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SCHMOLL'S ENGLISH 305...WELCOME TO THE COURSE BLOG.
As an online course, the writing that we do in English 305 is substantially different from a face to face course. As such, it is imperative that you understand the course style from the start. Nearly all of your work in this course will be posted on the course blog. EACH WEEK YOU WILL HAVE THREE BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: 1. A BLOG ENTRY, 2. A READING, AND 3. A WRITING ABOUT THE READING.
Your reading and writing on the blog must be completed by the Friday (by midnight) of the week in which the reading falls. You have all week each week to complete the reading and writing for that week, but there are no late assignments accepted, so be sure to be disciplined about the work from the start.
Let me re-state that point; if you do the assigned work before or during the week it is due, you will receive full credit. If you do the work after the Friday of the week it is assigned, you will get zero credit for that week.
Grading Scale
GRADING SCALE:
Weekly Blog Entries: 10%
Writing About the Reading: 10%
Restaurant Review: 20% (DUE SEPT 24)
Tipping Point Essay Final Draft: 30% (ROUGH DRAFT DUE OCT 28) (FINAL DRAFT DUE NOV 4)
In Class Essay: 10%
Peer Revision: 10%
Participation: 10%
Friday, August 12, 2011
WEEK TEN: NOVEMBER 14-18...WEEK TEN BLOG ENTRY
BLOG ENTRY:
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
The best writing I have done this quarter was our Restaurant Review. All of the blog questions, and then the readings with responses were charted, focused writing. They were meant to make us practice our critical thinking and analysis skills. In these, I tried to not incorporate my personal views on a subject, but discovered in myself that it’s almost too hard not to. The subjects were contemporary issues and many of us have preformed worldviews, while others of us are still constructing our identities. So, I found much of my blog reading response writing was based on the effect the articles had upon me personally, even though I was trying to be objective and unbiased. The Restaurant Review, however, was the most fun and easiest of assignments. Not easy in the regards that it was child’s play, but easy because I thoroughly enjoyed writing in this element. Dr. Schmoll asked us to engage our descriptive skills and that is how I am inspired literarily. I naturally observe people and their environments as me in my own environment passes through theirs, sharing a small amount of space and time during this life. It was fun putting down all that I saw, smelled, heard, felt, and thought during the drive to the restaurant, and experience of having my husband’s birthday dinner out while taking mental notes for the assignment. It was my best writing because I was able to engage my powers of observation and translate those to the story I was telling. While Dr. Schmoll pointed out that my review was a little “chatty” (and I am! ) I enjoyed his feedback and interest in what I had concocted. Perhaps because it also allowed me to write creatively which is how I love to write, telling stories, and that is why I enjoyed it so much and felt it was my best work this quarter. I have also enjoyed immensely reading all of the blogs and learning a little about each of us in this cyber class together. There are so many views and perceptions in this world, each as individual as all of us are, and that is what makes people and life so interesting. Thank you!
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter? After looking back at all my work, it is kind of hard to say what my best writing was for the overall quarter. I really enjoyed reading all the posts from my classmates. It was interesting to see their viewpoints on a topic. But if I had to choose what my best writing was I would say the response posts. I really liked this because it allowed me to reflect on how someone else understood a topic, and the viewpoints they pulled from the blog entry or the excerpts. It was a great way to interact and know that we weren’t judged by what we wrote or how we view things. I also found it helpful to read what others post before you post your main post because it allows you to see a different point of view, maybe which in turn persuaded you to change yours or just view the topic differently. I think that my response posts were my best writing for all of the above reasons, but also because I was interacting with someone else and reviewing another person’s work. I feel like I get more from somewhat reflecting on someone’s work and writing a response to their post than just writing a paper. Overall, this class has really allowed me to work on my writing and take the criticism I was given from Dr. Schmoll and hopefully use it to my advantage. It was an interesting course, I liked the blog entry topics because it allowed us to think out of the box, and not be so worried about how we responded, due to it being what we thought about the certain topic. I also liked the readings because they are all very controversial and important topics that are present in society today. I am glad I took this course and hope that everyone has a wonderful winter break! Stephanie Nodal
By far, this class was the class I enjoyed writing in. This was not a class with a daunting assignment every week that I did not want to do. The readings were all very fun. I do have to say I had a lot of fun reading the articles and that got my creative writing juices flowing so that my writing was more interesting. I do like everything that I have written this quarter, especially my "Tipping Point Paper". I learned a lot doing research for that paper and again, it was not a daunting task. It was extremely enjoyable and I also enjoyed my grade. I would have to say though that the best writing I have done this quarter in this class would be last week's entry about the most important job in the world. It may not be perfect and it is definitely stream of conciousness with a structure (if that makes sense). The reason I enjoyed that the most because I did not have to think about my answer. It has been a common theme through some of my writing in mentioning me being a mother. This is all new to me. Having a child is most definitely my most important job and it does not stop. I believe that piece of writing from last week was my best because it was an immediate response and I feel 100% passionate about it all the way around.
Tysanne, I have to say that it was really good seeing this past Saturday for our in-class essay. I do have to agree with you when you say that this class was enjoyable due to no daunting assignments. My writing came naturally as well. It was so easy to allow myself to write a response. I was not intimidated by the material which made the assignments so much more fun and enjoyable. I really did enjoy your post from last week, and I can understand why you feel that parenting is the most important job. I understand your view and one day I hope to have the same as about believing parenting is the most important job in the world. Anyways, I have enjoyed reading your posts over the quarter and hope the rest of the year goes as planned for you. Have a wonderful winter break! Stephanie Nodal
I think it is really interesting to read what you thought was your best writing. I agree with you in that the post help us with our critical thinking skills and finding ourselves. Overall great post:)
Having to pick one of my writings as my favorite or best is difficult, therefore I am going to say that I believe all my post had some good in them. I am personally not a good writer, in fact I find myself to kind of suck at it, but I really loved the way the posts gave me an opportunity to express myself. I do not think they were all great or one was extremely amazing, but I do think that each of them had some spark to it. I have never really had a course were I was able to analyze a situation or idea and give my point of view without being looked down upon or taunted for it. It was also great to read others posts; this helped gain new knowledge and new points of views. Overall this course offered me to be more open-minded and to really open up and use my critical thinking skills! Thumbs up on that Dr. Schmoll!
