Sunday, April 24, 2011
Summing Up
If you are reading this, congratulations, you made it to the end of the semester. Now tell us what you learned, not just in this class mind you (though that is, of course a part of your learning experience) but in every part of your life, both in school and out. How have you grown, shrunk, changed, stayed the same? And, most of all, what lessons do you want to pass along to the rest of us. As usual, 250 word post up by Thursday night (4/28) and 100 word response up by Sunday night (5/1).
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What have I leaned this year? What a loaded question to be asking but like all curious cats, I’m interested in exploring this fascinating thing and hopefully not get addicted to catnip in the process. So I’m going to break this up into points and expand on them.
ReplyDeleteAnnotated Bibliography: Like longboards and Salt Life, I have never heard of Annotated Bibliography in my life except for this year. I wish I had learned this earlier with several 10+ page papers that needed extensive source analysis. So I will continue to bang my head on a desk for hours wasted relooking at sources that should have had an Annotated Bib.
Write less scientifically: To be honest this is my first English class since high school, as the other school I attended did not require students to take English to graduate. In fact that was one of their selling points, so the English department at WPI was so enthusiastic that I was taking an English course to fulfill my requirements they sent me a hand written note with the department head signature, congratulating me on being well rounded. To see what I was writing, my largest paper was haptic of robotic systems in telescopic surgery (the DaVinci robot if you are interested). The second largest was brake failure on commercially available disk brakes.
Not to drink during the school week: Ok so waking up in your car hunched over the steering wheel of your car, in a different county wondering what the hell happened the night previous is not a good idea. Tie that with, oh crap my paper is due today equals an even worse idea. Point being, less of sailing with the captain all night long equals a better success rate at school.
There are beautiful women at state schools: You have all made good choices in coming to USF. There are sooo many beautiful women at this school it makes all the other schools look like a sausage fest. Take advantage of this fact and say hello and comment on how well they look because if you ever go above the Mason Dixon line, it seems like they hibernate or avoid the outdoors like the plague.
School is a job: Take chances, and strive as hard as possible in each class. When I was writing my resume for jobs, it seems like I didn’t take the hard courses that I could have to really impress a potential employer. Tie that with a lower GPA and it becomes a real pain to stick out in the work force. So forgo underwater basket weaving 101 and take something to bolster your carrier goals. Also you have to be an apprentice to become a professional underwater basket weaver.
This semester in comp 2 I found myself really growing as a writer. Each project made me think more about writing than I have in all my previous years. It was a lot of work and I found myself really taking the extra step in my research and though process with the projects. I always thought of myself as a terrible writer and just write the first things that come to my head. Turns out its good enough to get by in college writing classes because as far as I am aware of I'm passing comp 2. One thing I loved about this class is how much freedom we have. I know that if I had a boring topic that my projects would be much worse. It is hard to do a project on something that I'm not interested in.
ReplyDeleteOutside of class has just been a lot of time spent dancing and volunteering. Dancing really has taken a big part of my life. Being a part of two teams really put a lot on my plate which taught me to always prioritize, and always know what you are capable of. It is healthy to challenge yourself but within reason. I learned last semester that I can't take online classes or 17 credit hour semesters. This semester I learned that I need to use all my time wisely. Two very important lessons that can help me in my next few years here at USF. It's really surprising how much you can learn about yourself in just one year.
I had to type this twice because blogger didn’t post my other one for some reason.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I remember my first day of College last semester like yesterday. It was a hectic day of making sure I was able to make it to all my classes and it was not enjoyable to say the least. It was very rough for the first semester. Making that transition from High School to College is definitely a big one or it was for me anyways. But it's like that with any major change in life. Right now I really can't believe that I am already pretty much done with my first year of College. It flew by so fast! People say that this is supposed to be the best time of your life and I am starting to see why they say that. School is so important in your everyday life and it shapes who you are as a person more than you know. Education is the one thing you will always have and no one will ever, EVER, be able to take that away from you. It is an experience I think, everyone should have in their life because it makes life just that much better.
College has taught me many things just in the first year. I learned to always do my homework and not just bullshit it like high school. Instead of procrastinating and waiting until the last minute to do my homework, I get the work done to the best of my ability to try to get the best grade possible. College is a full time job because the grades you get in College and the things you do will depict how well you do in the real world. If you don’t have a successful routine in College you will not succeed later on in your life.
