I didn't really want to post a picture or anything, but I just wanted to say congratulations to everyone for finishing up this summer course. I actually, somewhat, enjoyed reading some of your guys' posts and learning about issues that I didn't even know really existed. Have a wonderful rest of your summer, and I hope to see you guys around school!
I always enjoy meeting new people in person and making new friends. I am a firm believe that connections are one of the most important parts in life for happiness and success. Feel free to email me, call/text me, or whatever other source of communication there is. I am always down to meet new people and make new friends!
Good luck to you all!
GO WILDCATS, AND BEAR DOWN!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Project 4
Dear Classmates and Instructor,
In high school, going through math courses and science courses and so on, almost every single student wonders why they are learning about what they are learning and when are they ever actually going to use it in the real world. English or composition is perhaps one of the few classes in which that question is not heard often. Whether the level of the class is first year language, AP Literature, or College Composition, English class is important because it teaches us communication and allows us to understand life on a deeper level. Throughout my entire writing career, my writing was absolutely, undoubtedly, unfortunately, far below par. I was an unorganized, thoughtless, and immature seventh grader who did not understand the power of words. As the year progressed, my writing developed and I began to get a feel for who I was a writer and my abilities as a writer as well. My first year composition classes have certainly taught me a significant amount about myself as a writer, Over the years, my writing has greatly improved and has taught me a lot about myself, and this development is due to; excessive brainstorming, countless hours writing, reading, and researching (even when it seemed impossible), and reviewing and editing.
I used to think that brainstorming was pointless. I thought that I could just think about what I was going to write and then successfully write about it without jotting down any notes or anything to help my thought process move along quicker and smoother. My first-year composition courses have proven to me that brainstorming and planning is an important step in the writing process and it actually makes writing a lot easier. The lightbulb in my head flickered when we began doing brainstorming activities such as bubble maps and other things similar to that. When I first used Google Draw to create my first bubble map, Cluster of Robots Vs Humans Controversy, I was intrigued by how much the cluster aided me in my writing later on. It seemed too easy to just go back to my cluster and make sure that I was remaining on the correct track with what I was trying to accomplish in the first place. That cluster lead me to the epiphany that made me realize how important brainstorming is. Brainstorming definitely improved my writing from what it was a few years ago. When I would write without a good amount of brainstorming, I would often lose sight of what I was trying to say. I would get off topic. I would be unorganized. I would do all sorts of crazy things. Brainstorming developed me as, not only a writer, but a person as well. It emphasized to me how important planning is and how planning things ahead of time can create ease in the future.
After all of the brainstorming that goes into writing, sometimes writing can get boring, monotonous and just flat out frustrating. I feel like frustration comes to me so much quicker than anyone else when I am writing. When I spend hours and hours sitting on the computer, typing in words and hoping that I find something worth while to write about, I get sick of English class altogether. I will admit, this class gave me plenty of opportunities of frustration and boredom, but I never gave up. I was fortunate enough to have found a topic of research that interested me greatly. In my first project, Robots Vs. Humans: Who does the future belong to?, I wrote about robotics and their influence on the world. I researched this topic in great detail and had a decently enjoyable time doing it. Although I spent hours trying to find out that Miguel Valez, a student from the University of St. Thomas, said that “Robots are certain to become an ever-increasingly important part of daily life, but it will be up to society to determine the degree of acceptability of robots in the workplace and in our personal lives,” I enjoyed learning a lot about the topic (Valez 7). Because of all of this searching and writing, I learned that I need to find something worth writing about. I think I hated writing sometimes because what I was writing about was not interesting to me. Since I found something that I actually cared about and wanted to learn more, I was able to adequately research and learn about the topic without disliking it so much that I wanted to stop writing all of the time. Through my long hours of researching and writing, I have developed as a writer and I learned a lot about what I enjoy and that I find it easy to write about something that I actually enjoy.
Similar to brainstorming, the importance of reviewing and revising was not very apparent to me until taking my first year composition courses. Obviously, throughout my English classes, I have revised and edited practically all of my papers, but I never really thought that it was too important. This course especially made me realize the value of revising and editing. As I stated in Reflection on Project 3, “The main thing that I learned from this reflection is how mistakes can be made very easy, and thus, it is important to get editing done by someone else, along with multiple times yourself.” This was true for just about every one of my works of writing throughout this course. When I wrote a paper for the first time, even though I was careful, there was always something that sounds right or looks correct that really isn’t. Reviewing big projects as well as smaller assignments allowed me to see my writing with fresh eyes and try to put a new perspective on the way I was viewing a word, sentence, or paragraph. There were many times that I would find little mistakes in my writing when I went back through and re-read and revised my writing. Revising and editing developed me as a writer because it made me understand the importance of double checking and making sure that you know exactly what you are saying/writing and also exactly what you mean by it.
