Done So Soon?

Coming into college, I thought this English class was going to be the worse course I would be taking this semester. In high school I was not bad at English but I had to put a lot more work into it then my other subjects. At the college level, I thought I would be drowning in essays and reading assignments. Fortunately, my first experience in a college English class was very positive. I felt engaged and thought the course work was just the right amount. While having a few big papers seemed intimidating at first, the process of writing them was not that painful. Instead of reading a novel and writing an analysis about it, we got to focus mostly on rhetoric. I have never focused on this in my previous English classes so I was not sure what to expect. After writing the last two papers though, I can say I really prefer this kind of writing. I enjoyed being able to pix my own topics and argue what I want. I think this was best part of this class because we got freedom to work on topics that we think are interesting.

While I really enjoyed this class, there were a few things I would have changed. Sometimes, I felt that we should have been doing more discussion in class. On a few occasions we did this, such as when we watched the TED talks and gave our opinions afterwards. Also, there were the days in which we spilt the class in half and had a debate. I really enjoyed these days and I wish there were more of them. I think some of the work days were not really that useful. For other people they probably were more useful but for me I think we might have had one to many here and there.

The only thing I wish we did not do in this class is use the textbooks. The textbooks really only seemed useful when we were writing essays since we could use it to better understand how to form arguments and incorporate them into our paper. On the days where we were supposed to read and discuss the reading, I felt that we did not really accomplish much. I think Ms. B was much better at coming up with topics to discuss then the book. Also the topics that Ms. B would come up with to discuss were always more interesting and would get more people talking such as when we discusses Halloween costumes. On those days, class was very enjoyable and I think there should have been more days dedicated to that then discussing topics in the textbook.

Being a physics major, English is not my top priority but I was able to take away some valuable information from this class. While I enjoyed learning about rhetoric over novels, I think the most useful part of the class were the essays. Before this class I knew about thesis statements and topic sentences but this class really helped me improve upon them. I do not think I learned anything new about writing papers but I most certainly learned about how to improve my writing and my arguments. I think I am a better writer now and I also think I can do a better job editing my own writing to find mistakes or weak spots in my arguments.

Overall I enjoyed this class more than most of my other classes. At the beginning of the semester I could not wait to be done with English, but now my opinion has changed. This class was nothing like what I thought it would be and so thank you Ms. B for being such a great teacher. 

First Semester, Over Already?

                English has never been my favorite subject, to writing papers, reading a book or analyzing what a piece of advertising makes the audience feel.  As a first semester freshman was dreading the thought of having to take an English class.  I’ve always been known for my math ability.  My friends would mock and laugh how bad my papers sounded.  It destroyed almost all confidence I had in myself as a writer.  But, thanks to this class I think I finally understand why. One thing is, I had never been able to write what I want to write or read what I want to read.  The last research paper was something I really did enjoy, (Social Networking), because it was a topic that interested me.  I spent more time writing it than I ever have on any other paper.  And I think it’s the best thing I’ve written to date.  I still have a long way to go in developing my writing skills, but I feel this class has helped me more in effectively getting my point across.  That has been your goal since day one; helping us to communicate with others in an effective manner.  Also, I feel that my grammar skills have improved.  I find myself minimizing the number of times I use weak verbs in a paper such as, “is”, “are” and “was”.  It makes a paper sound much more sophisticated, with something as simple as changing the wording of a sentence.  Also, I no longer write a paper the night before in one sitting.  It is impossible.  I have found my thoughts are much clearer when writing on a clear head. I now have more confidence in my writing and I really do mean that.

                The class it’s self I enjoyed.  I think you are an excellent teacher, and have found a way for me to look forward to class every day.  One thing I have enjoyed in the class has been the random debates in class.  Such as zombies versus vampires, or that mock presidential election we did.  I feel that things like that have helped to get my creative juices flowing.  Also the blog posts, some of the topics have been more entertaining than others.  But overall I feel that they have helped me in thinking of things to write.  I really like how they don’t have to be so formal as a regular paper.  I feel more relaxed when writing a blog post.  I also liked the “Ted Talk” video we would watch from time to time that would be followed by an interesting and entertaining class discussion.  I don’t think I could have asked for a better English teacher.  You are very reasonable with deadlines and easy to approach with a question. 

                At the beginning of the semester I was just hoping to get out of English alive with a B as a best case scenario.  Now, with the grade on my last paper, it is still mathematically possible for me to get an A out of the class.  The thought of that thrills me.  This class I have enjoyed as well as you being my teacher.  I am going to miss this class; it has been an honor being your student.  Thank you.

Alas, My First English Class

English 103 was my first English class as a college student. At first, I was prepared for a grueling semester with many papers and lots of critical analysis on novels and essays. I was prepared for the type of English class that I had in high school. Instead, I felt I was not being challenged as much as I thought I would be in college. I felt like the work was beneath me and I feel that is the reason I did not consider this class my top priority. I also was really disappointed when I could not read my scary Halloween story (it was an epic poem.) I think I would have enjoyed having an English class that did not just focus on papers, but also had some discussion. I felt like most of the class just sat there and did not engage, and to me that was very disappointing. Hearing my classmate’s views on subjects and knowing what my peers were taking out of the assignments would have brought us closer as a class, and would have improved the overall environment. Not to say that Ms. Britenburg did not try to break us out of our silence, it was just that only some people would always speak up in the beginning and that made it hard to get to know one another. A suggestion I would make for breaking this silence would have been to have us all read our papers in a circle and make everyone ask at least one question about another person. I think this would have allowed us to get to know one another and it would have created a closer and friendlier environment.