My favorite writings were the blog entries, because it forced you to think about things and actually answer some challenging questions. You also were able to see others opinions and open your mind to new things and ideas. I think that my best was during week one when asked what was the best movie of all time. This answer could be answered very simply, but when you think about reasons why you like a movie, you realize that some movies you just like for no apparent reason. I looked forward to the blog entries each week, and really enjoyed this class. I would always ask my friends the same questions, just to see the responses. It was nice to see everyone elses opinions and how differently each question could be answered depending on the person. I think the blog entries were my best writings, because I was able to write easily and enjoyable. I enjoy writing about things that don’t force you to read a book or any other article, I get the most from free writing. It allowed me to expand my mind and think outside the box. Lacey Patterson
Looking back at everything I've written this quarter, I would have to say that my restaurant review is the best writing I've done in this class. I should probably explain a bit about what I wrote. In general, even though I read reviews, I feel as though movie reviews, album reviews, and restaurant reviews can get pretty pretentious. So my review ended up basically being a satire of reviews. Taco Bell is a fast food chain, and isn't fancy or traditional at all, but I wrote about it as though the food was highly traditional Mexican cuisine, and how the homeless guys standing outside instead were very dedicated employees. It was likely my best work for a few reasons. Firstly, I wrote it pretty humorously, so I truly enjoyed getting to sit there and write. And since I enjoyed writing it so much, the ideas just flowed very naturally. Also, more so than anything else I had written this quarter, I actually brainstormed and planned out this report over about two weeks. However, it wasn’t just the humor and planning alone that made it my best writing. A lot of the knowledge I’ve gained from working in the kitchen of a restaurant for two and a half years helped greatly as well. I was able to use many clear, vivid descriptions for the décor and the food that I may not have been able to use had I not worked in a restaurant environment. Also, using a dictionary and thesaurus greatly helped my word choice.
So that’s probably why my restaurant review was my best writing. The blog posts definitely challenged me to think critically when responding, but they usually were written on the fly and had minimal editing. My Tipping Point essay suffered a bit too from planning less. It was largely written in a stream of consciousness approach, so that even though the subject matter interested me, rereading that essay was rather boring.
I felt my best writing during this course was demonstrated in our last paper relating to Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point. I wrote my paper on Electronic Dance Music becoming a tipping point in society. I felt that I illustrated many examples that related to the book; however, not having "data" or statistics on Electronic Dance Music's rapid populatity must have been my down fall. Overall, I am extremely passionate about the topic and excited that I got to depict Electronic Dance Music with relation to the assigned reading.
Matt You make me want to read your piece on Taco Bell. From your description above, it sounds as though you would change my mind about Taco Bell being just another fast food chain. I haven't had Taco Bell in over a year, but the way you have described it has made my mind start to wonder why I gave it up.
Matthew, I could really relate to your food and beverage expertise in light of your restaurant review. I had much the same experience. Don't you find you're much more aware when you are in any kind of restaurant?
I enjoyed that we all found the same things true in this course across a broad spectrum of students, ages, and worldviews. We all felt challenged by the blogs, and we all felt our best writing was a lot related to what we enjoy about writing or about life. This has been a very fun course, seems like it was not a lot of work because I enjoyed all the reading and writing. The Tipping Point was very intriguing as well.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season and school break, and wish much academic success for all of you!
Looking back on this quarter, I feel that all my blog entries have been my best writing because I enjoyed doing it! I have never written on a blog before, and especially not on a week by week basis. The topics were interesting and writing about them pushed me to express my thoughts and feelings which is something I am not used to. It was also enjoyable reading other people's thoughts and opinions. I also enjoyed the interaction commenting on each other's work. It was nice to feel the support of each other even in an online type course.
Laura, I also agree that the Restaurant Review was one of my favorites writing assignments. What a great idea to get us to explore our descriptive side while still having fun.
My best writing? I guess I would have to say my restaurant review. It was fun because it was a creative piece that I was able to take notes on at one of my favorite restaurants in town. It was interesting to see how much I have overlooked in my many visits there.
Writing the weekly blogs was interesting too. I mentioned in another post that when this class started, I went through each question and came up with a quick one liner – the first thing that came to mind. On most of them, I went with that thought and elaborated enough to have a pretty decent, well thought out answer. And then there were a couple of them that threw me off a bit. My one-liners weren’t so fitting after I started writing! All in all, they were certainly questions that challenged me and made me think critically. Looking inward and then writing down your personal thoughts can be a bit daunting, but as each week has gone by, it’s gotten a bit easier. Also, reading everyone else’s blogs has been interesting too. I like that there are so many different opinions and views on as many different topics. Overall this class has been great fun! Thanks Dr. S for a great class!
I actually enjoyed looking back at the blog entries, this quarter seemed to fly by. A few of the blogs made me smile and I remembered how I felt when I wrote it. I always look forward to the blog questions, they do not take any research, just thoughts. I would say all the questions were fun and I enjoyed responding to them. As for my best piece of writing I would have to say the tipping point paper. It helped to have someone proof read it before turning it in. I like to receive input other than when it is already graded and turned back to me. The book Tipping Point was a fun read and it really made me think about products and their tipping point. Olivia
Ross- This was my first "blog" experience too. I enjoyed it as well. I may even start a blog, I read somewhere these bloggers can make up to 10k a month for selling advertisements on their blog. Olivia
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
Looking back on everything I wrote this quarter, I will honestly admit that my writing has improved a vast amount due to the weekly blog posts. Therefore, I believe that the weekly blog posts have been the best writing that I have done throughout the quarter. As a college student, I usually sit in front of my computer and do a bit of research and a bit of brain storming before I begin to write a research paper, an essay, or just a simple assignment. However, I have never been asked to write about topics that will require me to use my imagination, my classmates’ responses to the topic as examples, or to truly express my personal feelings about the topic. The topics for the weekly blogs have made my imagination gone wild, and as a result, my writing has improved. I have learned to give more examples and more detail to my writing style, and that is key to writing, because examples really captivate readers’ attentions. Also, with so much practice, flow right out. Before, I would really have to sit and think of what I would write about. I came to conclude that the more writing we do, the better our writing gets. Therefore, I will continue to write as much as I can in order to improve my writing skills.
