Section I:  Section II The easy way back

My reflection on my relfection.

...though it's not on time, I did the graphical representation! 

Section I:

1) Please read the description of the course goals as they are listed on the course website. Do you feel we are proceeding towards these goals? What is so far proving most useful? What would you change, and why?

       After looking at the Student Learning Outcomes, hereafter to be called SLO, goals I feel that we are learning these goals and that by the end of the semester we will have covered and hopefully mastered them all. Though overwhelming at times, I find the diversity of assignments extremely helpful in learning the necessary goals. We have had in class discussions on various topics of rhetoric and then have put them to use on our wiki's. Our assignments have gone from full formal papers, to wholly informal blogs, from our thoughts on hard texts to our feelings on Internet based media. Each different assignment has helped me put to use the different aspects of the SLO goals and the often repetition of these assignments has been instrumental in aiding in my mastery of these techniques/goals. I have always been a person who thrives on examples, set schedules, and the like. I love this class- among my 3 classes it has been my saving grace this semester- but I personally could've used more structure. With that said, I'm almost positive I wouldn't enjoy this class nearly as much if there was. Its lack of structure , as it were, is what, I feel, defines this particular class.

2) What are you learning in class? What more do you think you could learn in class? How can class be structured to help you learn what matters to you?

          I am learning that many different types of media can be used to convey the same purpose. Throughout this semester I have written the traditional way, that is, with pen and paper. I have used the Internet, our wiki in particular, as a springboard for ideas, and also as a means of communicating those ideas. I have even voice recorded my own ideas and thoughts in real time as I was thinking them. I've also learned how to give my writing more meaning so that every paragraph and every sentence has a purpose towards the whole. I've learned techniques and forms of writing and communicating that were new to me. With that, I'm not sure what else I could learn, but at the same time whatever else I do learn will be helpful in my future writing. I think, however, it would be beneficial if we had a more structured class, in that we stuck to what we have planned, with only minor tangents. We so often begin by doing something and immediately get off track and rarely do we get back. I love what we talk about and enjoy the open conversations but I would also like to stick to the actual purpose of the class for the majority of the time.

3) How do you define your responsibilities to this class? How are you living up to those responsibilities? What are your greatest contributions to class? What can you improve?

         My responsibilities to this class, like any other, is to attend regularly, participate in discussions, and keep up with assignments. It is crucial for me to stay current with my posts and writing. While I feel I could do much better I am happy with the progress I'm making and the work I'm doing. I am confident in my writing, even if it is just a short paragraph. I feel that my greatest contribution to the class, besides always coming, is sharing my ideas and opinions. It is such a cool feeling when I offer an idea in class and Dr. Conner gets excited and says something like Yes! That's exactly what we're talking about. His enthusiasm for what I'm saying helps me be a better participant. I do feel that I could be more timely with my assignments, though sometimes I'm confused as to what is expected. My schedule is tough but I signed up for this class and I know I need to pull my weight.

4) How do you define ShareRiff's responsibilities as teacher of this class? Is ShareRiff fulfilling those responsibilities? What more or different can he do to help you fulfill the work of this class?

         From a student's perspective a teacher's, ShareRiff's, responsibility is to provide the necessary instructions, materials, and information conducive to completing the assigned tasks. He should provide the previously mentioned in a way that can be understood and carried out by the students. He also needs to provide a creative, open environment for his students to hone their writing skills and learn new ones. For the most part he is definitely fulfilling his responsibilities. Every week I'm in class I learn new things, be it a writing technique, a helpful site, etc. I also always feel like my participation is welcomed. As a person who, like I said, thrives on schedules and parameters, I think more attention could be paid to assignments, more specifically to their requirements and deadlines. I also think I could benefit from us being more dedicated to our night's lesson and less on side conversations.

5) What more or different can ShareRiff do to help you understand the work he is asking you to do?

            As I mentioned in previous questions the sometimes lack of structure in our class is frustrating. Though I still get my work done and always take something away from it, I would really like to see more attention paid to our assignments. I'd like to have short discussions on them making sure it is clearly defined and allowing time for clarifying questions. Though order and structure is not always easy to come by for this class, I really want to succeed here and that may be what it takes. We always seem to have a problem of steering away from what we originally started out doing, like going over texts. We'll discuss for a few minutes and then get off task and before we know it class is almost over. While our discussions and conversations are epic and wonderful they don't always help in the big scheme of things. I would also like to have everyone's wiki get ample time to be viewed and discussed in class. I think it would benefit all of us to share our wiki's.