I don’t really have much to say to my classmates about lessons but I can give some advice on how to be the best you can be every day. You can apply this to concept to everything you do every day which is the beauty of this style of thinking. The first thing you can do is always strive to be the best. You ALWAYS have to be motivated and willing to get everything done with a perfectionist outlook. Another is to set goals and strive to achieve them. This will help you later on in life. Make sure to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS think positively. Having a positive outlook on everything you do will help you avoid stress, plus you will enjoy life a lot more. Positive Thinking and Visualization is a very powerful technique used by many famous people.
Overall I enjoyed Comp II and thought it helped me become a better, more efficient writer.
So yeah, I had to type this twice. This draft isn’t as good as my first one was.
@Hubbacraft
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on an Annotated Bibliography. I remember in Comp I where I first found out about this style of bib and I thought it was going to be hell. Comp II is so much more enjoyable than Comp I in my opinion. As I said in my wall of text I also agree with you on how College is a full time job. You always have to strive to be the best and you have to put in lots of hours in school to get the grades and to make sure you have a good future and live the life you want to live. But it is like that with everything. To achieve anything and be the best you have to put long hours into your craft or whatever you are doing to achieve what you want. College is definitely not hard, or not as hard as people make it out to be. Just manage your time and get your work done and make sure you do GOOD work from the first time so you don't have to redo it later.
This has been a crazy semester and year in general. Looking back on this semester and year I really just feel old. As I approach my twentieth birthday and see myself well-established as a college student I feel like more of an adult than I have ever wanted to be. I have learned an incredible amount of information in this short 16 week semester and I am ready for a break. With new knowledge of writing and writing styles that we have learned about in this class, like the Rogerian argument, all kinds of difficult math in calc and taking anthropology (a subject I had no clue about) this semester has been packed with new information. However, this semester is quite easy compared to my physics, chem, and upper level calculus classes that loom in my future so I am pretty excited for this semester to end and to have a nice break this summer. Outside of school I have grown the most. I am about to finish this full school year while only seeing my girlfriend of two years for a couple of weeks all year and I am ready to return home and get back to normalcy. Now that I have set up my own apartment for next year and have lived entirely on my own for this whole year I feel more independent than ever. Life seems to be looking up and soon enough I will be settling into a job and getting my life together, which sounds a little scary, but is very exciting.
ReplyDelete@Brian- While I did not really mention this in my article I too feel that I have grown a lot in writing. Mr. Breckenridge's comments on the papers and assignment help tremendously because I found a lot of issues in my papers that I had never seen before. For example, redundancy was an issue that I had never noticed in my writing before, but by the end of the semester I was catching a lot of my own mistakes regarding that issue. Also, just as you have been involved a lot with your dance team I have been working a lot trying to make my way onto the baseball team next year. It is crazy how fast everything is going by but it is really exciting to see where it is taking us.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this semester a lot more than I did my previous semester. I liked my schedule and my classes a lot. I did a better job at balancing school and work, as well as my social life. There was less stress when it came to papers and test because I did a much better job at planning ahead. I spent more time studying and did not wait until the last minute. I think that I have grown a lot within the last years and especially the past few months. I have developed a lot more patience.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to our class, I really enjoyed the projects and found I had more interest in them than I expected. I put more thought into my writing. I also spent more time doing my research and only used credible source in my writing. I liked the last project the best. I choose something to become apart of that I truly cared about. The paper was easier to write because I had a passion for what I wrote about. It also inspired me to contribute to an organization that I enjoyed being helping previously. This project encouraged me to dedicate my time to something I care about.
My advice for students in their second semester of freshman year is do not let you mistakes define you. If your first semester did not go how you planned, change how the next one goes. I also would tell them that you get out of it, what you put in it. I wish them the best of luck and thank Mr. Breckenridge for a great experience.