Moreover, I enjoyed writing the other assignments as well. With the restaurant review, I learned that descriptions make a piece of writing more interesting. With the Tipping Point essay, I learned that peer revision is very important, because we tend to make mistakes that can be easily fixed. I also learned that it is great to have someone else read our writings, because they might catch mistakes that we usually do not. I have truly benefited in taking this class.
By the way, I enjoyed reading all of your posts & I hope that you all have happy holidays!!
I, too, enjoyed reading all of our classmates post, because their viewpoints were interesting and they put things in other perspectives that I had not seen or paid too much attention too. I also believe that my best writing of the course have been me weekly blog post because they have allowed me to use my imagination.
Yes, I also loved that the weekly blog posts did not require us to do any further research, but only to use our imagination or give our own perspective on the issue. It was also nice to read other posts of the same issue or topic.
The best writing that I had done all quarter is my restaurant review. I feel like that was the easiest to write because it was so natural to talk about my favorite restaurant. I noticed much more than I would have normally while eating. It was also fun the share the story using strong, descriptive words. Writing this piece definitely made me realize that using descriptive words makes a piece of writing sound much better and less boring.
Looking back on everything from this quarter, I would say that my weekly blog posts have been my best writing. The readings and the weekly questions often made us write about a topic that we may not be familiar with. This made us think critically in order to answer the question or the questions about the reading we had during the week. It was interesting reading the other posts because not all of us have the same viewpoint on the topics. A few of the topics I enjoyed included the one about evil and the most important job in the world. The one about evil was very interesting because of the other responses. I believe that you can't have good without evil because they are like yin and yang. These weekly topics were fun to write about because of the wide range of topics. These weekly blog entries have been my best writing this quarter.
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
It's hard to say what my best writing has been, but it is easy to say what my favorite writing has been over the quarter. During week 6 we were asked if excess information is a problem. For me, this writing was the most fun and easiest to write because of how interested I was in the subject matter. Considering I spend most of my life completely intertwined with technology and bombarded with information, I had a lot to say on the topic. Writings where I felt I didn't do as well were always on topics that I wasn't interested in. When the reading didn't seem to apply to my daily life, I found it hard to write anything at all. The best part about these less exciting topics however was that it forced me to write anyway. One of the biggest problems I've always had with writing is simply starting. All these blog topics and responding to readings have really helped me get past this hurdle that I've struggled with for so long. Thank you Dr. Schmoll for a great class!
Looking back at everything I have written this quarter, I believe that my best writing has been the weekly blog entry assignments. I think that being required to write on a week to week basis has really improved my overall writing skills. Now, I know that I’m still not a great writer and that I still need to continue to practice, but being part of this, I noticed has really made a difference. I was so amazed at how fast I was able to complete my in class essay. I timed myself as I wrote, and noticed that it took me slightly over thirty minutes to write a whole essay. Before this class, I would have to agree that I would have never been able to do that. Incorporating our thoughts into these weekly blog entries has really allowed me to strengthen my writing abilities in the sense that I have learned to gather my thoughts and put them down on writing a lot easier and faster than I was able to do before. I also really enjoyed writing for the weekly blog assignments because it was writing that incorporated our views, interpretations, and opinions of which were not criticized or graded based on what we wrote. Initially, I thought that my best writing could have been the tipping point essay. However, all the time spent doing research and the paper itself unfortunately turned out in a grade that didn’t easily settle with me. Because of this, I decided that the best writing would have to be the weekly blog entries. I really enjoyed reading other peoples thoughts and opinions on the same subject matters.
I had also never participated in a blog before this course, but I think that it was a great and fun experience. I really enjoyed being part of it and I would definitely doing it again.
The best thing that I have written this quarter was the Restaurant Review. The reasoning for this is because of the detail that I gave. I love to read something that you can feel a part of and I believe detail is responsible for that. With the review I felt I was given a chance to express what I was thinking and put in down on paper. When I was writing the paper, I even made myself hungry and that is what I wanted the reader to feel. Its always hard to put down on paper what you are feeling inside. By using metaphors and similes it helps you take situations that most people have experienced, and put it towards something you are experimenting. All the topics in this class were interesting to write about, but the Restaurant Review was my favorite because it allowed me to go into detail with every point in the paper.
Out of all the writing assignments my best writing was the Tipping Point paper. I enjoyed reading the book and I like books like that. I felt like I made some pretty good points and I was brief and to the point. At first I really didn't want to take this class because writing is definitely not one of my strong points. I actually enjoyed writing on the blogs every week and reading everyone's opinion.
The best writing I think I have done this quarter would be weeks eight and nine. First, week eight with the question of why is there evil in the world? This particular question really got me thinking out side of the box. I really thought deeply about this question and I believe that I came to a good answer for myself. Second, week nine with the question what is the most important job in the world? I have to say that I never really have thought too much about this question, but once I thought about it, there really is no job more important than the next. They are all important; some just have more duties then others. I believe that these two weeks were some of my best writing because it forced me to critically think about a certain idea. I know the blog questions were set up in a way to make us all critically think, but weeks eight and nine really challenge me. Truly though, I like all of my writing I did this quarter. Form the restaurant review to the Gladwell paper, all of the writing challenge me and I think this quarter was some of the best writing I have done in college. I have to say that this was my first class that required the use of a blog and I liked it. I wish more of the classes would have done a blog like this. The blog allows input like a classroom. You write your opinion and you get to read other peoples opinion about the same topic. The blog allows for open discussion of a topic and generally you get to see both sides issues.
I enjoyed the restaurant assignment too! I was an easy and fun assignment.