            Of course, I did not dislike everything about the class. Although we had a very rough and quiet start, after a while more people gained the confidence to speak up. The atmosphere changed and the tension in the room dwindled. I was always really excited to get a new paper assignment. I thought the assignments were creative and I felt like I finally had the option to write about anything I wanted. I especially liked the multimedia project; it let us explore other ways to get our arguments across, instead of just in essay form. I really liked the assignment at the beginning of the year as well. It made me rethink my Facebook page and since then I have tried to make an effort to occasionally have a funny status letting people know that I am still alive. Having Ms. Britenburg as a teacher also made it easier to get through the class, she always had really funny power points and a fresh outlook on life. Even if it was not her day, she came into class and was determined to let it not affect her teaching style.

            If I am going to take anything away from my first English class as a college student, it would be the art of writing a thesis. I have learned so much about one sentence that I could create a whole paper just on that. I also learned that going to the writing center and asking for help is not because you are admitting defeat, but because you are in need of a fresh outlook on a paper that you have spent six hours staring at. I am glad that I had Ms. Britenburg for a teacher, and that English 103 was my first college English class.

Final Blog Post of the Semester

For this final blog post, write up a 500, yes 500 word, analysis of this class. Please include an honest evaluation of elements which you liked and disliked, things which you would have wanted to pursue further or not at all, *something you took away from this class* (hopefully there is something that you learned or thought about in a different way, and things you wish you could quickly forget. I appreciate your honesty in this evaluation as it will ultimately help me construct a more effective class next semester.

This is due Friday, December 7th by 10am.

Thanks for being such sweet sour patch kids.
Ms. B

Teenage Alcohol Abuse

I watched the multimedia project on teenage alcohol abuse.   I think their argument was that excessive drinking does not have good consequences, especially in when you are trying to balance you’re school work and responsibilities in college.  They portrayed their argument very well, contrasting a student who did not drink the night before a big test and two other students, along with a group of friends, who drank too much the night before the test.  At the end, the non-drinker got a really good test grade while one of the drinkers got a bad grade and the other didn’t even show up.  The music that they played in the background was effective because it was party music the night before the test but the next day there was no music. 

They did a similar set up to the movie “The Hangover.” The type of music they had and the editing made it comparative to the movie where a group of guys drink way too much the night before a big day.  This similarity can connect to the teenage audience because it is a very popular movie.  The audience is kids in college, specifically targeting new college students who have to balance their school work and their desire to go out and party.  The fact that it was made by teenagers helps connect the incoming college students to the video. Watching the video and seeing how silly the girls were acting binge drinking, going out a 3 am, and sleeping with guys, made you realize how irresponsible they are being.  It makes you not feel sorry for them when they get a bad grade on the test or a zero or not showing up.  You feel proud and a sense of justice that the non-drinker who went to bed and woke up on time got the good grade.

The Squirrel Menace

I chose to watch the Clemson 103 video: “Squirrels- The Final Cut”. This video took the issue of the overpopulation of squirrels and made it extremely comical. They did this by making the squirrels evil and showed a long interlude of pictures of the squirrels with weapons. The video claimed that the squirrels attack and terrorize the student population. The video then went and tried to attack the squirrels in various ways such as hitting them and sneaking up on them. All attack attempts were failures and the fail meme was used. A final stand was made with Nerf guns against the squirrels. The video highly dramatized this fight and funnily ended in defeat. The video also made a highly comical stab at how the campus is nearly devoid of students on non-football game weekends. This stab was done in a very discreet way making it seem funnier.

The video was clearly intended for those who are on Clemson’s campus. It had enough information for those who only visit occasionally to understand the issue though. The video was told from the point of view of other students as well as a news source. It was extremely successful in communicating the argument that the campus is overrun with squirrels and that the problem needs to be dealt with. Also, the video used some facts on the havoc the squirrels wreak in non-factual way. This strategy was extremely useful in making the video interesting and appealing to watch. The music accompaniment added an element of drama to the video and helped the video reach it’s point.

The video was interesting in the way it was put together. It used both pictures not taken on campus and videos taken on campus. The video, for being filmed and made by college students, was decently put together and was highly entertaining to watch.

 Video Link

Problems with Clemson dining halls

The video I watched talked about the problems with the dining halls here at Clemson. These included Harcombe and Schilleter. The argument of the video was how there were still problems with the dining halls even though they are nice and taken care of. The video first included the positives of the dining halls such as the good food, friendly staff, and cleanliness for the most part. The video then switched to the negative side this included the sometimes inconvenient hours of the dining halls. Also, how Schilleter is closed on weekends and how that inconveniences the students who live in the high rises. Another topic was when a lot of people go to the dining hall at the same time; the staff usually becomes lack luster and start to cut the cleanliness short. This was demonstrated by video show a dining hall with a large amount of food on the ground and a messy condiment stand. The video expands on how the dishes and counters are not always clean which can lead to health problems.

I noticed during the video that the authors did not really support their argument of the problems with the dining halls. They spent more time praising the dining halls and telling the positives. They even concluded by saying at the end of the video the dining halls are still a good place to eat. It was almost like the counter argument was stronger than the argument itself.

The authors did a good job at interviewing other students to get different perspectives on the topic. They did not only choose students who had the same opinion as they did. Some had no problem with the dining halls and did not mind them at all. Others had some problems with the dining and some did not like them at all.

I believe the target audiences were multiple groups of people. It targeted students, staff, and school officials. The authors were trying to inform each group of the flaws of the dining halls, but try not to shut down the dining halls saying that they are horrible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyakVf_bYTE