Where to start. This semester was packed with experiences that one can only have their first year of college. Probably the most important thing I learned was that every student should check rate my professor.com before ever registering for a class. Probably my hardest lesson learned. Second, anyone can do anything with the proper motivation. Everyone has probably heard that before but it’s actually legitimately true. On my Navy Physical Readiness Test at the beginning of this semester I was a little ill and ran a ten minute mile and a half. On the midterm test I ran a nine fifty-six mile and a half. Improving down to about where I was before I was sick. For my final I had planned on doing my best and running a nine forty-four. As things turned out, I had my mentor, a Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal technician (right below bad ass level of the Navy SEALs) chasing me. I ran a nine twenty. Third, I would say this semester reinforced the overall life lesson that no matter what you expect to happen, a lot of the time something else is going to happen. Not necessarily in a bad way, but often, people don’t realize that they don’t have crystal balls or the ability to see into the future. No matter what you think, or expect, the majority of your life is probably going to leave you thinking “wtf who saw that one coming.” When you think you fail a test you do good, when you think you pass you fail. Life is full of surprises. You just have to roll with the bullets.
ReplyDeleteYAYYYYY!!! Sorry, I am excited that this semester is coming to a close. Also, this is the conclusion of my first year in college, and I must say that I have been rather pleased by the experience. Independence is not taught, it is learned, and that is one of the most important things I have learned and continue to learn since I have hit the college scene. It is one of those necessary skills that everyone thinks they have, but don’t actually learn it till they are out on their own. I have been pounding chemistry and math into my brain like no other class, and I have to say that I am sick of moles, but I do not think that they will be gone anytime soon. English comp class has been a trip for me. I never really enjoyed writing, especially because I am not very good at it, but I still persevered. I had Mr. Breckenridge’s class for two semesters in a row, and I am glad I did. I learned a lot from the class and I believe that he helped me develop my skills as a writer through his class. Another thing I have learned is that persistence is a main component in success. One must continue to push forward or else they will be left behind as others try harder and strive to be better than they already are. College so far has been a comprehensive learning experience, and it will continue to be one. I’m looking forward to what I will learn next.
ReplyDeleteThis semester in Comp. 2 has made me grow so much as a writer. The different project in this class helped me grow as well and I wrote most of this in the literacy narrative, but they expanded my horizon and helped me to think outside of the box. The Rogerian Argument was probably the most significant project for me because it helped me see that both sides of an argument can produce very reasonable and valid ideas. Taking a look at the opposition's ideas can even convert you over to their opinion. I also enjoyed Project 1 where we analyzed rhetoric because I never realized how important rhetoric can be in an argument. Especially pathos. If you provide a very good sense of pathos in an argument, you can grasp and audience and even convert some to your beliefs. This project taught me that rhetoric can be useful tools in your arsenal. Project 3 also taught me that if you write about something serious in our society, the next step to making a big difference on your topic is to go out and actually perform some type of community service project. All in all, this year in Comp. 2 taught me several ideas that can be very useful in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteWhat have I learned this semester? Well last semester I did not do too well in my Comp 1 class, I had a thought if I end up with a professor that I will enjoy I would do better in the course. I was right! This semester I had not missed one of my Comp 2 classes. I feel like I had more motivation and direction to how my paper is supposed to be. I learned that if you have an idea to take things outside the box, it is possible! I was able to put together a flashmob in two weeks. People could not believe that that entire event was a project for my Comp 2 class.I learned that it is best to do things ahead of time. I do believe I have changed and grown this semester, I feel like I'm becoming more involved and finally have an idea what I really want to do with my life. Sacrifices had to be made, but I know it will benefit me in the long run. I'm learning to take responsibility for myself and getting use to the idea that I'am on my own and even though there are people that will help me, in the end it all comes down to me. My only advice I would give to my class mates is just be organized, ask questions, do things ahead of time and most of all just have fun and enjoy the experiences and challenges you are facing. We are steps closer to discovering who we really are. Good luck on finals and have a great summer!!!!! :D
ReplyDelete@Dustin
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more about checking the rating of a professor prior to signing up. This was the first time using that site that you posted on your blog and it really helped. And as you pointed out it was a hard lesson learned with all the engineering courses already taken and failed. Looking back at the professors I took, I saw on the site that they were some of the worst that the campus had to offer. Its just too bad that students waste good money on a piss poor teacher. Also congratulations on running faster over the semester. In the Army, I have seen some real fat bodies that did not care at all and their pt test showed their effort towards the service. They will need leaders that demonstrate and set a good example for sailors in the future.
I had a pretty good time this semester. Last semester, I learned that working too much is a bad idea. This semester, I learned that making time for oneself is a brilliant idea. I also learned that I am horrible at philosophy.