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
Overall the writing I have completed this quarter, I would say the best writing and the most enjoyable writing would be the one I completed for the restaurant review. It was exciting and a great excuse to go out to eat. I remember that day people were looking at me weird because I was actually jotting down some observations while I was eating maybe a lot of observations. I really enjoyed all of the assignments because it was mostly a great learning experience to get to read other peoples perspectives on a topic. I feel that in a class setting I wouldn’t have been able to hear as much from people as I did here. Of course this course is designed to make sure the student critically think and it did for me. It really makes me think outside of the box and really just free write what I thought about the topic. At first before even registering for this course I was a little intimidated because English is not my best subject and I was taking it online so I was afraid I wasn’t going to do so well. However, this course was easy to understand. It was fairly easy all I had to do was read and write. Thank you Dr. Schmoll. This was a great class.
I think my best writing was that in class essay we did the other week. I always prefer to write when I can just give my opinion or tell a story as opposed to following strict guidelines. I would have liked a bit more time for the essay, but I think I still managed to explain the quick version pretty well. For the most part, a lot of the writing we did in this class was like that. It made it much more enjoyable to write every week. I hope you liked that in class essay Dr. Schmoll. All of those things actually happened. Looking back on it, it seems pretty ridiculous. C'est la vie!
I would say my best writing this quarter was in this class. Specifically, I think I did the best on the restaurant review because I learned how to pay attention to the smallest details and I was able to clearly paint a picture with words. I am used to writing to simply get the point across and that is it, but with the restaurant review I was able to experience another kind of writing that I do not do often and I truly enjoyed it. I liked how I had to pay close attention to my surroundings and every taste bud in my mouth when I ate my food. I think it was my best writing because I was able to gather all my information from my experience and put it down on paper with ease. It was not my best writing because it was easy, but it did help that it was an assignment that was enjoyable and based on my opinion and observations. I find my writings that are about opinions or observations to be better written because I know what my opinions are; therefore, much easier to structure my paper. Overall, I liked the blogs we did each week because some of them made me think critically about things I had never stopped to think about.
Helen, Some of the topics of writing in this class made me think outside of the box as well and it was a good experience because now I feel comfortable being able to analyze a prompt and think critically for a response instead of only stating the obvious.
I think that my best writing for this class was done through the discussions. It wasn't necessarily the most grammatically correct and error free writing, but i think it allowed to really use my imagination and thats when i feel i do my best writing. It allowed me to be more creative and use personal experiences. I loved all the writing we had to do for this class! It always got my mind flowing and it always helped me to just stop and think for a little while. I also really enjoyed reading everyone else's responses. it was really interesting to see what different people thought about different topics. My favorite classes are the ones where the biggest part is interacting with others, and so i really enjoyed this class. Thanks to you and all my peers in this class! Good luck to everyone during finals! -Haley Garmon
Kyle, If it wasnt for the discussions, thats what i would have thought was my best writing as well. I dont know it is just something about being given a topic and having to write it right away that always brings out my best work. -Haley Garmon
Stephanie, I also enjoyed responding to classmate’s posts, and reading others posts first before posting your own post. I agree that the interaction with other classmates was a very useful and unique way to get different ideas and opinions across. I always found it helpful to read other classmates answers before I confirm my post too, because like you said others can have good points and see things a different way than you. Good luck with the class, im sure you did great! -Christina manriquez
I feel my best writing this quarter were the blog entries. The blog entries forced me to think about a different topic each week and think about what my thoughts were on the topic. I enjoyed the challenge each week and how it made me critically analyse each topic. I feel my writing skills have improved with each passing week because of the thought I had to put into each topic as well.
Both of these entries are from Jim Adams Liz, I think your thoughts on your best writing in this class was your restaurant review are right on target. I enjoyed the writing of the review and can see how you would think it to be your best writing.
Liz, Sounds like your paper for the restaurant review was good! The writing you did seems like it was pretty detailed and sure you did a good job painting the picture for the professor. I’m glad you were able to expand your writing skills and enjoyed doing it as well. This writing was new for me too, I am use to research or papers on books and not soley on opinions or exeriences. Good luck with the class, and enjoy your break! -Christina Manriquez
Agustin, I too think that the weekly blog entries were very interesting and allowed us to think critically about them in order to respond. I also feel that my best writing were the responses to others writing because it allowed me to see different viewpoints and maybe even have my view point change due to a valid argument someone may have made. I really enjoyed this class and reading everyone’s posts. Like you, I liked the blog about evil. It was very interesting to read everyone else’s posts. Have a good break! Stephanie Nodal
My best writing would probably have to be the blog entries. I really enjoyed doing them and actually looked forward into seeing what the topic for the blog was. A lot of the blog questions were so interesting to me and I was interested into seeing what my classmates thought as well. Although many of the blogs were interesting and made me really think, my favorite had to be the one where if we thought kids were simply just playing or preparing for the real world; this blog seriously made me look at kids and really think about the question. Overall, I really enjoyed the blogs and of course reading everyone’s point of view on the blogs, and that is what made this class even more interesting. Good luck everyone with final grades and enjoy winter break! -Christina Manriquez
I just wanted to say that I like reading everyone’s blog post and had a great time understanding all the different viewpoints presented from all issues we were given. I wish I could have experience this blog in my other classes, but I glad to finish college like this.
Kryston, thanks! Yeah, I think if "Taco Bell" was replaced with any other Mexican restaurant, the review would seem pretty appealing. Unfortunately, while I eat there pretty often, Taco Bell is not the epitome of authentic Mexican cuisine.
Laura, definitely. Once you've worked in a restaurant you really become aware of everything else that's happening when you go out to eat.
It's been great to read everyone's blogs and to see so many different points of view. I have truly enjoyed this class - It's been fun! Enjoy the break and have blessed Christmas.
P.s. Dr. S, Thanks for challenging me with my writing skills!
I feel that the beat Writing that I did this quarter were the blog entries each week. This is because I was able to share my own personal opinion with everyone. Also, they got me to think about things that I honestly wouldn't normally think about on my own. Even though the topics seemed simple, once I started actually thinking of what to write I would sometimes realize that I had mixed opinions about some of the questions. Also, sometimes I would change my own opinion after reading some of the responses that others had. This is also why I enjoyed reading everyone else's blog posts as well. They gave me the chance to see things from different perspectives.
