Reflection

First Year Seminar 
Going into this seminar, I knew very little about Grimm and their tales. I also knew very little about college in general. I thought that this course wasn't supposed to help me improve my college life, but it has. I have not only learned about fairy tales, I can now teach them to younger children, write college level essays, and analyze textual data.

Service Learning Project
This was one of my favorite service projects that I have done. The students were excited to learn and stayed engaged the entire time we were given to spend with them. It was interesting sharing the more "kid-friendly" aspects of The Brave Little Tailor. I enjoyed the opportunity to teach and share what I had learn to show that I understand the content given and learned in class.




Fairy Tales
At the beginning of the course, I knew the generals of Grimm fairy tales. I didn't know the brothers' history or why they collected the tales. I also didn't know there were different variations of the German tales. I knew the variations from culture to culture, but not variations within each.

 Symbolism in the tales also came as a surprise. Fairy tales are used as teaching tools with underlying meanings and symbolism so that children listen to their parents or eventually follow their "designated gender roles". Psychology also plays a role in these tales and I never even considered that. I enjoy learning about psychology, so this correlation made learning this content even more enjoyable.