When one door closes another one opens. Often, the door that closes lead to the new door opened. This class has opened the door to broader learning and understanding of our complex language of English. English is such a complex yet common subject. It is the basis of all our communications, in America anyways. There are many rules that must be followed and it requires much skill to do properly but it is also an art form. To be able to write creatively its a beautiful thing; It can be freeing and awakening of the spirit. Writing is a powerful tool that in this class we have be able to cultivate.
The formal writing assignments based usually off questions in our Music and Culture book helped us to transform our half-hazard writing into something that can be broadly understood in a more professional manner. The different exercises to help with our papers, broke down big projects to help make them less intimidating to face. All the questions about our reading, taught us how to comprehend our reading and think more critically. The blogging assignments really helped me to make the transition between completely relaxed (ungraded) writing and formal papers. Each and every assignment has a distinct purpose in our English learning adventure.
The things I loved about this class are prevalent. I love to write and this class helped guide my writing in a productive manner. I loved writing to an audience on these blogs. It made formal assignments seem less tedious and more fun. Writing doesn't have to be boring and hard, it can be a fun endeavor and a great way to get your points across and get your thoughts and opinions heard and recognized. When one knows the proper way to write, they will be taken more seriously and their thoughts will be more likely to be heard and accepted. Reading is also something we take for granted. To be able to read quickly and efficiently requires practice and participation and with numerous reading exercises that we were given, it was sure to help increase the speed and efficiency of our reading.
The things I'm happy to leave behind in this English class. The due dates and mandatory nature of our assignments. I can't lie, I am glad the semester is at an end and I can rest easy instead of going over in my head all the assignments that I have to do and when their due dates are. The end of a semester and the start to summer is something I always look forward to no matter what the class. It represents a relief of some responsibilities and that always feels good. As a whole, I really benefited and enjoyed this class.
I want to give a special thanks to all that participated in this English 101 online adventure with me. Thank you to our excited and educated teacher who always tried to make everything we did in class fun and educational. Thank you to all the students that commented on blogs and participated in group sessions and peer editing. It has been a very successful semester. I hope that we can all take what we have learned and go on to be great scholars! :0)
I strongly agree with that quote that when one door closes, another one opens. It is a very true statement. I will miss all the writing assignments however because it's all I've been doing for 16 weeks. A lot of the assignments also helped me with my critical thinking skills. The one challenge I had was the group activities because the group members could not all be online at the same time so it was difficult. I have also learned a lot from doing the peer draft reviews, blogs and blog replies, and revising essays. I had no clue that it would be as much work as it was and it's going to be weird to wake up and not have a writing assignment. The good thing about all the work that we did is that it kept me busy so it went by fast. I also learned a lot about writing better, spelling better, and this class motivated me to work hard in future classes. It was a test for sure but now I am more motivated to try my hardest in everything that I do to achieve my goal of one day becoming a nurse. The class was pretty intense with a lot of work but I am glad that I did the class online because I feel that if I got through this class, I can get through any other class. I have no regrets in choosing online this semester.
ReplyDeleteEnglish 101 was definitely an eye opener. You had to keep on top of it before it overwhelmed you. I had it happen a couple of times. I didn’t get overwhelmed necessarily but I did have a lot of things to do in a day or two. We both know how much work is given each week. I am extremely grateful though for this class, the reason being that it has refreshed my brain on what I have learned in the past. With this class I have also honed my skills making them a whole lot better than what they used to be. I have always hated typing because it took me forever to type anything, so I used to write my assignments and have someone who was really quick at typing, like my mother, to type my paper or whatever it may have been. Now I am able to sit down and do it and not take a year and a half to type a 200 hundred word assignment, such as this blog response. Besides the assignments improving skills or refreshing skills, I had actually really enjoyed reading the blogs that all of us have written. It was interesting reading all of the different points of views and reading the comments others had put after reading my blogs. I just found it interesting.
ReplyDeleteI chose to do my last blog response ever! to your blog because you were in my group and you are such a good writer. I always enjoyed reading your essays because you seemed to put a lot of thought, hard work and time into them. You are so right in the opening statements of your blog – English is so complex, there are so many rules, but writing is such a powerful tool.
ReplyDeleteI have to commend Jennifer for having patience with this class; she made it fun but at the same time, “cultivated” the writing tools within us. The breakdown of the writing process, exercises on different aspects of writing, and the opportunity to “free” write in our blogs made the class great. As you said every assignment had a distinct purpose in learning the writing and composition process. You mentioned reading is something we take for granted and I agree. I also think we take the whole English language and writing process for granted also.
I’m also glad the semester is over. I’ve personally had the most difficult 4 months of my life in recent years and with school on top of it, it would have been easy to give up. Jennifer was always supportive and encouraging, but I also was impressed with many of my classmate’s efforts and opinions. Thanks to everyone who really participated and worked hard. Best of luck to you - have a wonderful summer!