And, just like that, we’ve reached the end of the semester! Congratulations! You’re almost there!
So, as usual for my final Response of the semester, I want you to use this as an opportunity to reflect back on the semester a bit. It's hard (even for me) to remember back to when you were all here on day one, but here we are a good few weeks later, with a good few projects under our belts. But.... what does it all mean? That's a question for you to answer. For your final Response, I want you to think about (and then write about, naturally) what you learned about writing this semester using this course's unique spin on things, whatever that may be. Allow me to immediately follow that statement up by saying that there is nothing I want less than a contrived "conversion narrative"; I'm not the writing or genre missionary, bringing the all-loving wisdom and knowledge of writing to you; you're not the lowly, sad, unknowing student who could only see the light through my guidance. For this final Response, I'd like you to reflect on what we did, what you learned, and what you’ll take forward with you, but just know that you won’t get bonus points for buttering me up. You can, however, earn some bonus points through thoughtful reflection and careful consideration— and I will award up to 150/100 points if I see you really put good thought and effort into your response. That's right, I'm providing a chance for you to earn back (or add on) up to 50 points by illustrating a thorough reflection. If you've missed a response or two, or done them late, this is a last-minute chance to earn back some of those points. Take your time with this, and post before this response is due! It has been intensely rewarding to see your progress this semester, and hope you had as much fun as I did. DUE BY 11:59 AM, Monday May 1st
25 Comments
Micayla Green
4/26/2017 11:22:34 am
Coming into this course I thought it would be a typical English writing course will paper after paper on topics that were given to us. After the first day, I felt a lot more comfortable, you made the class the least painful it could be in a fun, interesting and interactive which I really appreciated. The papers we were given allowed us to be creative and personal and allowed you to get a sense of who we really were. I really enjoyed the first project of genre because I learned that genre is more than what we think it is, it makes up who we are. Writing the paper allowed me to better understand who I was as a person. The 2nd project taught me more about approaching research papers and organizing my thoughts to make it easier to write and lastly, the 3rd project allowed me to showcase my creative side and learn more about mediums, modes and other concepts that make texts more effective towards the audience they are directed at. I learned concepts that I will take with me after this class and help me in the future in other courses as well. I really appreciated your helpful feedback on each project, it showed that you really cared about your students and their success in the course which can be rare to find in college class, so thank you :)
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Kayleigh Atkins
4/26/2017 12:02:00 pm
Looking back on the semester, I feel like overall I surprised myself with my abilities when it comes to writing. I have never been a huge fan of English classes and writing, but this class definitely changed my perspective. The first project was by far my favorite, simply because I had the opportunity to write about something that I love. The second project was a little more outside of my comfort zone because I was not really familiar with research papers. I ended up doing really well and learned a lot about my topic. I learned how to find academic resources through the FSU library and site them correctly. For the last project, I was able to tap into my creative side that I am not usually in tune with. The three texts that I made represented the basics of the topic in project 2. I really enjoyed creating the texts and see them come together in the end. Overall, I feel like I got a lot out of this course and really enjoyed coming to class. Thank you so much Jason for making me realize that writing is not so bad!
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Saisha Tirado
4/26/2017 01:22:03 pm
Coming into this course I did not have a lot of expectations, but just like every other English class I have ever taken, I thought it would be extremely boring and drag on. During the conference for Project 1, I knew this class would be different than expected. Unlike my previous English classes, this conference was actually constructive. I enjoyed how much freedom was given with this project and that we were allowed to write about whatever genre we pleased. Project 2, better known as my least favorite project, was one that I feared would be anther boring research paper. Due to the fact that you allowed us to choose our own topic, I found something that truly interested me (but I soon became exhausted about discussing that topic.) I had not written a research paper in a long time, but our conference made it a little easier to understand and take control of. The last project really allowed me to get creative with a topic I was tired of writing about. I learned more about genres and mediums in this part, which is something that will benefit me in a lot of other classes I will be taking at FSU. Overall, I was very skeptical of the class because one of the first things you said was that we would be doing a lot of group work, but I have come to be less intimidated by it. So, thank you for forcing us to get to know each other and making all of these projects more enjoyable than our previous courses!
