FINAL BLOG

I must say I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this course. Going into the class I was expecting papers every week and a much more rigorous curricula than what we actually ended up doing. I have always known that math and science are my strong points in school but I really enjoyed a few of the assignments and papers we wrote in 103 this year. My favorite assignment was the first major paper, the visual rhetoric assignment. I really liked how we were allowed to choose our visual because it made it so much easier to interpret and write about since it was something I found comical. I felt the same way about the research paper. Having such a broad prompt really enabled me to brainstorm multiple ideas and topics I was interested in and wanted to learn more about.

I was going to start this paragraph by talking about this semester's English "lectures". But then I realized, lecture in this case, really isn't the right word. Everyday when I went to English class I knew I could expect guidance and knowledge on whatever we were working on, sprinkled with Ms. B humor. Your "lectures" felt more like individualized discussions because of the small class size and relationship with students in the classroom. The atmosphere present in the classroom was the main reason I enjoyed the course so much.

One thing that really helped me that you did was give us personalized and detailed feedback on our work. I always took your opinions in highest consideration because your opinion is the only one that affected my grade. My grade in the class is definitely largely attributed to your input and feedback on my writing. There was one point I felt like I was really lacking a little bit of Ms. B opinion and consequently I ended up getting a worse grade than the paper with your feedback. I also really appreciated your understanding and ability to work with my numerous absences. It wasn't really anything in my control so I really respected your leniency with make-up work and other assignments.

That leads me to my last and final point. I understand how you might have been frustrated with your other class for 'bs' ing their rough draft for their research paper, but it really wasn't fair to take it out on those of us that gave an honest effort. I think you said something along the lines of "if you don't give me effort, I won't give it back." I know this may have been the case for many of your students, but I know that I did put in an honest effort, was at the required word count and was really looking forward to your feedback as to how I could improve my final. Instead I had to go to a writing mentor which ended up being a very poor replacement. Overall, taking this course really allowed me to expand as a writer and develop skills for use later in my college experience.