ReplyDeleteThis semester definitely fly by faster than the last, and I'm grateful for that.
This class in particular was different than any other class I've ever taken. We got to watch youtube videos and discuss topics that aren't typically discussed in a classroom.
As for the actual work we've done in the class, the rogerian argument was my favourite, mainly because it was so drastically different than any paper I have ever written. I liked the philosophy behind it since I have always been taught to shoot down the opposing side as hard and quickly as possible. Considering the opposing side actually makes you seem more intelligent and educated about the issue at hand.
Overall, I enjoyed this semester more than the last. I learned more life-management skills and enjoyed my classes more.
The things that I have learned this semester? Wow, where to begin, well can I just say I learned a lot in the class not just about english but just a lot of different things in general. Starting the beginning of the year I was a little hesitant when it came to writing. I was not confident that I could write a good paper. Learning how to make annotations really helped with mapping out my papers. I never really used this writing technique until this year and it has opened my eyes to how to approach my topics. Then moving to project 2 I have never heard the word Rogerian before in my life. So that paper was a whole new thing for me but to be honest I enjoyed that paper the most. It has helped me understand the other side of the argument and be able to appeal to both sides. Most english classes I can just get by with a good grade and not have to work for it but this class was different. I really had to work and learn in order to keep a good grade in the class. Other than english there are some valuable lessons and things that I have learned. One of them being the 10 minute email! I never have heard of this but since that class I have used that for many different things.
ReplyDelete@Eric
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that your first year of college turned out well for you. I too an relieved if finally getting a break from all of my school work. I like how you said that "independence is taught, not learned". I couldn't agree with you more. When I came to college, I believed that I knew everything I needed to know and college was just going to be just a little bit more work. I was wrong. You are very lucky to have Mr.B for two semesters. I think things would have been a lot different for me if I had him for comp one. He was helped my writing a lot and actually made class enjoyable. Good luck with everything and have a great summer!!! (:
I have to say that contrary to my initial belief, this Composition class turned out to be very interesting. Since English is not my first language, I always have difficulties when trying to write essays. I think that I have grown as a writer, but more important I feel that my argumentative skills have increased significantly. My favorite thing about this class was doing Project 2. At first, I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but at the end I feel that I wrote a pretty good essay. I think that after this project I have become better at expressing my point of view since I now understand the importance of taking the opposing side into consideration. I have many other things during this semester, not necessarily from my classes, but from living life as a second-year college student. I have finally started to understand the importance of being on-time to classes. I was the kind of person to never to stress much about punctuality, but after missing a couple of quizzes for being late, I think this has changed. Also, I learned to not go out celebrating the night before the exam, even if the exam is in the afternoon and you now everything there is to now about the subject. Taking an exam after a long night of partying is something that I want to discourage everyone from doing. In conclusion, I want to say that this was a successful semester, and I am happy that I got through my second year of college.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the length, I guess, but I couldn't help myself
ReplyDeleteSometimes I can't help but think about how lucky I am to, well, think the way I do. I owe my want for knowledge and all of my rationality to my parents. They never forced me to church; they never gave me ultimata; they did not get angry with me when I told them I'm an atheist and a socialist. My parents would always, and will always, fuel my insatiable curiosity, and the development of my own ideals. In fact, I know they were the ones who instilled in me this never-ending quest for knowledge, for the understanding of how things work and why things work the way they do. And I thank them.