The best writing I have done this quarter was our Restaurant Review. All of the blog questions, and then the readings with responses were charted, focused writing. They were meant to make us practice our critical thinking and analysis skills. In these, I tried to not incorporate my personal views on a subject, but discovered in myself that it’s almost too hard not to. The subjects were contemporary issues and many of us have preformed worldviews, while others of us are still constructing our identities. So, I found much of my blog reading response writing was based on the effect the articles had upon me personally, even though I was trying to be objective and unbiased. The Restaurant Review, however, was the most fun and easiest of assignments. Not easy in the regards that it was child’s play, but easy because I thoroughly enjoyed writing in this element. Dr. Schmoll asked us to engage our descriptive skills and that is how I am inspired literarily. I naturally observe people and their environments as me in my own environment passes through theirs, sharing a small amount of space and time during this life. It was fun putting down all that I saw, smelled, heard, felt, and thought during the drive to the restaurant, and experience of having my husband’s birthday dinner out while taking mental notes for the assignment. It was my best writing because I was able to engage my powers of observation and translate those to the story I was telling. While Dr. Schmoll pointed out that my review was a little “chatty” (and I am! ) I enjoyed his feedback and interest in what I had concocted. Perhaps because it also allowed me to write creatively which is how I love to write, telling stories, and that is why I enjoyed it so much and felt it was my best work this quarter.
ReplyDeleteI have also enjoyed immensely reading all of the blogs and learning a little about each of us in this cyber class together. There are so many views and perceptions in this world, each as individual as all of us are, and that is what makes people and life so interesting. Thank you!
Laura Harris
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
ReplyDeleteAfter looking back at all my work, it is kind of hard to say what my best writing was for the overall quarter. I really enjoyed reading all the posts from my classmates. It was interesting to see their viewpoints on a topic. But if I had to choose what my best writing was I would say the response posts. I really liked this because it allowed me to reflect on how someone else understood a topic, and the viewpoints they pulled from the blog entry or the excerpts. It was a great way to interact and know that we weren’t judged by what we wrote or how we view things. I also found it helpful to read what others post before you post your main post because it allows you to see a different point of view, maybe which in turn persuaded you to change yours or just view the topic differently. I think that my response posts were my best writing for all of the above reasons, but also because I was interacting with someone else and reviewing another person’s work. I feel like I get more from somewhat reflecting on someone’s work and writing a response to their post than just writing a paper.
Overall, this class has really allowed me to work on my writing and take the criticism I was given from Dr. Schmoll and hopefully use it to my advantage. It was an interesting course, I liked the blog entry topics because it allowed us to think out of the box, and not be so worried about how we responded, due to it being what we thought about the certain topic. I also liked the readings because they are all very controversial and important topics that are present in society today. I am glad I took this course and hope that everyone has a wonderful winter break!
Stephanie Nodal
By far, this class was the class I enjoyed writing in. This was not a class with a daunting assignment every week that I did not want to do. The readings were all very fun. I do have to say I had a lot of fun reading the articles and that got my creative writing juices flowing so that my writing was more interesting. I do like everything that I have written this quarter, especially my "Tipping Point Paper". I learned a lot doing research for that paper and again, it was not a daunting task. It was extremely enjoyable and I also enjoyed my grade. I would have to say though that the best writing I have done this quarter in this class would be last week's entry about the most important job in the world. It may not be perfect and it is definitely stream of conciousness with a structure (if that makes sense). The reason I enjoyed that the most because I did not have to think about my answer. It has been a common theme through some of my writing in mentioning me being a mother. This is all new to me. Having a child is most definitely my most important job and it does not stop. I believe that piece of writing from last week was my best because it was an immediate response and I feel 100% passionate about it all the way around.
ReplyDeleteTysanne Cullum
Tysanne,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that it was really good seeing this past Saturday for our in-class essay. I do have to agree with you when you say that this class was enjoyable due to no daunting assignments. My writing came naturally as well. It was so easy to allow myself to write a response. I was not intimidated by the material which made the assignments so much more fun and enjoyable. I really did enjoy your post from last week, and I can understand why you feel that parenting is the most important job. I understand your view and one day I hope to have the same as about believing parenting is the most important job in the world. Anyways, I have enjoyed reading your posts over the quarter and hope the rest of the year goes as planned for you. Have a wonderful winter break!
Stephanie Nodal
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting to read what you thought was your best writing. I agree with you in that the post help us with our critical thinking skills and finding ourselves. Overall great post:)
Ana Garcia
Having to pick one of my writings as my favorite or best is difficult, therefore I am going to say that I believe all my post had some good in them. I am personally not a good writer, in fact I find myself to kind of suck at it, but I really loved the way the posts gave me an opportunity to express myself. I do not think they were all great or one was extremely amazing, but I do think that each of them had some spark to it. I have never really had a course were I was able to analyze a situation or idea and give my point of view without being looked down upon or taunted for it. It was also great to read others posts; this helped gain new knowledge and new points of views. Overall this course offered me to be more open-minded and to really open up and use my critical thinking skills! Thumbs up on that Dr. Schmoll!
ReplyDeleteAna Garcia
My favorite writings were the blog entries, because it forced you to think about things and actually answer some challenging questions. You also were able to see others opinions and open your mind to new things and ideas. I think that my best was during week one when asked what was the best movie of all time. This answer could be answered very simply, but when you think about reasons why you like a movie, you realize that some movies you just like for no apparent reason. I looked forward to the blog entries each week, and really enjoyed this class. I would always ask my friends the same questions, just to see the responses. It was nice to see everyone elses opinions and how differently each question could be answered depending on the person. I think the blog entries were my best writings, because I was able to write easily and enjoyable. I enjoy writing about things that don’t force you to read a book or any other article, I get the most from free writing. It allowed me to expand my mind and think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteLacey Patterson
Looking back at everything I've written this quarter, I would have to say that my restaurant review is the best writing I've done in this class. I should probably explain a bit about what I wrote. In general, even though I read reviews, I feel as though movie reviews, album reviews, and restaurant reviews can get pretty pretentious. So my review ended up basically being a satire of reviews. Taco Bell is a fast food chain, and isn't fancy or traditional at all, but I wrote about it as though the food was highly traditional Mexican cuisine, and how the homeless guys standing outside instead were very dedicated employees. It was likely my best work for a few reasons. Firstly, I wrote it pretty humorously, so I truly enjoyed getting to sit there and write. And since I enjoyed writing it so much, the ideas just flowed very naturally. Also, more so than anything else I had written this quarter, I actually brainstormed and planned out this report over about two weeks. However, it wasn’t just the humor and planning alone that made it my best writing. A lot of the knowledge I’ve gained from working in the kitchen of a restaurant for two and a half years helped greatly as well. I was able to use many clear, vivid descriptions for the décor and the food that I may not have been able to use had I not worked in a restaurant environment. Also, using a dictionary and thesaurus greatly helped my word choice.
