Thoughts on Class Session 4/18

So, class started and the professor asked us how the weekend was and if anyone did anything fun. After a few responses from the class, he had an activity for us. The professor told us that we had to organize the seating arrangement of the class by birthdays. I was like, oh wow, thats interesting. January birthdays started in the front and the rest of the months snaked through the rows all the way to the back which would be December. So being that I'm August, I knew that I definitely wouldn't be in the front row. Once the professor started this exercise, we all quickly got up and some of my classmates started yelling out months and those that were near each other were asking for birthday information. So the front row was finished within a minute or two and the second row started up, I noticed the months quickly jumped to July and before I knew it, I was in my seat. I assumed I was the only August but then another male student came up to me and asked what my birthday was and after finding out what is was, I moved over one seat since his birthday was 2 days before mine. Since im into zodiac signs and what not, I thought it would have been interesting to get into that subject, but the professor did ask some students what their sign was. Some people weren't sure which sign they were which made me OMG inside. I think its important to know what sign you are because it can help in all kind of situations. You can use it as an ice breaker topic or to make friends or find a partner who are compatible but more importantly for understanding yourself and why you are you. Im totally not trying to push this on anyone, but if you have an iPhone, I highly recommend you download this app called Horoscopes. I think its interesting so just wanted to share. Back to the exercise... so, the exercise was completed within 3 minutes if not shorter. There was much more progress than a similar exercise we had which was to sit in alphabetical order. I did notice though that after we finished the exercise, almost the whole back row was empty and realized that the class was a lot lighter than usual so that also played with the time factor of this activity.

The professor than started talking about story and the elements of a story. He had another activity for the class which was to pick 2 objects that each person had on them and to create a story out of these objects. He broke everyone up into 5 groups and he gave us 10 minutes to come up with an interesting story. I was grouped with two males and one female. Once the class activity begun, we immediately placed items on the table and grouped them together. Then we started discussing each item and what its purpose was going to be in the story. We started with a purple wireless mouse and then went from there. While we were talking about this story of ours, I couldn't help but wonder how amazing and silly this was, it was very entertaining for sure. So, once our story was complete we went through it to make sure it was ok. The story started with a mouse that lived within a labyrinth and was trying to find a way out. This mouse had a trustful guide which was represented by my iphone, earphones which represented a mp3 player that the mouse would use to listen to music, pair of scissors that would be his weapon, and so this mouse headed on its way for freedom. Along the way he comes across an enchanted forest which was represented by a tangerine. While temptation was strong, the guide directs the mouse to leave the forest and to carry onto his journey. Finally the mouse reaches a key which will unlock the door to freedom but it is guarded by a water monster represented by a water bottle. The mouse knows that this water boss isn't going to give the key up easily so he first offers a Red Robin gift card, but the water boss doesn't like Red Robin so then the mouse slashes the water boss and all the water spills out and the mouse is able to grab the key. Once the mouse opens the door, he finds himself in yet another labyrinth and looks up to see a scientist writing on a clip board.... I thought our story was hilarious and engaging. I noticed that all the other groups used their objects as such, but we used them as if they were the characters of the story themselves. It was great. I think everyone did an amazing job though for the time we had.

Then, the class looked at everyone's homework assignment which was to come up with a word or phrase and to find 10 images that changed the meaning of the phrase. It was interesting to see what people came up with but I noticed that within each assignment, there was a phrase and then a theme within the photos. I thought that was what it was about, but it wasn't. After going through them, the professor asked us if we thought there were any that changed the meaning every time with each image. No one said anything. Then one male student said he thought he had at least 5 images, but after the professor went through them, he only found about 3 or 4. He allowed us to redo it which will be for next monday's class meeting. I have to say that this assignment is really tough. How can you take a phrase and change it 10 times if not more? I think I have at least 3 images that change the meaning of my phrase but I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe there is something I or the class is not seeing yet that the professor is trying to get us to see? Either way, this was my favorite class session thus far.