When one considers the scope of reality; or more precisely, of the universe, it's almost silly to think in such constricted terms. By constricted I mean: religiously or nationally (as in, only about one's country). I don't know if numbers have the same effect on people as they do with me (obviously, I know certain people think like me), but I'm going to throw some numbers at you:
-The average height of a human is 1.7 meters
-One kilometer is equal to 1000 meters
-The tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, is 0.828 kilometers tall
-The height of Mt. Everest is roughly 9 kilometers
-The average distance between the two coasts of the United States is 4 828.032 kilometers
-The Great Wall of China is 8 851.8 kilometers long
-The diameter of the Earth, our home planet, is 12 756.2 kilometers
-The diameter of Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet, is 142 984 kilometers
-The diameter of our sun is 1 391 000 kilometers
-The distance between the Earth and our sun is 149 597 870.691 kilometers
-The distance between the Earth and our sun can also be denoted as 1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
-If measured by the aphelion of the farthest acknowledged planet, Neptune, the diameter of the Solar System is approximately 60.763 AU's, or 9 090 000 000 kilometers
-The distance between Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the sun, is 271 000 AU's, or
39 900 000 000 000 kilometers
-The speed of light is 299 792 458 meters per second
-One light-year, or the distance that light travels over the course of one Earth year (approx. 365 days) at 299 792 458 meters per second, is 9 460 730 472 580.8 kilometers
-The distance between Proxima Centauri and our sun in roughly 4.21 light years
-There are roughly 200 billion stars in our galaxy
-The diameter of the Milky Way, our home Galaxy, is 100 000 light years
-The radius of the Local Group, a group of about 10 galaxies, including the Milky Way is 3 000 000 light years
-The radius of one typical galactic cluster, containing roughly 100-1000 galaxies 10 000 000 light years
-The radius of one typical supercluster of galaxies, containing 3-10 clusters, is 100 000 000 light years
-The distance to the farthest observable galaxies is 5 000 000 000 light years
-The size of the observable universe is 14 000 000 000 light years
-The average height of a human is 1.7 meters
So what can you glean from these insanely large numbers? The universe, our reality, is fucking enormous, (so unbelievably enormous, that, well, it's unbelievable) and we, a civilization of hyper-evolved primates, are very small and rather insignificant. But we are special in that we have evolved these complex structures we call brains that let us experience and understand this reality, and I can guarantee you that if the stars from which we came could realize that we have the ability to understand them, then they would be jealous. However, with this ability there comes a curse, and that curse is, in my opinion, religion.
But first, just look around you. Look at your hands and the walls and the computer screen (really look at it), and the food you eat, and your shoes, and your money, and your friends and everything that you have ever come into contact with at some point in your life. All of those things are made of the same things you are made of: atoms, which are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, which are made of quarks. You are the universe; every particle in your body was created at a single point in time, 14.7 billion years ago. You are 14.7 billion years old. If you think like me, then this should make you shiver and make you feel special... Believing in the big bang theory is not hard. It doesn't require training like religion does; it doesn't require brainwashing; it doesn't require making our children slaves to an invisible non-existent man in the sky; it doesn't require lying... It just requires a little bit of curiosity, respect for the natural world, and an open mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the fear that people in Galileo's time must have felt, not only of hell, but also of the Church's sovereign powers over their thoughts, I get goose bumps; I literally shiver. To have this organization of hypocritical, filthy rich pigs in king's robes dictate and mandate every aspect of their poor lives seems absolutely intolerable to me. And when I think of the capacity that the religious majority in this country has to repress the rights of its people, and I, again, get goose bumps. The founders of the United States realized that there is no place for religion in government, and I like to think that they also saw no place for religion in the modern world.
Religion works very simply: from a very young age, children are instilled with an overwhelming fear of a place that will punish them if they don't do exactly as they are told. First, they are told to love and fear (at the same time) an invisible, all knowing, all powerful, all seeing, all perfect being that lives in the sky that they will never see, and who watches every single thing they do. He loves them unconditionally, and he gave them free will, but if they do anything he says is forbidden, they will suffer for infinity. Second, they are told that their very existence makes then guilty because of the original sin, conception, and that they must live piously and without sin in order for their original sin to be forgiven (or something along those lines). This concept of "original sin" is the most evil, heinous, terrible lie EVER told to anyone. It makes a person feel inferior, guilty for something they didn't... even... do. And after those two steps are completed, religion is in their heads, and it uses the concept of a devil (an entity that permeates everything considered sin, everything that you are NOT supposed to do, everything that is not "holy", an entity that tempts a person to think for themselves and develop ideals) very deliberately to con the kids into believing that the only path to salvation lies in the hands of God... in the hands of the priests and church. In other words, children are their slaves because only the church can save them. Yet... this is not so.