ReplyDeleteSo that’s probably why my restaurant review was my best writing. The blog posts definitely challenged me to think critically when responding, but they usually were written on the fly and had minimal editing. My Tipping Point essay suffered a bit too from planning less. It was largely written in a stream of consciousness approach, so that even though the subject matter interested me, rereading that essay was rather boring.
-Matthew Jeffries
I felt my best writing during this course was demonstrated in our last paper relating to Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point. I wrote my paper on Electronic Dance Music becoming a tipping point in society. I felt that I illustrated many examples that related to the book; however, not having "data" or statistics on Electronic Dance Music's rapid populatity must have been my down fall. Overall, I am extremely passionate about the topic and excited that I got to depict Electronic Dance Music with relation to the assigned reading.
ReplyDeleteKryston Honea
Matt
ReplyDeleteYou make me want to read your piece on Taco Bell. From your description above, it sounds as though you would change my mind about Taco Bell being just another fast food chain. I haven't had Taco Bell in over a year, but the way you have described it has made my mind start to wonder why I gave it up.
Kryston Honea
Matthew, I could really relate to your food and beverage expertise in light of your restaurant review. I had much the same experience. Don't you find you're much more aware when you are in any kind of restaurant?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that we all found the same things true in this course across a broad spectrum of students, ages, and worldviews. We all felt challenged by the blogs, and we all felt our best writing was a lot related to what we enjoy about writing or about life. This has been a very fun course, seems like it was not a lot of work because I enjoyed all the reading and writing. The Tipping Point was very intriguing as well.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season and school break, and wish much academic success for all of you!
Laura Harris
Looking back on this quarter, I feel that all my blog entries have been my best writing because I enjoyed doing it! I have never written on a blog before, and especially not on a week by week basis. The topics were interesting and writing about them pushed me to express my thoughts and feelings which is something I am not used to. It was also enjoyable reading other people's thoughts and opinions. I also enjoyed the interaction commenting on each other's work. It was nice to feel the support of each other even in an online type course.
ReplyDeleteRoss Hoffmann
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the Restaurant Review was one of my favorites writing assignments. What a great idea to get us to explore our descriptive side while still having fun.
Ross Hoffmann
My best writing? I guess I would have to say my restaurant review. It was fun because it was a creative piece that I was able to take notes on at one of my favorite restaurants in town. It was interesting to see how much I have overlooked in my many visits there.
ReplyDeleteWriting the weekly blogs was interesting too. I mentioned in another post that when this class started, I went through each question and came up with a quick one liner – the first thing that came to mind. On most of them, I went with that thought and elaborated enough to have a pretty decent, well thought out answer. And then there were a couple of them that threw me off a bit. My one-liners weren’t so fitting after I started writing! All in all, they were certainly questions that challenged me and made me think critically. Looking inward and then writing down your personal thoughts can be a bit daunting, but as each week has gone by, it’s gotten a bit easier. Also, reading everyone else’s blogs has been interesting too. I like that there are so many different opinions and views on as many different topics. Overall this class has been great fun! Thanks Dr. S for a great class!
Theresa F.
I actually enjoyed looking back at the blog entries, this quarter seemed to fly by. A few of the blogs made me smile and I remembered how I felt when I wrote it. I always look forward to the blog questions, they do not take any research, just thoughts. I would say all the questions were fun and I enjoyed responding to them. As for my best piece of writing I would have to say the tipping point paper. It helped to have someone proof read it before turning it in. I like to receive input other than when it is already graded and turned back to me. The book Tipping Point was a fun read and it really made me think about products and their tipping point.
ReplyDeleteOlivia
Ross-
ReplyDeleteThis was my first "blog" experience too. I enjoyed it as well. I may even start a blog, I read somewhere these bloggers can make up to 10k a month for selling advertisements on their blog.
Olivia
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
ReplyDeleteLooking back on everything I wrote this quarter, I will honestly admit that my writing has improved a vast amount due to the weekly blog posts. Therefore, I believe that the weekly blog posts have been the best writing that I have done throughout the quarter. As a college student, I usually sit in front of my computer and do a bit of research and a bit of brain storming before I begin to write a research paper, an essay, or just a simple assignment. However, I have never been asked to write about topics that will require me to use my imagination, my classmates’ responses to the topic as examples, or to truly express my personal feelings about the topic. The topics for the weekly blogs have made my imagination gone wild, and as a result, my writing has improved. I have learned to give more examples and more detail to my writing style, and that is key to writing, because examples really captivate readers’ attentions. Also, with so much practice, flow right out. Before, I would really have to sit and think of what I would write about. I came to conclude that the more writing we do, the better our writing gets. Therefore, I will continue to write as much as I can in order to improve my writing skills.
Moreover, I enjoyed writing the other assignments as well. With the restaurant review, I learned that descriptions make a piece of writing more interesting. With the Tipping Point essay, I learned that peer revision is very important, because we tend to make mistakes that can be easily fixed. I also learned that it is great to have someone else read our writings, because they might catch mistakes that we usually do not. I have truly benefited in taking this class.
By the way, I enjoyed reading all of your posts & I hope that you all have happy holidays!!
-Dacia Zamora
Stephanie Nodal-
ReplyDeleteI, too, enjoyed reading all of our classmates post, because their viewpoints were interesting and they put things in other perspectives that I had not seen or paid too much attention too. I also believe that my best writing of the course have been me weekly blog post because they have allowed me to use my imagination.
