Throughout the course of the Individual and Society FIQWS with Professor Weyn we went through a multitude of information regarding children’s development along with having the perspective of a children’s book writer by writing out own book as well as fairytale. Moreover, along with having the chance to complete all this, the class was able to have the chance to meet very well-known authors like Nancy E. Krulik, Pamela L. Laskin, and a few others.  

The first major assignment of this class was the creation of a children’s book. This took a good month to first understand how a child’s mind works and develops, which all occurs through Piaget’s stages of child development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. From here we were tasked to choose which stage to focus our children’s book on. I chose the preoperational stage. Once I was writing my children’s book, I was able to understand to a certain degree how an actual professional children’s book writer felt. There was a lot of pressure and much to think about while writing. Like whom would the audience be, what should the main character focus on, etc. It really makes you try to put yourself in a kid’s shoes to truly understand what they are interested in. Not only that but the scenery should also be described to the illustrator so that he may draw proper images that go along with what is being said whether it be dialogue or narration. It was a very fun and enlightening assignment to complete.  

The second major assignment of this class was the creation of a fairytale. After much revision of fairytale culture and reviewing fairytales from different parts of the world. Professor Weyn tasked us to write out our own fairytale. I was shocked because of how difficult it seemed but it was way simpler than I imagined. A fairytale composed of a happy ending, magical thinking, magical characters, a protagonist, along with an antagonist, and just all in all a good story. When looking back at previous popular fairytales we think about Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and many others. However, the least common ones which we believe are just regular books are also fairytales including Hansel and Gretel, The gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs. When looking at these fairytales it makes the thought of constructing one simpler because these are much shorter and very easy to pick out important information from. While I was writing my fairytale, I based it off on a gym experience. It was very interesting as well as difficult, including character development for each character, so I was able to understand the sacrifices that a writer also had to make here and there. This assignment was very illuminating for the average essay writer. It was a step out of my comfort zone since I have never completed anything like this.  

Overall Professor Weyns section of FIQWS was very knowledgeable and fun to be in. I am sad as I walk away from this class because of how much I learned from just a specific topic which I believed had no history.