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Taylor Kelley
4/26/2017 02:08:16 pm
To say the least this course is quite different from any english course I have ever taken. I initially came into this class thinking we were going to be given set topics or genres that we would then have have to research and write papers on, but that was not the case. I learned so much while participating in this class especially towards the end because all the material we covered in the beginning of the semester finally fell into place when we had to create the three individual projects. I learn genre is not a term limited to types of books, music, and movies. Genre is complex and incorporates everything. At first I struggled with this concept especially when thinking of what to write for our first project. I think I developed a lot as writer during the course of this class. Before this class I was relied on teachers telling me how many paragraphs I needed, what I would be researching, and an exact guideline to follow. Where as in class we had a lot of free range to use our own discretion as to what was appropriate, how to set up our papers, what are papers would be discussing, and so on. The thing I struggled with the most for the first two projects other than my topic was how I was going to split up my paragraphs. I struggled finding was to make it flow but the one on one conferences really helped. Another reason I think I developed as a writer is because I knew the topics I choose to write about were probably new to you or I had to assume you had little knowledge of my topics. So I had to not only write a paper but had to make sure my audience could understand what I was talking about. I also learned that when writing a paper you first most think about who is your intended audience, what you are trying to get across, the tone of the paper, and how the audience is going to perceive it. The last project really incorporated all of the following skills I just listed, because the text it self had to demonstrate these things, not just who I said the target audience is. It was then realized that everything we see on a daily basis designs are not just random but have been purposely designed. I think I will carry all the skills I learned in this class forward with me. I now no longer need to rely on someone to tell how to write a good paper. I know no that the design and medium can greatly effect the outcome of a product and how you can manipulate research an mediums to reach other audiences. All the skills we learned will prove to useful not solely in school but also in the work force.
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Alex Lennon
4/26/2017 03:31:56 pm
I am not simply stating this to make you happy, but I have enjoyed this course so much more than any other English class I've taken in the past. Throughout high school, English consisted of reading a couple chapters from an assigned book every night, a discussion in class the following day, and then a paper once we've completed the book. It was extremely repetitive and boring, and students weren't given freedom to explore their own interests or to better their writing skills. However, this class was different. With a focus on genre, we were able to learn how to make not only essays but different texts and projects appealing to certain groups of people, rather than just the teacher who would be grading them. With various drafts and one-on-one meetings with you, we were able to learn exactly how to better our work and go from a "shitty first draft" to a completed, final project. We also had the freedom to explore and write about any topic we wanted to, which made it all the more enjoyable. I believe that my writing skills were bettered immensely through this class. Through each project, whether it was an individual work or a small in-class assignment, I was able to incorporate more and more of the topics you were teaching us until finally, the final project came and I was able to combine everything I had learned throughout the semester. I was able to learn exactly what genre was, and how to apply it to so much more than I had previously thought possible. Your feedback throughout the semester was extremely helpful, and you made it clear that you truly care about your students and their success in your class and at FSU as a whole.
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Daphne Hood
4/26/2017 07:46:21 pm
When I think about english class, I usually dread the thought. I’m more of a math/science person, so coming into this class I expected to be writing boring papers and discussing things I was not interested in. This class completely changed my look on english I actually enjoyed it so much and it was unlike any english course I’ve taken. I even learned way more just this semester than in any english class I’ve taken. I realized I actually do enjoy writing. Project one was so fun and came so naturally to write and I learned a great deal about myself though the project. The way classes were usually working in groups let me engage and think critically which is something that I really benefited from. I learned talking with peers really does make a difference in your writing. This semester I learned so much about genres that I never knew existed beyond books or music genres. I also learned I enjoy english way more than I thought I did, which honestly I think is a really great thing to take away from a class.
