The week of October 16-22 was very exciting for the class of ENGL 105. As most students wound down and prepared to go on fall break, the students of ENGL 105 were not able to relax, as presentations for their ethnographies were on Tuesday. This ended up being one of the most exciting events of class so far. Luckily, we did not have class on Thursday due to fall break, so after an intense early week, students were able to enjoy the rest of their week. While there was still work to do over the weekend, as the final draft of all UP2 materials was due on Monday, it was a manageable project, so we were able to have a relaxing fall break.
As previously stated, the big event of the week was everyone’s three-minute UP2 presentations on Tuesday. After working very hard on their scripts all weekend, the students of ENGL 105 were both excited and nervous to finally present everything they had learned about their chosen subculture. When we all came into the room, it was immediately noticeable that the setup was different than usual, with the tables all pushed against the walls. The energy in the room was palpable as everyone was anticipating giving their ethnography presentations. Once the presentations actually began, everything moved at an extremely fast pace. There were only three minutes allotted for each presentation, with very little room for dawdling, so groups had to move very quickly between presentations. Surprisingly, everyone managed to finish with time to spare. All of the students remained respectful during the presentations, which made the environment feel supportive and nonjudgmental.
The presentation themselves were very engaging. Personally, I enjoyed almost all of them, and thought that everyone did an amazing job at presenting their data concisely, while also keeping it interesting. I loved hearing about the wide variety of subcultures that my fellow classmates observed, and learned a lot about different groups on campus. I also thought that everyone made a lot of good and unexpected points in their ethnographies, which kept everything very engaging.
Although I was very worried about having to do an ethnography at the beginning of this unit, I feel it was an extremely useful project. It forced me to do a lot of things, such as interviews, that I had never done before or that made me uncomfortable. However, now with this experience under my belt, I feel like I’ve gained a lot of confidence. Additionally, I feel like this was a very engaging project, as it involved learning a lot of new information and participating in new forms of data gathering.
Sadly, there was no class on Thursday, as it was the first day of fall break. While it was only a mere four days, it was a much-needed respite from a very busy school year. However, there was still work to do for the students of ENGL 105. Since all of the materials for UP2 were due on Monday, anyone who had not already finished had to work on completing their explication of research. However, this was not actually that much work, so at least in relation to English, students were able to have a fairly relaxing break.
Featured Image Source
David, G. [Digital image of colorful fall leaves]. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-leaves-change-colors-in-the-fall.