Since my early years of reading and writing, I have significantly developed as a reader and also as a writer. I have learned to be more careful, more evaluative, but also quicker in my thinking and my writing. I hope to continue this trend in the future so that my writing can be well above par when I begin my career and I go off into the real world. English, LIterature, and Composition are an important part of everyone's lives. Words are all around us and it is helpful to be able to read, understand, and interpret the words that we are saying. My English class experience has taught me a lot about myself in terms of my writing, but also in terms of who I am as a person. I see things differently (in a good way) than I used to, and I hope to continue to develop as a person so that I can see things in an even better and more evaluative way.
Sincerly,
Jake H. Glatting
Sources Cited
Glatting, Jake (2015). Robots Vs. Humans: Who does the future belong to? The Gladiator Blog. University of Arizona.
Velez, Miguel (2015). Current and Future Relationships Between Humans and Robots. 1-9. University of St. Thomas.
Glatting, Jake (2015). Cluster of Robots Vs Humans Controversy. The Gladiator Blog. University of Arizona.
Glatting, Jake (2015). Reflection on Project 3. The Gladiator Blog. University of Arizona.
Reflection on Open Letter Draft
Again, the two drafts that I edited and commented on are:
Brittany Newland
Jess Gonzalez
Who, specifically, is going to be reading this essay? Or who am I trying o reach with my argument? (My instructor, my classmates, members of my academic community, members of the local community, etc.)
My classmates are going to read this essay.
What biases might my readers have? Am I respecting their opinions while also achieving my own purpose?
My readers may have a couple different biases bases on their own personal experience with writing. For example, I have a bias that I like planning more than I like revising. Some people may share this bias with me or have a completely different bias all together. This was an opinionated essay, so I mostly just stated my feelings, but I think I did it in a polite enough way that my classmates will not get offended by anything that I said.
What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
Their values are most likely similar to mine because we are all students taking English 102. Some people may value English composition a little more than I do or a little less than I do, but every one has similar values to the course. Because of the prompt, they expected me to write about my feelings towards English and how I plan to use this in the future. I adequately met these expectations by following along with the prompt.
How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
Factual information is not the most important thing in this essay. The most important thing is making sure that I am explaining my own feelings and showing evidence to my claims from my past work. All of the background that my readers need is just past evidence of my own writing. I do not feel as though I insulted anyones expertise. All I did with this essay was explain my feelings towards English Composition.
What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
A casual, yet academic language is suitable for this audience. If the paper was more factual and more research based than I would need to be a little bit more formal with my writing. This paper was written for other college students who are in the same class as me. The casual, yet academic language seemed very suitable for this essay.
What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
I used an informative and emotional tone with my audience. I wanted to inform them of my own thoughts and feelings on the subject. I consistently used this tone throughout the entirety of my letter. I made sure to speak my mind, but I also kept my conventions and my organization in full strength.
Brittany Newland
Jess Gonzalez
Who, specifically, is going to be reading this essay? Or who am I trying o reach with my argument? (My instructor, my classmates, members of my academic community, members of the local community, etc.)
My classmates are going to read this essay.
What biases might my readers have? Am I respecting their opinions while also achieving my own purpose?
My readers may have a couple different biases bases on their own personal experience with writing. For example, I have a bias that I like planning more than I like revising. Some people may share this bias with me or have a completely different bias all together. This was an opinionated essay, so I mostly just stated my feelings, but I think I did it in a polite enough way that my classmates will not get offended by anything that I said.
What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
Their values are most likely similar to mine because we are all students taking English 102. Some people may value English composition a little more than I do or a little less than I do, but every one has similar values to the course. Because of the prompt, they expected me to write about my feelings towards English and how I plan to use this in the future. I adequately met these expectations by following along with the prompt.
How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
Factual information is not the most important thing in this essay. The most important thing is making sure that I am explaining my own feelings and showing evidence to my claims from my past work. All of the background that my readers need is just past evidence of my own writing. I do not feel as though I insulted anyones expertise. All I did with this essay was explain my feelings towards English Composition.
What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
A casual, yet academic language is suitable for this audience. If the paper was more factual and more research based than I would need to be a little bit more formal with my writing. This paper was written for other college students who are in the same class as me. The casual, yet academic language seemed very suitable for this essay.
What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
I used an informative and emotional tone with my audience. I wanted to inform them of my own thoughts and feelings on the subject. I consistently used this tone throughout the entirety of my letter. I made sure to speak my mind, but I also kept my conventions and my organization in full strength.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Draft of Open Letter
Here is my Draft of My Open Letter.
In this draft, I am hoping that you learn a little bit about me and where I came from as a writer. As stated in the rubric, I tried to be pretty medium about my casual-ness. I tried to speak to you as if I was just rambling on, but with obvious guidelines and organization. I would like you to keep in my mind my organization when reading this. It is one thing that I struggle on when writing casual pieces like this. I hope you are able to relate to my feelings in one way or another.
Enjoy.
In this draft, I am hoping that you learn a little bit about me and where I came from as a writer. As stated in the rubric, I tried to be pretty medium about my casual-ness. I tried to speak to you as if I was just rambling on, but with obvious guidelines and organization. I would like you to keep in my mind my organization when reading this. It is one thing that I struggle on when writing casual pieces like this. I hope you are able to relate to my feelings in one way or another.