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Sarah Medley
4/26/2017 10:32:03 pm
It’s hard to think about where I was on day one, but honestly, I really have learned a lot. Mostly in project one. I had enough creative license to explore how I write, but enough confines that I couldn’t talk aimlessly and get away with it. That was one of my greatest problems: going off on tangents. It still is a problem, but I feel as though I have gotten a lot better with the way I structure my works. The first draft of Project 1 was very tangential and wandering, but it got better with every edit. The conferences helped me a lot with that. I also have had a lot of problems finding substance for my papers. High school was easy, and so the papers could just be a mashup of a bunch of rambling facts with eloquent words inserted here and there and I would get a good grade. But this class forced me to be able to write about one topic at length, which I know will come in handy later. Another thing is I tend to be too conversational in my essays, which I didn’t necessarily learn to avoid in this class, but I was very careful to not do that in any of the projects. And lastly, I tended to assume the reader knew what I was talking about whenever I was writing my projects. I had a very hard time looking at my works objectively, but by being taught what to look for and how to change it, I feel as though I’ve gotten better at conveying what I mean concisely and clearly. I enjoyed this class a lot.
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Darby Brown
4/27/2017 01:30:26 pm
With this being my first semester here at FSU, I was extremely nervous. English has always been my strong-suit, but I was never the best at the things that probably matter most such as grammar or genre. Knowing that this course was titled “research, text, and genre” I was ready to keel over before even going into the first class. I was afraid that all of my fears about a university course difficulty would be true. That all changed the moment you had us say something “nerdy” about ourselves. The awkward nervousness of the room soon changed into a feeling of comfortability. Leaving that first day, my first ever class at FSU, I felt more comfortable and ready for what the school semester would bring. That first paper was honestly one of the best things I have ever written. I couldn’t believe that genre could be used in a variety of ways and it was exciting trying to place my own life genre. The feedback that I received from that paper actually encouraged me to write more, if only for myself to read. When project 2 was assigned I was very fearful because I had never written a research paper before. Knowing that it had to be related to the topic of genre also frightened me, I had no idea what I was going to write about. The group project of choosing and being given a random topic, which we then had to create a story and essay to, really helped. It was kind of fun making a background story for the evolution of school desks. That group project allowed me to think beyond the usual topics and choose one that was more interesting to me. I learned so much from this course, from what genre actually is to all the material in my research project. I even learned that I have the ability to create projects based off of things I have written about. This was a great class taught by a great professor!
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Paula P.
4/27/2017 04:53:32 pm
When this class started, I was nervous that my performance would not be satisfactory. English is not my first language and therefore, I must put extra effort in my assignments so they meet the expectations of the course. However, I was surprised to discover my abilities when it comes to writing. Every project was challenging in its own way, but my favorite one was project 2, the research paper. Perhaps this is due to my major and interest in scientific research but writing a research paper, looking for academic sources, and effectively using them to build an original and captivating topic was fun and easy for me. It required more effort to master the grammar and formal tone that this genre entails but except for revising and proof-reading, every other part of the research came easy to me.
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Jake Salziseder
4/27/2017 07:27:14 pm
This year was a whole lot to say the least. I wrote more than I ever have in one semester. Countless drafts were written and several confusing concepts were made clear during this year. Throughout all of this, I can easily say, I am a better writer than I was 15 weeks from today. I used to struggle with my organization skills in my papers, but now, I can write a nice cohesive, flowing paper. I try to work and have each word work to serve the purpose of the paragraph. This makes each sentence lead into the next which makes papers easier to read. I also realized that I have been struggling with incorporating sources into my papers. With using other information, it can make your paper more factual and reliable. I was able to incorporate more sources into my paper by looking for sources before I wrote my paper. I would try to figure out what my topic was, then I would pick my sources. Obviously, not all the sources I picked served as good sources, but as I wrote my paper, I would find a couple new ones to help add the extra ideas I needed. Understanding how to incorporate sources into my paper will help in just about every other aspect in life. Another thing I learned this year is that there are so many ways to write (genres). There is no way to write wrong. I’ve been trapped in the conventional high school writing style and now I do it my way, such as splitting sections up with headings or using more allegories that I used to. We learned a lot this year, and I really like how I have been writing. English has never been my strong subject, but it certainly has gotten stronger this year. Due to all the things I have learned, I hope to use these new mannerisms not only in writing, but also in speaking. Being able to communicate and write effectively is a very crucial strength. I look forward to using these tools in the future and see how they will affect me from here on out.
