Sunday, February 10, 2008

Likes and Dislikes

Thus far, I have many likes and only a few dislikes surrounding this writing class.  The fact that this class is a hybrid class is one aspect which I greatly enjoy because I feel that it allows for more productive work that relates to the entire class to be completed during class time and more individualized and personal work to be finished on one's own time.  I also like that we don't do assignments in class, which allots more time to discussion that helps us later when writing our papers.  Another characteristic of the class that I believe is very beneficial is spending much of the time critiquing a few theses, papers, or ideas, evaluating them and giving input on how to make them better.  This helps me critique my own work better and know what questions to ask myself in regards to whether I covered all aspects of the prompt for a specific assignment.  So far, one dislike I have is the amount of time I initially spent finding sources in the library but now when I look back, I see that it was actually really helpful.
Group work is probably my favorite part of this class because it aids me in my understanding of assignments by gaining answers and perspectives from my peers.  Small groups also create a more comfortable environment for me to feel free to ask my most pertinent questions and focus on the issues most relevant to me.  It also allows more of a discussion about the topics of the class and what is desired in the papers so that I am less confused about the requirements and am able to focus more on the information my paper will convey and how I will present it to the reader.  I have always struggled with writing so this clarification has made me more confident in my work.
I also enjoy the blog assignments with regard to their focus and format because I am able to write in my own voice and express my own opinions and feelings.  I feel more secure with my writing because there is no right or wrong answer.  I don't like how we are solely writing on one topic for the entire quarter but the research does help because it gives me a chance to branch out on my ideas.  It has also taught me a lot because I am used to only using my own knowledge bank when coming up with ideas in my papers but with additional research, I am able to apply new information to my initial proposals for the assignments.

2 comments:

Lauren said...

I agree with you about the blogs; being able to write in my own voice. So far, I think we have had good blog topics, definitely better than some other classes blogs.

Kevin Ruzics said...

I know how you feel about only working with one topic. I was kind of scared to commit to a topic because I wasn't sure that it would even be interesting.