All you have to do is look up at the stars. All you have to do is look away from religious scripture ("trying to back a religious argument with the use of a "holy" book is like trying to prove the existence of Hogwarts by reading Harry Potter" - YouTube comment) and look up "the big bang" on your computer. All you have to do is open your mind to the trillion possibilities and answers that science and history offer. But that, in a way, is much harder than comprehending the vast numbers that describe the universe. Opening your mind requires you to accept the fact that things exist as they are, and not as you'd like them to. Opening your mind requires you to accept the fact that not everything can be so readily answered and understood, and that saying "I don't know" is perfectly fucking okay. If you can do that, in my eyes, you are saved.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that if God does exist, and I'm fairly certain that he doesn't, then he/she/it created whatever the universe is in order for it to be understood. To me, he/she/it wants you to be free, to have free thoughts, to exist without the disability of fear, to live without any restriction on reason. What's the point of creating nebulae, stars, supernovae, black holes, planets, life, asteroids, solar systems, etc. if not to be understood, marveled at, appreciated? What's the point of God giving you a brain with the capability for higher thought if not to use it? I think the biggest sin of all, if there is such a thing as sin, is to ignore the beauty and mystery of the cosmos and to fail to use your mind. But that's just my opinion. After all, doesn't God think the way you do? Doesn't God hate gays if you do? Doesn't God hate Muslims and Jews if you do?
I wonder why we're so afraid to discover the true answers. I wonder why we're so afraid to wake up from the coma we've been stuck in for nearly 2 000 years. I wonder why we are slaves to confirmation bias. Some people say that living without a God is depressing, that you feel alone and meaningless. But that's where the beauty lies: if we are born without a meaning or a purpose, a tabula rosa, then we can create our own, and live our lives as we desire.
I can’t ever say that in any point in my life I have been religious; I have never believed in the supernatural or in anything else than what is here in the physical world. What I can say, though, is that my first two semesters of college have provided for me an intellectual enlightenment. I’ve learned that, although humans suck sometimes, the weight of a human life outweighs the heaviest element. I’ve also learned that there is a heaven, and we are on it for only a fleeting moment; this ball of rock covered in water, hurtling through space, is the only thing we really have. And we can attain heaven, but it won’t be easy and it will take time and effort. We have so much time to reach that goal. Our biggest challenge is not finding an alternative resource, or reverting the damage we’ve done, no… The biggest challenge is overcoming the animal inside of us; the animal that drives us to become territorial, to rape our planet and device these ridiculous economic systems where only the privileged can succeed, to breed beyond the Earth’s capacity to sustain us, our insatiable greed, our hatred and fear of those who different from us, our propensity to wage war and destroy all the beautiful things on this planet.
ReplyDeleteThis is my lesson, in a way. Everything I’ve written above is not meant to change anyone’s ideals or beliefs, it is not meant to convince them that God does not exist. Rather, what I encourage is curiosity, education, acceptance, love, and happiness, and I believe that the only way to reach those things is through opening the mind to the beauty and simplicity of human life and the universe.
Thank you, philhellenes, for inspiring me
http://www.youtube.com/user/philhellenes
This semester was not much different than my previous semester. I had the same balance of credits and the same type of classes. The biggest thing I was able to do more successfully this semester is organize my time between friends and school work. I was a little less stressed this semester than I was last semester, mostly because of the pressure to do well in my first semester of college. This semester I took an online class which was cool but I kept forgetting about it so now I know this is something that I will need to work on for next semester as I am taking another online class. This composition class was far more enjoyable that my previous one making me realize that it is not a myth about a teacher making a class. This now makes me more conscious when picking classes as to try and get a professor with a good reputation. I was pretty pleased with my semester as a whole. Most of my learning was done last semester seeing as that was my first semester in college and I was still getting adjusted not only to the living change but also to the workload. Everyone grows as they go through life but as far as any significant changes that have happened this semester there really is none inside of school or out. I will say one thing that has changed is that I’m a little more involved with USF activities but other than that things are still great.
ReplyDelete@eric
ReplyDeleteIndependence is a big thing that I forgot to mention. I have learned to be less dependent on my parents. I am taken care of in every sense of the word, people are shocked to know that I have never had a job nor have I ever gone out to look for one or even apply for one. My parents have this thing that they don’t believe students should work. I learned just how dependent I was when I moved four hours away and couldn’t go home whenever I wanted. I’m still dependent on them of course but I don’t have the comfort of my mom right beside me whenever I want. I have learned to more depend on myself and I’m excited to continue my journey of independence.