-Dacia Zamora
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteYes, I also loved that the weekly blog posts did not require us to do any further research, but only to use our imagination or give our own perspective on the issue. It was also nice to read other posts of the same issue or topic.
-Dacia Zamora
The best writing that I had done all quarter is my restaurant review. I feel like that was the easiest to write because it was so natural to talk about my favorite restaurant. I noticed much more than I would have normally while eating. It was also fun the share the story using strong, descriptive words. Writing this piece definitely made me realize that using descriptive words makes a piece of writing sound much better and less boring.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Betancourt
Ross And Olivia
ReplyDeleteThis was also my first blog entry wriiten experience and I also enjoyed a lot like you. veena kumari
Looking back on everything from this quarter, I would say that my weekly blog posts have been my best writing. The readings and the weekly questions often made us write about a topic that we may not be familiar with. This made us think critically in order to answer the question or the questions about the reading we had during the week. It was interesting reading the other posts because not all of us have the same viewpoint on the topics. A few of the topics I enjoyed included the one about evil and the most important job in the world. The one about evil was very interesting because of the other responses. I believe that you can't have good without evil because they are like yin and yang. These weekly topics were fun to write about because of the wide range of topics. These weekly blog entries have been my best writing this quarter.
ReplyDeleteAgustin Garcia
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say what my best writing has been, but it is easy to say what my favorite writing has been over the quarter. During week 6 we were asked if excess information is a problem. For me, this writing was the most fun and easiest to write because of how interested I was in the subject matter. Considering I spend most of my life completely intertwined with technology and bombarded with information, I had a lot to say on the topic. Writings where I felt I didn't do as well were always on topics that I wasn't interested in. When the reading didn't seem to apply to my daily life, I found it hard to write anything at all. The best part about these less exciting topics however was that it forced me to write anyway. One of the biggest problems I've always had with writing is simply starting. All these blog topics and responding to readings have really helped me get past this hurdle that I've struggled with for so long. Thank you Dr. Schmoll for a great class!
Looking back at everything I have written this quarter, I believe that my best writing has been the weekly blog entry assignments. I think that being required to write on a week to week basis has really improved my overall writing skills. Now, I know that I’m still not a great writer and that I still need to continue to practice, but being part of this, I noticed has really made a difference. I was so amazed at how fast I was able to complete my in class essay. I timed myself as I wrote, and noticed that it took me slightly over thirty minutes to write a whole essay. Before this class, I would have to agree that I would have never been able to do that. Incorporating our thoughts into these weekly blog entries has really allowed me to strengthen my writing abilities in the sense that I have learned to gather my thoughts and put them down on writing a lot easier and faster than I was able to do before. I also really enjoyed writing for the weekly blog assignments because it was writing that incorporated our views, interpretations, and opinions of which were not criticized or graded based on what we wrote.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I thought that my best writing could have been the tipping point essay. However, all the time spent doing research and the paper itself unfortunately turned out in a grade that didn’t easily settle with me. Because of this, I decided that the best writing would have to be the weekly blog entries.
I really enjoyed reading other peoples thoughts and opinions on the same subject matters.
Brenda Castro
Ross and Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI had also never participated in a blog before this course, but I think that it was a great and fun experience. I really enjoyed being part of it and I would definitely doing it again.
Brenda Castro
The best thing that I have written this quarter was the Restaurant Review. The reasoning for this is because of the detail that I gave. I love to read something that you can feel a part of and I believe detail is responsible for that. With the review I felt I was given a chance to express what I was thinking and put in down on paper. When I was writing the paper, I even made myself hungry and that is what I wanted the reader to feel. Its always hard to put down on paper what you are feeling inside. By using metaphors and similes it helps you take situations that most people have experienced, and put it towards something you are experimenting. All the topics in this class were interesting to write about, but the Restaurant Review was my favorite because it allowed me to go into detail with every point in the paper.
ReplyDeleteLindsey McGuire
This was my first blog writing as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with several of you that my best writing was the tipping point.
Ryan Barker
Out of all the writing assignments my best writing was the Tipping Point paper. I enjoyed reading the book and I like books like that. I felt like I made some pretty good points and I was brief and to the point. At first I really didn't want to take this class because writing is definitely not one of my strong points. I actually enjoyed writing on the blogs every week and reading everyone's opinion.
ReplyDeleteRyan Barker
The best writing I think I have done this quarter would be weeks eight and nine. First, week eight with the question of why is there evil in the world? This particular question really got me thinking out side of the box. I really thought deeply about this question and I believe that I came to a good answer for myself. Second, week nine with the question what is the most important job in the world? I have to say that I never really have thought too much about this question, but once I thought about it, there really is no job more important than the next. They are all important; some just have more duties then others. I believe that these two weeks were some of my best writing because it forced me to critically think about a certain idea. I know the blog questions were set up in a way to make us all critically think, but weeks eight and nine really challenge me. Truly though, I like all of my writing I did this quarter. Form the restaurant review to the Gladwell paper, all of the writing challenge me and I think this quarter was some of the best writing I have done in college. I have to say that this was my first class that required the use of a blog and I liked it. I wish more of the classes would have done a blog like this. The blog allows input like a classroom. You write your opinion and you get to read other peoples opinion about the same topic. The blog allows for open discussion of a topic and generally you get to see both sides issues.
ReplyDeleteNealson Hanner
Laura Harris,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the restaurant assignment too! I was an easy and fun assignment.
Look back on everything you have written this quarter. What is the best writing you have done this quarter?
Overall the writing I have completed this quarter, I would say the best writing and the most enjoyable writing would be the one I completed for the restaurant review. It was exciting and a great excuse to go out to eat. I remember that day people were looking at me weird because I was actually jotting down some observations while I was eating maybe a lot of observations. I really enjoyed all of the assignments because it was mostly a great learning experience to get to read other peoples perspectives on a topic. I feel that in a class setting I wouldn’t have been able to hear as much from people as I did here. Of course this course is designed to make sure the student critically think and it did for me. It really makes me think outside of the box and really just free write what I thought about the topic. At first before even registering for this course I was a little intimidated because English is not my best subject and I was taking it online so I was afraid I wasn’t going to do so well. However, this course was easy to understand. It was fairly easy all I had to do was read and write. Thank you Dr. Schmoll. This was a great class.