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hailey cannon
4/28/2017 12:14:21 pm
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Samantha Martinez
4/29/2017 12:20:35 pm
The first day of class, I walked in mortified. It was my first actual class and day at FSU. I was admitted for the Spring semester and coming in from a community college, it was like I never left high school, so the transition from community college to state university, was a bit terrifying. My friends that I have, that attend FSU, couldn’t even help me go to class on my first day just because they had class the same time that I did, so even looking for this English class was a bit scary, but I managed and I was proud of myself. On top of everything, English is my absolute worst subject, so even coming into this class was scary. ENC 2135 has taught me up to numerous of confusing concepts, things you should address when you write a paper, formality, and so much more. To say the least, I have never written so much in one semester before. I had 2 classes in one semester, that required students to write papers to give them grades. Writing is not my strong suit, so I knew coming into this semester would be a little challenging but I knew that I could do well. This class has taught me that there is no right or wrong way of writing. For example, when we learned about genres, I did not that genres could be ANYTHING. I was so confused by this topic but in the end, I figured that a genre could be anything. When we came across the project of the research paper, it wasn’t just any ordinary research paper. I had difficulty writing this paper because it wasn’t any research paper, you had to connect the sources, think of research questions, and tie it all together. I struggled with this project the most because I lacked in connecting my sources to each other and tying it into my questions, versus just using my sources to answer my questions and back it up with evidence. But with this project I learned to use my sources more and to connect to them to each other as much as possible and to create a better structure when writing a research paper. Although I came into this class with low expectations, I actually gained a lot of information that I can use in my future. I gained so much information from this course that I took what I learned and used my writing skills in my other writing course that I had this semester. Lastly, one of the most important things that I liked about this course was the student and teacher interaction. I appreciated every feedback you gave us on our projects, the scheduled conferences helped immensely when it came to the process of the project. I appreciated this so much because I remember in high school when we would write papers we would only get feedback at the end and it was almost hard to talk to the teacher about your paper because they just simply wanted to move on onto the next thing we needed to learn or write so, thank you for showing that you care about your students and their success. You made this class extremely helpful and enjoyable!
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Grant Hawks
4/29/2017 12:38:29 pm
Coming into this semester about 15 weeks ago I thought I was a pretty decent writer but throughout this semester I know that I have really improved my writing. I really enjoyed how unique this class was. It was like no other english class I have ever taken and I am grateful for that. I was never uninterested doing any of the projects because it was never like a normal english class where you would just write papers about topics that are truly just flat out boring. With you giving us the ability to incorporate topics we were interested in into our projects was really helpful and from that I really learned how to express myself within my writing and texts. The different projects that were aimed at different genre really throughout the semester gave me the chance to gain an understanding of genre than what I had at the beginning. The engaging manner of the class always made me look forward to coming and discussing different topics within the peer groups and as a class as a whole. There were a few times at the beginning of the projects and once we got into the first “shitty drafts” that I was confused with what we were doing but the conferences with you helps immensely and always guided me into the right direction into doing well on my projects. You truly cared about all of us doing well and truly understanding the course and I really appreciate that because not all professors are as in touch with their students as you are. I will definitely take what I learned in this course with me as I continue my college career.
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Liana F
4/29/2017 04:59:12 pm
In the past, my instructors have been pretty generic for the most part, but from the first day when we spoke about what makes us “weird” or “different”, you allowed us to feel comfortable with who we are and what makes us individuals. Putting us into small groups for the whole semester allowed the class to get comfortable with a set of individuals and as the semester went on, I understood my peers way of writing and skills which made the peer review more constructive. As I look back at the course of this semester I have seen a drastic change regarding my confidence in my writing skills. At first, I was extremely concerned with the broad spectrum of what we were able to write about, as I am usually given a list of strict directions with little to no free reign. This made me dig deeper into what topics I wanted to write about and made me do more critical thinking. I learned many things over the course of this class such as to how anything can be a genre and how complicated the term really is. The term “genre” has so many different meanings and what is considered a genre is uncountable. Different approaches and mediums are used to get a point across and to appeal to a specific audience which correlates with my major and advertising/communications. The approach to us learning this topic and through our writings and responses really helped the class understand and grasp the concept, but all the writing practices also helped improve my writing as a whole.
