class, I knew nothing of the terms we covered through the semester.  Although I enjoy reading, my time in any book was just about enjoying the material, not about the terminology connected to it.  As I stated in my midterm, I liked Stephen King, prior to his accident.  The gothic genre has always been one of my favorite genres to read.  Since I have picked up other authors and unknowingly till now, I really enjoy Romanticism, and have read many books that combine both.  Romanticism encompasses many emotions, feelings, and ideas, such as heroic individualism, nature as beauty and truth.  Something I would have never classified myself as is a Romantic, but after this semester, I do now.  I believe in the ideas of the hero, and that there are people out there that are true heroes, the ones that put others before themselves to ensure they have better lives, like Chris Kyle.  Yes, he was a former military, a hero in its own sorts, but it was his time after his service that he became a hero to me.  He lost his life trying to save others, trying to make their lives better.  Ideas, like the further you get into nature, the more beautiful life becomes, and the closer you can get to God out there, where the city lights do not cover up the nature beauty of the stars.   

          Since I am pursuing a literature degree with a teaching certificate, this class has given me many ideas on how to teach my students while connecting to ideas or concepts they have or are presently learning.  For example, I would have never have classified the Declaration of Independence into the Romanic category.  In my mind it was men trying to make their lives, and their loved ones lives better.  I would not have done this because I didn’t know the definition of the term.  Our founding fathers were common people that wanted a better life, and banded together to make it happen.  They were “outsiders” in their own country, outsiders by their thinking, and by their physical location.  So they revolted, and formed this amazing country of ours.  In a classroom, scaffolding can be used with the student’s former knowledge of this document and it can be expanded on to make connections to other classes, possibly helping that student find their love of history or literature, and possibly both. 

          Diversity in the classroom is another idea taught to Education Majors, and although I do not believe it was discussed this semester, but Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream speech, is another piece of the Romanticism genre that I could use in a classroom to connect with the minority students in the class.  This connection will allow them to see that everyone matters in my classroom.  Not just the most popular authors, which in my experiences are majority Caucasians. 

          Finally, the technology used in your class was wonderful.  Worksite was something I was a little overwhelmed with at first.  There was so much information, click here, go there, where is this, was a lot for me to start with.  But, as time went on, I realized that no matter where I was, at work, on the beach, or sitting waiting on my wife someplace in the mall, I did not need a book to complete assigned reading.  It took some of the stress away from the class for me.  As a future teacher, I would like to be able to remove that stress for my students, and considering how many of today’s youth possess a smart phone, tablet or laptop, why not make as much as the assigned read available to them as possible?  As Mickey Thames wrote in his paper ”So often one wants to know “what is the teacher looking for?” and this class isn’t teaching that. It is asking “what are you looking for” in its assignments. While, yes, the essay topics are there, you are quite free to answer how you please.”  I do not want to teach robots, I want to teach freethinking individuals that have a brain and know how to use it.