This semester in ENC 1102, I was able to grow even more as a writer. By completing the projects I was able to learn different ways to evaluate things using ethos, pathos, logos, kairos. Before the class I did not bother to look out for how the author of an article uses them, nor did I know what they even meant. I also learned what a rogerian argument was and that you should always try include your opposing side’s argument, and how theirs may be right to them, but why you think your side is right. Well for outside the class room, I have learned many things. I am going to try and avoid getting a early morning class (before 10)no matter what ratemyprofessor says on the instructor and the ease of class, because I have insomnia and cannot go to sleep early (hence posting this at 3 am)and wake up. I have also learned that if you give me $10,000 to invest in the stock market I can make $350 in a month where my friend can make $2,000, therefore I won’t start investing real money anytime soon. Also I learned that it is very easy to get lazy when you have three classes and you should find ways to be productive, besides sitting in your room all day sleeping, going to class, watching tv, or playing video games (examples of me wasting time and not being productive at mid-point of semester). Pretty much I’m happy with my first year in college being done and over with and can’t wait to have a real summer, considering I came here for Summer B last year, but I know I can’t wait to be back in the fall.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this semester a lot more than the first because I got to choose the classes that I wanted to take and because I put all the things that I had learned during the fall semester to test. I was able to manage my time a lot more wisely than before so that I was able to maintain a full time job, a good social life and still do well in all of my classes. In addition, I feel as though this semester was a lot less stressful than the first because I would actually study every night and would try not to miss any of my classes so when the tests came I did not have to cram everything in at the last minute and just hope for a good grade. As far as this class goes I can honestly say that I have improved myself as a writer because I learned how to correctly research on a topic and how to better your argument by taking into consideration the opposing side of an argument. My advice to students entering their first and second semester of college is to try and develop very good time management skills so that you will be able to enjoy the college life and not be stressed all the time like a lot of people seem to be during the last weeks of the semester. The better time management skills that you develop the more fun that you will be able to have.
ReplyDelete@Ed
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree with you anymore. College is like a new planet compared to high school. I learned all my lessons about procrastinating and bs’ing homework early on last semester. I also cannot agree anymore on your outlook toward motivation. It takes self-sacrifice, and discipline to really motivate an individual to succeed above and beyond. Unfortunately most people do not realize that employers are asking for more than just degrees now days. They want to see your gpa, know what you did, it’s almost like applying for college all over again. The first semester went ridiculously fast but it’s only the beginning.
This semester I learned a lot of things. Not just from my classes but from people, how the school functions, and different parts of Tampa. Honestly I did not learn much from my classes because all I did was do work and I did not absorb any knowledge. As for composition two, I have been writing papers the same way that I have been writing last semester and I honestly did not learn a lot of new things. As for my other classes, I Christmas tree the tests and quizzes but my homework and class participation make up for my grade. I also got to know more people this semester from the oriental clubs that I have been participating in. I learned how I should try to change my ways on trusting people and how to be not so naive of things because I am a freshman. I have also been exploring different places on campus and it gave me a better tour of the campus this semester. I also got to travel around Tampa more with my car. I have been to Ybor, Channelside, St. Petersburg, the International Mall, and I traveled to Orlando by myself for the first time. So many new things happened this semester and it was really fun. I believe that I have grown because I always thought of myself as a little kid until I had to live away from home for a very long time, do chores on my chores by myself, and I have so many responsibilities. I believe this was a great semester.
ReplyDeleteI hate that the discussion board has not been working, is it just with me or with others as well?
ReplyDeleteRespond:
@Carlos, I am not willing to read all your posts, because it way too long. LOL
I can truly say that I enjoyed this semester much more than the first, because this time around it seems as if I kind of know what I’m doing, unlike the first semester when I was so lost with everything that is going on around me. I can also say that I’m starting to learn from my mistakes. Because I’m starting to avoid things that I did last semester that caused me to not do so well on some classes. It definitely is great to start of good, because its hard to try and raise your GPA when you started low. But always do your best because it will pay off in the end. This isn’t high school anymore, what we do actually counts now. =)
So I kept trying, and I was able to make a respond. Here is my original post, that I've been trying for days to upload:
ReplyDeleteNow that this semester is coming to its end, I’ll be the one to say that my way of writing has changed in so many ways. From project one to project three, one lesson learned after the other, I can truly say that I have improved as a writer from when I started. Many of us in class started off as great writers, but I always doubted myself when it comes to writing. I honestly think that I am the worst writer in the world when it comes to essays. However, after experiencing the process of doing projects one to three I not only became aware of the things around me, but I also became a better writer. I loved learning how to use kairos, logos, ethos, and pathos, in analyzing our sources, how to create an intelligent argument by understanding the opposite side, and standing up for a cause in the society. Moreover, the part that I loved most about the class was learning how to sound more intelligent in a debate by being respectful of the other’s point of view. I feel that what I had learned from that project is something that I can apply everyday. I’ve changed as an individual by growing up, and learning how to live on my own. I got my first job, and now I’ve grown to take responsibility. This semester, I did better on my school work, and I hope to continue on with good grades the rest of my years in college.