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Alexa Berland
4/30/2017 11:41:43 am
ENC 2135 was an interesting journey for me, to say the least. I think this class has the total ability to transform anybody and anyone into a much better writer. This class has a very interesting lay out and provides interesting twists to writing assignments whose prompts and layouts can become repetitive and tedious. This interesting prompt changes allow for maximum creativity and make the task of writing a paper seem less daunting, and in the simplest terms, boring. You made it a point the first day that we were allowed to be "weird" in your class, and no judgements would be made. We even had to state the weirdest thing about ourselves to the class. I know this created a basis for the class that allowed for a close environment where we all able to comfortable sharing our ideas with each other. And we have you to thank for that! Our first topic of genre, honestly, scared the crap out of me. Genre to me was what music I liked. I never even imagined that I would have to write an entire paper on a genre that I thought described me best. What does that even mean? (I know now). This paper was truthfully the most fun paper I ever wrote, I was able to crack jokes, and let my true personality shine through my writing. This is something that I feel as college students we don't get to do often. This project gave me a whole new level of confidence in my writing as I felt that I could be casual, and that you would still be able to understand me. That was very reassuring and I can say thank you enough for that. Your feedback on this paper also allowed me to improve upon my organization skills in my writing. I am very grateful to now know the importance of a paragraph! With this newfound confidence in my writing, I excitedly awaited an explanation of project 2. I am not gonna lie to you and say it made me jump up and down. However, I definitely wasn't as intimidated by a research paper assignment as I had been in the past. You allowed for us to literally to pick any topic our hearts desired. This is something I know we as a class really appreciated. This project gave me the opportunity to finally learn about something I truly was interested in, birth control law changes in the past years. I hope it was at least a fraction of how interesting it was for me to write as it was for you to read. My paper tapped into my deepest values and allowed for me to truly express myself. You allowed for our research to not be concrete but include our abstract ideas about the topic. It was one of the more enjoyable research papers I've ever written, to say the least. This preceded our final project amazingly because we used our research from the paper into our tri-medium project! This project has allowed me to tap into my most creative abilities and create something that encompassed information I am so passionate about educating people about. I hope you're happy with the work I submit to you (I think you will be).
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Peyton
4/30/2017 02:36:28 pm
On one of the first days of class, we were taught what genre is. Before that class, I had thought of genre as simply a word that determines what category books, movies, and music are placed into. I never thought genre could apply to all things, including humans, which is why writing the first paper was so interesting to me. Throughout the spring semester, the biggest impact on me from being in this class has been my writing. I believe that the projects, and the way they made me think forced me to be creative with my writing, and it ultimately improved the way I go about writing papers. My favorite paper I wrote was Project 1, because I feel I became creative with the way I compared my life to an autobiography. I had fun with the way in which I wrote that paper, and thoroughly enjoyed that project. For my second project, I believe I did a really good job in writing the research portion of the paper. Although my grade did not initially reflect how I felt I did on the paper, after looking at the comments I understand why it was graded the way it was. From this paper, I learned how to better organize and structure a research paper. Once I edited it, I believe the paper was much better, and possibly once of the best papers I have written. The third project taught me even more than the other papers. Before doing project three, I had never realized that it was possible to taken a written paper and turn it into three completely different genres. Coming up with the types of genres I could make from the information in my second project, forced me to be creative with my thinking. Reflecting on how strong my writing abilities were in the beginning of the semester compared to where they are now, I see a tremendous difference. I feel that I have learned a lot from how I have gone about completing the projects in this class, and I am going to take forward with me all the skills and lessons I have learned; most of which came from peer reviews and suggestions on how to make my papers better when they were graded. Overall, this class was one of the most helpful classes I have taken since being in college. Throughout my entire college career, I will need to write papers. Ultimately, the better my papers are, the more I will succeed, and this class taught me a lot about writing papers.