6) What suggestions do you have for how we can improve class, to help you learn more, and enjoy the class and the learning more? (you can bullet your list for easier reading) 

• Assignments that are well-defined and outlined

• staying on task in class

• stated and stricter deadlines

• more focus on our wiki's in class

• going over our texts in class

• setting aside class time for questions/help

• perhaps a more organized peer review session

• less side chatter (yes, I know I'm guilty, too)

   

 Section II

1) Graphical representation of your writing/composing process: you can scan in a drawing, you can upload or link to a photograph or film clip, you can use software to design a graph or flowchart....have fun.

2) A reflective cover letter that addresses how you are meeting the following student learning outcomes completed to date:

-modes of blogging and informal writing: academic, political/community-based, experimental, and personal

-situating your writing: analyzing, synthesizing, and composing with sources

composing processes: argument and persuasion

-multimedia: visual analysis and composition, aural analysis and composition

-collaborative, coordinated, or distributed writing: linking, interacting, and responding in writing to/with peers.

-writing in the disciplines: connecting your writing to research and scholarship in a specific field

-community writing (outside of academia)

This cover letter should directly address our 4 primary modes of evaluation: rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking/reading/writing, process, and knowledge of conventions. The following questions are meant to be heuristic to help get you thinking in a reflective mode:

         This class has been so unlike any other I've taken. The fact that the whole class, besides the in class participation, is mainly done via the Internet says a lot about it. Though I have definitely struggled at times I have picked up a lot of techniques to apply to my writing. While most of my writing in college had focused primarily on literature analysis and research papers, this class has allowed me to focus on a different avenue of writing that I really enjoy. Writing that allows me to choose my audience and the style that will allow me to connect to them. Though adults do play games too, I feel that Game Culture as our class theme has made the focus of my writing reaching out to my peers. Little by little from the first week of class I have been using our assignments as a way to hone in on my skill of capturing my audience. One of the coolest things I recall was the idea that each paragraph of your writing should be like a narrative. In other words, it should contain a subject and idea, so that if taken out of context it would still have meaning on its own. Since I learned that I have tried to incorporate it into my writing. It helps maintain flow in my work and keep the reader engaged.

My styles of writing have varied throughout the semester, as has our types of assignments. For each assignment I try to focus on what the purpose is and who may be prone to reading it. Because of the freedom of this class my assignments contain writing that come straight from my thoughts. The wiki environment allows for free, uninterrupted thought projection. It's part of the reason why I love this class. Though it is also why I sometimes get so frustrated. While I like letting my fingers run rampant on a keyboard, I also like to have specific parameters to follow. The definitional and causal arguments were, in my opinion, the perfect blend of creative liberty and structured writing. I had so much fun putting the definitional paper together. Though it wasn't perfect it had all the elements it needed: creativity, humor, information, style, grammar, structure... . I'm a bit behind with my causal argument but I'm very much looking forward to the research and collaboration that made the first one successful.

Peer grading, though awkward to some, is such a great idea. It was so helpful to have someone who is not a teacher give me advice. The advice I received from my peers was simply put but so effective, something the struggling student writer like me needs.

My writing is always in a constant state of perfecting, which is funny because what is perfect? Throughout my college career I've noticed that my problems with writing tend to lean towards the content aspect and not the grammar aspect (though I do sometimes mess that up, too). I sometimes have difficulties, as some of my peers have pointed out, with providing enough supporting details and facts. Also I occasionally make the mistake of neglecting my audience, like leaving out of the loop at times. I'd like to work on putting all of the techniques I've learned so far this semester into effect and 'perfecting' my writing. I'm considering writing and the like as a possible career path and that would help me tremendously.

Our command of this wiki is so great. During the first week I was so overwhelmed and confused as to how to navigate the the wiki. Once I figured it out, however, I became excited going on and adding my bits of writing to our wiki 'community'. We have also put to use so many other forms of media: texts, videos, pictures, audio, etc. The incorporating of all of these forms has been so beneficial for me. While improvements can be made to our class as a whole, I can't deny how much I've learned so far.

The easy way back

Link to my wiki