My personal reflection

Overall, I think that this semester is a great journey. I have learnt a lot from Prof. Jayakaran on how to teach writing in interesting and meaningful ways. He taught us the differences between writing as process and product and he demonstrated those methods to us by conducting them during learning hours. Besides, he also taught us the process of writing a poem. I really like the way Prof Jaya taught us and he reminds me to Aamir Khan, an inspired teacher who teaches a dyslexic boy in a very wonderful way.

Prof. Jaya is the first teacher who succeeds to make me feel comfortable and confident in writing poems in English. Sincerely I praise him from the bottom of my heart. Before this I was nervous and unconfident in writing poem in English because my teachers tended to demotivate me if there is any grammar mistake or disorganised poem structure. So, I tried to avoid from writing poem in English.     

Writing poem is a wonderful way to jumpstart students’ creativity and improve their writing skills. As a future teacher, I do not want my students to feel afraid to write poetry in English like I did once upon a time. I want them to enjoy writing and play around with their creative imaginations so that they can produce a lot of amazing poems. Prof. Jaya has taught us that simple poems sometimes can give bigger impact compared to complex and complicated ones. It means that someone is not necessarily use bombastic words and terms in inventing a poem. It is just enough for us to use simple words to touch a man’s heart. So, I will make it easy for my students to write poetry in English.  

As I have created my own poems, I realise something about poetry. For me, poetry is speedy. On average, once the words start to flow, it takes me about an hour to come up with a reasonably polished first draft – about the same time I spent on a this journal.

Poetry is a good way of catching ideas on the fly. Most of my poetic inspiration comes from immediate experience. There’s usually an “ah hah!” moment when I think “this would make a good poem.” If I’ve got a journal handy, I jot down a few preliminary phrases and ideas. This isn’t always possible, though. When I was wandering around panorama at Serumpun lake, the wavy water conditions inspired me to think, “This would be a good post in my Facebook. No, on second thought, it would be better as a poem.” It wasn’t until later, when I was on the road in my old car, that I had a chance to capture the ideas on paper.

Poetry is a wonderful way of processing our emotions. I started to write poems when I was depressed and discouraged about my life, my study, my relationship. Exploring my feelings through poetry became a vital way of coping with my depression. For many, poetry has been literally life-saving.

Poetry is highly subjective, and hardly anyone knows what makes a good poem. It’s a lot like the cliché about visual art, “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.” That’s how most people react to poetry.

Poetry is great for getting immediate feedback and applause. No matter where you live, there’s likely to be at least one poetry open mic near you. Many of my poems have been precipitated by the knowledge that there’s an open reading that night and I really ought to bring something new. Most poetry audiences are supportive and enthusiastic no matter what I read.

Poetry is highly compatible with computers. I do my best writing in Microsoft word, editing as I go. Some poets prefer longhand, but I love the flexibility of diving in with the first phrase that comes to mind, then playing around with the words on the screen.

Poetry is a good way to hone my literary skills in other genres. In poetry, every word counts. Part of the process lies in finding the best possible way to communicate our ideas in the fewest possible words, rooting out the clichés and discovering the most powerful images possible. The habit of writing this way carries over into other genres.

Writing has always been one of my strengths, but I have never realised it even during my school time. There was no encouragement from my former teachers to produce creative writing until I went to Higher Institution level.  Moving past this form, however, has greatly opened my mind. My thoughts are now able to be more complex because I have learned how to sustain creative thought in an organised manner. My writing has become increasingly more concise and I no longer have room for added "fluff" or "padding." Furthermore, learning how to find peer reviewed poetry and frightening story through the full schedule has significantly widened my ability, which has lead to more productive story and poetry writing. My writing is so much more interesting than it used to be.

It is difficult to identify gaps in my knowledge as an English major, only because I feel like I have learned so much. I feel that I have largely expanded my literary analysis and writing skills, but I need to be prepared to teach high school students their required literature and writing skills. I think it would be useful to identify commonly taught poetry in our local high schools and study them myself. By studying the required literature and thinking about how to teach it, I will have a sturdy foundation to work from once I am in the classroom.

I came to this university already knowing that I wanted to be an English teacher; I had taken numerous English courses and though I knew exactly what I was headed for-was I ever wrong. Going through the English program has taught me so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me how to be me. I have learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don't know. Most importantly I have learned how important literature and language are.

The English courses also taught me how powerful the written word and language can be. Words tell so much more than a story. Stories tell about life and the human condition, they bring up the past and people and cultures that are long gone. Literature teaches about the self and the world surrounding the self. From Prof. Jaya’s class, I learnt about the world, its people and its history; through literature I learned how we as humans are all related. By writing about what we learn and/or what we believe, we are learning how to express ourselves.

I have improved my writing skills, my ability to critically evaluate my friends of their poems and frightening story, my time management skills (to some extent), and certainly broadened my view of others opinions. I have encountered issues which forced me to listen to people's views even though I disagreed with them, and accepted that there would not always be consensus in all things. I have improved my creative thinking skills to some extent, and hope to continue that trend.

As the last sentence, I would like to thank Prof. Jaya for his guidance and advices as well as his real life jokes during learning periods which make me alive. I mean, he makes my brain alive to think freely. He makes me to be a good thinker, a free thinker who is brave enough to come out with my own ideas. Every human being is precious so as his/her ideas. So, I should appreciate my own ideas.