Helen Rosario
I think my best writing was that in class essay we did the other week. I always prefer to write when I can just give my opinion or tell a story as opposed to following strict guidelines. I would have liked a bit more time for the essay, but I think I still managed to explain the quick version pretty well. For the most part, a lot of the writing we did in this class was like that. It made it much more enjoyable to write every week. I hope you liked that in class essay Dr. Schmoll. All of those things actually happened. Looking back on it, it seems pretty ridiculous. C'est la vie!
ReplyDelete-Kyle Bennett
I would say my best writing this quarter was in this class. Specifically, I think I did the best on the restaurant review because I learned how to pay attention to the smallest details and I was able to clearly paint a picture with words. I am used to writing to simply get the point across and that is it, but with the restaurant review I was able to experience another kind of writing that I do not do often and I truly enjoyed it. I liked how I had to pay close attention to my surroundings and every taste bud in my mouth when I ate my food. I think it was my best writing because I was able to gather all my information from my experience and put it down on paper with ease. It was not my best writing because it was easy, but it did help that it was an assignment that was enjoyable and based on my opinion and observations. I find my writings that are about opinions or observations to be better written because I know what my opinions are; therefore, much easier to structure my paper. Overall, I liked the blogs we did each week because some of them made me think critically about things I had never stopped to think about.
ReplyDelete-Liz Sanchez
Helen,
ReplyDeleteSome of the topics of writing in this class made me think outside of the box as well and it was a good experience because now I feel comfortable being able to analyze a prompt and think critically for a response instead of only stating the obvious.
-Liz Sanchez
I think that my best writing for this class was done through the discussions. It wasn't necessarily the most grammatically correct and error free writing, but i think it allowed to really use my imagination and thats when i feel i do my best writing. It allowed me to be more creative and use personal experiences. I loved all the writing we had to do for this class! It always got my mind flowing and it always helped me to just stop and think for a little while. I also really enjoyed reading everyone else's responses. it was really interesting to see what different people thought about different topics. My favorite classes are the ones where the biggest part is interacting with others, and so i really enjoyed this class.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you and all my peers in this class!
Good luck to everyone during finals!
-Haley Garmon
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteIf it wasnt for the discussions, thats what i would have thought was my best writing as well. I dont know it is just something about being given a topic and having to write it right away that always brings out my best work.
-Haley Garmon
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed responding to classmate’s posts, and reading others posts first before posting your own post. I agree that the interaction with other classmates was a very useful and unique way to get different ideas and opinions across. I always found it helpful to read other classmates answers before I confirm my post too, because like you said others can have good points and see things a different way than you. Good luck with the class, im sure you did great!
-Christina manriquez
I feel my best writing this quarter were the blog entries. The blog entries forced me to think about a different topic each week and think about what my thoughts were on the topic. I enjoyed the challenge each week and how it made me critically analyse each topic. I feel my writing skills have improved with each passing week because of the thought I had to put into each topic as well.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these entries are from Jim Adams
ReplyDeleteLiz,
I think your thoughts on your best writing in this class was your restaurant review are right on target. I enjoyed the writing of the review and can see how you would think it to be your best writing.
Liz,
ReplyDeleteSounds like your paper for the restaurant review was good! The writing you did seems like it was pretty detailed and sure you did a good job painting the picture for the professor. I’m glad you were able to expand your writing skills and enjoyed doing it as well. This writing was new for me too, I am use to research or papers on books and not soley on opinions or exeriences. Good luck with the class, and enjoy your break!
-Christina Manriquez
Agustin,
ReplyDeleteI too think that the weekly blog entries were very interesting and allowed us to think critically about them in order to respond. I also feel that my best writing were the responses to others writing because it allowed me to see different viewpoints and maybe even have my view point change due to a valid argument someone may have made. I really enjoyed this class and reading everyone’s posts. Like you, I liked the blog about evil. It was very interesting to read everyone else’s posts. Have a good break!
Stephanie Nodal
My best writing would probably have to be the blog entries. I really enjoyed doing them and actually looked forward into seeing what the topic for the blog was. A lot of the blog questions were so interesting to me and I was interested into seeing what my classmates thought as well. Although many of the blogs were interesting and made me really think, my favorite had to be the one where if we thought kids were simply just playing or preparing for the real world; this blog seriously made me look at kids and really think about the question. Overall, I really enjoyed the blogs and of course reading everyone’s point of view on the blogs, and that is what made this class even more interesting. Good luck everyone with final grades and enjoy winter break!
ReplyDelete-Christina Manriquez
I just wanted to say that I like reading everyone’s blog post and had a great time understanding all the different viewpoints presented from all issues we were given. I wish I could have experience this blog in my other classes, but I glad to finish college like this.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Nealson Hanner
Kryston, thanks! Yeah, I think if "Taco Bell" was replaced with any other Mexican restaurant, the review would seem pretty appealing. Unfortunately, while I eat there pretty often, Taco Bell is not the epitome of authentic Mexican cuisine.
ReplyDeleteLaura, definitely. Once you've worked in a restaurant you really become aware of everything else that's happening when you go out to eat.
-Matthew Jeffries
To all,
ReplyDeleteIt's been great to read everyone's blogs and to see so many different points of view. I have truly enjoyed this class - It's been fun! Enjoy the break and have blessed Christmas.
P.s. Dr. S, Thanks for challenging me with my writing skills!
Theresa F.
I feel that the beat Writing that I did this quarter were the blog entries each week. This is because I was able to share my own personal opinion with everyone. Also, they got me to think about things that I honestly wouldn't normally think about on my own. Even though the topics seemed simple, once I started actually thinking of what to write I would sometimes realize that I had mixed opinions about some of the questions. Also, sometimes I would change my own opinion after reading some of the responses that others had. This is also why I enjoyed reading everyone else's blog posts as well. They gave me the chance to see things from different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteAshley Cockrell