Last summer, my big project was improving my fluency in reading Spanish. I had just decided to be a Spanish major, but I knew my still-developing speed and comprehension skills would be a problem when taking upper-level courses. To prepare myself for fast-paced literature courses in Spanish, I read every day and ended up finishing many novels.
I improved greatly by the time September rolled around, but to my chagrin, though I felt the beneficial effects of my improvement at the mechanics of reading, I found there to be more to a Spanish literature class than understanding all of the sentences. Spanish 220 threw me into the deep end of thinking about literature and actively forming insights, rather than letting myself passively accept the plot as I read.
This class challenged me to understand works on a level I had never worked in before. Though it was difficult at first, I learned to lean on classmates and gradually learn from their more experienced insights, hopefully developing some of my own by following their example. This goal was facilitated by the structure of the class, which included student presentations on various literary theories and frames of analysis. Because every member of the class became an expert in one tool used for literary analysis, it was very rewarding to work in small groups. I learned from my classmates in concrete ways that led me to be more successful in discussions and papers: for example, I can’t count the number of times I felt my own thoughts echoing those of the students who presented on el criollismo, el mestizaje, or los raros. The different ways of thinking that everybody brought to the table all combined in a pleasant and discordant stew (something that I know a little bit about—my topic was la heterogeneidad), and I was able to use this stew to my advantage by forming a standpoint while reading that is reflective of all the different ways my classmates have influenced me. I find that even today, I learn much more from others’ experiences that come through when we discuss readings than I do from any amount of analysis I could do on my own.