@Hubbacraft Sounds like an intense semester for you bud. A lot of these lessons are typical things that we should know but the way you tell them are just so funny and make them much more entertaining. I feel the same way about all these two. Especially the one about the ladies. I couldn't agree more! That and school being a job. We have to treat it like that or we will fall behind. It is the last stand of education we have until we are in the real world working on our own paying our own bills and whatnot. As nice as it is to enjoy our last bits of freedom before the real world slaps us in the face. I look at it as a preview and preparation for our lives.
ReplyDelete@ Ttroyer:
ReplyDeleteI know exactly where you're coming from. It's been a long time since I left what seemed like it would never end (public school), and now my first year of school is done. Forcing us to take a wide range of subjects for our General Education Requirements makes us learn things that we have never even thought of before, especially if one finds their academic niche early in life. But physicist, engineers, doctors, and anthropologists (to name a few random professions) all get their start somewhere. I don't particularly feel old (and I don't think I ever will), but are all only forced to grow older, not grow up.
@Astrid,
ReplyDeleteMaking time for oneself is definitely a brilliant idea. I need to try that out now that classes are finally over with.
The rogerian argument was also my favorite part of this class. It's sooo much better than shooting down the opposing side in order to make your argument seem better, which I never enjoyed doing anyways. When my friends argue, for example, I always try to take both sides, or at least weigh out the best of both sides, which usually works out great. It's too bad we just learned about the rogerian argument, otherwise I would have used it for every argumentative paper prior to project 2.
@Hubbard – yeah, USF has a lot of very attractive women; it’s a little overwhelming sometimes. I think the ratio is like three women for every man. I think I can agree with not drinking over the school week, though. Going to class hung-over is probably the worst feeling ever, especially if you have to wake up early. You can’t be more right in saying that school is a job; if you don’t take it seriously, shit goes down the drain pretty quick. I try to get to every class and do all my homework even if it kills me to do it.
ReplyDelete@vman954: I have also grown as a writer and I like Composition. I thought I would hate it because all my life I have hated Comp. I have learned to like this class and enjoy the papers we wrote. They were fun and not hard like they were in high school. There was obviously a lot of work to the papers, but it was worth it and now I am here doing better than I was in high school. I am also excited to come back in the fall just like you.
ReplyDelete@Astrid
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, this semester definitely flew by a lot fast than last semester. I think that the reason for that was because for people like myself were barely getting used to the college life and trying to find time to do things but once we came into the second semester we had a lot of that stuff figured out so it made it seem as though the semester went by quick because it was a lot easier and enjoyable than the last. I also agree with you that working too much is in fact a bad Idea because it leaves you with less time to focus on school and study.
@Everyone
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts and fun facts are the main topic of this discussion, and I love it. What is more important in live than the little things. Being a vault useless knowledge is fun and exciting, (Carlos) and it just shows how much information can actually be obtained. As ever though, not just college, but life is a learning experience. As I have read though people’s posts, college has taught everyone something different and useful that pertains to each individual’s life. And to that I say, thank you college for being so accurate and teaching what we want to learn. To everyone, have a good summer and it has been fun being in Mr. B’s class with all of you.
@TTroyer
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about moving forward in life. This year has been a wake up call on how fast my life is changing. Getting jobs, my own place, and so many other responsibilities are starting to come down on me and its time to step up and take care of all of them as a man. I agree this year has been a crazy one and this year has taught me a lot that I know I will use in the near future. I am glad that I took this class because it was way better than Comp I and made me learn a lot about who I am as a person.