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Arell Harris
4/30/2017 04:38:03 pm
ENC2135 was weird for me because I've never been in a class where the topic you write about is actually something you choose yourself. The first essay we had to write I complained about how it was so broad and I didn't know what to do, but then I realized in my other classes when I'm assigned a topic, I would be mad it couldn't be more creative. There are so many different ways to convey information, and before all i knew how to work was microsoft word, and by the end I'm learning how to use photoshop and googledox and other medias to use. I definitely believe I'm a much better writer coming out than I was coming in.
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Raeanna Murray
4/30/2017 05:23:43 pm
From the first day in this course, I assumed we would be doing papers of course. However, I did not expect it to be as interactive as Mr.Custer made it. While we did have readings and the tedious papers that come with any English course, we learned the material in an interactive and interesting way. The activities Mr.Custer had us do with the course materials made it much easier to understand, reviewing and exploring the content with classmates. Presenting our ideas to the class and hearing others’ ideas allowed me to learn from my peers and gain different perspectives and understandings of the material. I would not have been able to experience the material in this manner from simply reading the texts myself and only having my own thoughts to base my ideas on. Mr.Custer definitely made learning about Genre interesting and completely different from what can be expected of a typical ENC course.
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Samantha Valenza
4/30/2017 07:58:15 pm
Coming into this class I didn’t know what to expect. I had taken ENC1101 and ENC1102, in high school at a local community college but I figured it would be much different at a University. I was correct. I initially thought this class was going to be much harder but came to realize it was actually much easier. It was only easier because the topics we were learning were actually interesting and engaging versus dull and hard to relate to. This course has taught me many things but the thing I have learned most is how to be creative. In this course we were given direction but never given strict guidelines. Yes, we had a word count for many things but I was never told what I HAD to write about. Coming from a public high school this was something that was hard for me to grasp. I have always been given a strict topic to complete all my essays on. This course challenged me to think outside the box, as well as encouraged me to write about things I actually enjoy. That being said, I did come across some bumps in the road. I have never had to come up with my own topic for a research paper. This gave me the chance to research something I found interesting, which made the 2,500 word count, not very hard to reach. Overall this class kept me engaged in what I was learning. Walking away from this semester I feel that I understand what a genre is and how to compose a well written paper.
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Carla Flores
4/30/2017 10:16:02 pm
This semester I was looking forward to taking this course because I had such a great time last semester taking ENC1102. Walking in, I didn’t know what to expect but it truthfully was great! This class really allowed me to think logically and be more open to ideas. I loved that we were able to choose our topics for every assignment, it really made the writing process much more pleasing than writing on a boring, overused topic like I have in other classes. Also, I’m glad that we had enough time to really develop our papers, and the peer review groups really gave me enough feedback to receive a great score on my papers! It was so nice having a say in our topics because I had forgotten how pleasant it can be writing a narrative again! I also learned what my own personal genre is, which really opened up the way I had seen the idea of genre; it can really be almost anything which was so cool to think about and given the chance to write a paper on how it applied to my own life. This course has really shown me different mediums of assignments, such as the genre paper, research paper and the social media project. I’m really enjoying the final project because its given me the chance to get creative and also because my inner nerd is loving creating ads and brochures for my topic! This class has truly given me a confidence boost as a writer because of your detailed feedback, and I have also gained a respect for genres, as well as research papers because of how enjoyable they can be and shouldn’t always be seen as a drag. Most importantly, after taking this course I will start to watch The Walking Dead because the first episode was such a tease! Thank you Jason, and I hope you have a great summer!
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Menina Barton
5/1/2017 07:36:17 am
I came into this class thinking that research papers, essays and most english projects assigned in a class room were very black and white. That they had to be one way and there was very few ways to look at writing. That is what I was always taught before this class. That there is a right and a wrong way to write, it was that simple. But now, after three projects and multiple weeks in this class, I have learned that writing is much more than just right and wrong. That a writing assignment can be looked at from a plethora of different angles. No ones writing is the same and comparing one person’s paper to another's is exceedingly difficult because everyone has their own style of writing. While yes there is a set of basic grammar rules to be followed, the genre and overall feeling of the writing is all up to the creator. I have also learned that creative writing in a paper is acceptable, this is something I was always taught never to include. This was one of my favorite things to learn because creative writing is where I excel the most. Coming out of this class I now have a greater appreciation and love for writing. I learned there are so many different styles and genres of writing. One other very interesting thing I learned while doing project three was that there are many different ways an author can get their point across. Pictures, videos, audio and writing can all get the same point across, but in very different ways. I had never realized before that two extremely different medias can give the same information. The fact that I can receive the same information from a picture, without words, and a paragraph, without pictures, is something I never considered until this project. Overall, this english class gave me a completely new attitude towards literature and writing.
