Curiosity
– the desire to know more about the world
Salam's article "What Is Toxic Masculinity?" changes my original thought about masculinity because I have never thought about masculinity's disadvantages. Thus, after reading this article, I am more willing to learn about masculinity, and I will more seriously observe people's masculinity.
Openness
– the willingness to consider new ways of being and thinking in the world
I knew that there are many advertisements, including pornographic or revealing content, but I didn't recognize that almost all of these advertisements' protagonists are women. After watching the video Killing Us Softly 4 made by Jean Kilbourne, I found the world's unfairness towards women. Every time I see this advertisement type in the future, I will think of the world's malicious nature towards women.
Engagement
– a sense of investment and involvement in learning
"Looking into the Magic Mirror," written by Haas & Trapedo, touches me a lot. I really understand how Disney films influence little girls since I used to decorate my room to look like a princess's castle.
Creativity
– the ability to use novel approaches for generating, investigating, and representing ideas
Unlike other courses I have taken before, I need to watch videos, movies, and advertisements in this class. All these forms are really innovative to me. Thus, through the first three weeks, I learn how to gather information from several ways and transfer them into my own thoughts.
Persistence
– the ability to sustain interest in and attention to short- and long-term projects
"Looking into the Magic Mirror" greatly improved my persistence since this article is really long. I have to sit in front of the desk for a few hours to annotate the whole article because I prefer to finish the assignment at one time.
Flexibility
– the ability to adapt to situations, expectations, or demands
Every assignment in this class obviously improves my flexibility. Since there are always many requirements in just one assignment, I have to read carefully and keep my essays meeting the requirements.
Responsibility
– the ability to take ownership of one’s actions and understand the consequences of those actions for oneself and others
I have not improved my responsibility habit yet, but I'd like to try it in the future. For improving this, I need to keep every assignment avoiding absolute words rigorously.
Metacognition (reflection)
– the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes used to structure knowledge
Every exploratory writing in this class helps me to improve this habit very well. Because the most important part of this assignment is making connections between the article and my own thoughts and then writing a reflection about it, to finish this assignment seriously, I need to think about my life or culture to obtain more related ideas.
I like your web design so much, Gloria! I like your comments about curiosity and openness, I wrote similar comments after watching Kilbourne's research findings. I became more open to accepting different perspectives on advertisements that show female bodies.
Hi, Gloria! I feel the same improvedment on curiosity with you. Everytime we read an article or watch a film in this class, They make me more eager to learn more about them.