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Natalie Anon
5/1/2017 07:27:54 pm
I remember walking into this class and being really confused and conflicted by the term genre. Would I be learning about different types of movies or books? Honestly who knew but I didn't really see what the class actually entailed coming. Our first project was by far the best project for me. I enjoyed it so much and thought I was really digging deep into my writing skills. The look of confusion on your face when I told you I wanted to compare myself to the main character from Gone Girl, a psycho murderer, was unforgettable. I knew it would be challengeing to try to show my point of view and make a paper intrigue and capture an audience. When everyone in my group told me they were writing about their life experience and traveling and other more common things, I became worried. Was I the only weirdo writing about some sick novel? Guess so. This class has definitely shed a light on my love for writing and it taught me so much about what I like to write. Each project was able to connect me with things I am interested in and I pursued them on sheets of paper. I have to say the most important thing that I got from this class was the article about shitty first drafts. I never looked at a draft the same way since. I would always get so stuck on my drafts because I would treat them as though they were my final paper. It didn't allow me to be created and I always felt stuck writing the same things over and over again. This was a great course and thank you for teaching me so much.
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Taylor Driver
5/2/2017 09:25:22 am
My previous English class unfortunately was quite the opposite of this one. It was rough and my teacher's way was the only way. There were little creative opportunities, especially when it came to writing. I was very skeptical coming to this class, especially after the mentioning of a research paper. I thought it would be another boring and difficult class that I would dread going to. This class was quite the opposite. I loved coming to class and I even loved doing the projects as crazy as that may be. The research project was a bit rough, but you made it as fun as possible and I was actually interested in what I was writing about. I learned so much, not only about genres and researching, but about the topic I was researching itself. Leaving this class, I felt accomplished and like I truly learned something every day. Rather than focusing so intently on grammar like my previous teacher, you focused on content and I really appreciated that. I also loved the feedback you gave after every project, not only was it very helpful but it showed you really cared. I gained so much from this course and I feel I have grown as a writer because of it and you so thank you very much.
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k kanaday
5/2/2017 01:38:57 pm
Of all of my classes this semester, I can honestly say that this was the most hands on of my classes. Unfortunately education has turned into textbooks and notepads, but those are words I could never speak of this class. From the constant peer review groups, to you walking around speaking to us individually about our projects, the group activities we do, and the projects themselves. I was always challenged to think outside of the box and think of unique ways to present my ideas. I hope to take this knowledge with me throughout the rest of my college classes, and into the real world. Because if there's anything this class has taught me, there's more to education than textbooks and a notepad.
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Kendalll C
5/4/2017 07:59:42 pm
This has been one of the most challenging classes I have taken in a long time. Not because the content itself was super overwhelming or that I had to memorize endless terms like my other classes. I personally found it difficult because it made me step outside of my comfort zone. In my previous English/ writing courses I old (no offense to them), stuffy teachers that gave us strict guidelines and rubrics. They wanted everything to be a specific way that they found fitting. However, this class was the exact opposite. We practically could write about anything, literally ANYTHING. I could have made my genre "youtube" and Jason would have been content as long as it described who I was accordingly. That being said, having so much structure in other classes really did not prepare me for this class. Having a teacher closer to my age than my parents or grandparents was refreshing. He had an open mind to anything which made me change my way writing. My personal favorite was Project 1. I could express who I was through a genre and there really wasn't a wrong answer. That's what I loved about this class, as long as I was being authentic my writing couldn't be wrong (for the most part). I think I will take away from this class my new way of thinking. I now approach writing with an open mind and don't have anxiety about turning in papers.
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