Enjoy.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Reflecting On My Writing Experience
REFLECT ON:
1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year composition courses.
Because of my Advanced Placement Literature course, I learned a lot about reading more into works of writing for what they imply and what they mean, rather than just the words on the page. I feel as though a lot of first year writing is about analyzing and understanding what an author means and why he is saying what he is saying.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year composition courses.
The most important lessons that I learned as a reader and writer because of my first-year composition courses mostly involve time management and making sure I keep a routine. In English 101, my scheduled consisted of full time student, full time athlete, engineering projects, etc. This was not easy to manage. For my English 102 course, I was demanded over three times the amount of course work during the week, along with a full time job working outside in the heat, with early hours and long drives, along with being an athlete and performing off-season training. This was even harder than performing English 101 in the fall. This course definitely proved to myself that I still maintain excellent time management skills, and the ability to stick to a routine and post things, on time, when the need to posted.
3. The ways you brainstormed, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements.
There were a few new ways to brainstorm and make sure that my ideas were organized and developed. Using Google Draw, I was able to make bubble maps of what I wanted to discuss in my writing. This was good tool for me to use because it allowed me to visualize what I wanted to write about before I actually wrote about it. In relation to thesis statements, my biggest realization was that thesis statements do not have to be one sentence long. It is often easier to develop your thesis into two sentences so that your writing flows much more smoothly.
4. The peer-review process, including what you offered and what you received.
I felt as though my peers did a wonderful job of listening to what I was hoping for when reviewing my paper and editing accordingly. Sometimes, people can be too lenient because they don't want to hurt your feelings by saying that you some of your writing flat out stinks. I was appreciative when seeing comments that told me to change things because it wasn't very good. That type of criticism is very helpful to me because it makes me re-read and reconsider what I am writing and whether or not I like my own writing.
5. Individual or small-group conferences with your instructor.
We did not have any conferences with the instructor. I emailed back and forth with Ms. Wolfe a few times. She was relatively quick with her responses and was good with communication.
6. The discussion you had about your paper with people who were not in your class.
Most of the discussions about my paper I had with people outside of class were my parents. They were helpful in giving me advice and just discussing my topic. My parents were fascinated by my topic of controversy so it was easy to discuss with them my own thoughts and the facts about what was going on.
7. How yo approached the revision process for each essay.
I approached the revision process very simply. I read back through what I wanted my peers to see and edit on my paper and I went through my own paper just like I wanted my peers to do. I would read my papers slowly through in hopes that being slow and considerate of everything would allow me to see all of my mistakes without missing many.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres.
I learned a lot about reading and writing in different genres. I never considered the effect that writing to a specific audience can have on the quality of your writing. I thought it was really interesting to consider different genres and see how different genres are set up, how they are written, and the specific examples of different genres and their effectiveness. I feel as though I have a strong grasp on writing to specific audiences and appealing to their specific ideals and appeals.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take your first-year composition courses again.
I would not do much differently if I were to retake my first-year composition courses. To be quite honest, I would not want to take them again. I am not the biggest fan of English composition. It is sometimes cool to learn about different methods of writing and reading and analyzing, but sometimes I just get bored. I get the feeling, often, that the work that I am performing is monotonous and repetitive. I don't like to do things over and over again.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career.
College writing taught me a lot, though. I am glad that I learned how to appeal to different audiences. I think that will play a really big part in my future as an engineer. Understanding how to write differently to your boss than you do to your coworkers or to the public will be crucial to my effectiveness as an engineer and my ability to get promoted and move up the rankings within my job.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
11. What did you learn (from specific a writing assignment, from a specific experience, or from the semester as a whole)?
I think I took more from the semester as a whole than I did from any one particular assignment or experience from the class. I learned more about audience and how you can speak differently within the same research topic depending upon who you want to reach and how you want to reach them. As a person, as I stated before, I learned more about myself in the time management fields. It was cool to see my real life time management skills at work. There were many days that I felt like I wasn't going to be able to get everything done, but somehow I managed to prevail. I learned that I am stronger and better than I thought I was with scheduling and making sure I accomplish my goals.
12. Did the choices you made, or writing experiences you and, reinforce something you already knew about yourself or about writing?
I chose to write about robotics and their influence on the world. This was a choice that stuck with my though the entirety of the class. I learned a lot about robots and their impact. This choice certainly reinforced my appreciation for the sciences and continued to further my interest in technology and more specifically engineering.
13. If you did not gain as much from a particular project as you had hoped, what are the possible reasons for that and what might you do differently next time?
I think every project that we managed to do exceeded my expectations for what I would learn and what I would gain from it. I didn't have much of an expectation to begin with, so it wasn't difficult to beat, but everything exceeding the expectation that I had, drastically. I felt as though I actually came away with some valuable skills, knowledge, and experience that I was not expecting to have acquired.
14. Think about the course objectives listen on your syllabus as you consider you success in the class. What course objections did you meet? What objectives are you still working on?
The main course goals that are listed on the syllabus are as follows: help students write for varied audiences and situations, find and evaluate sources, make critically aware decisions about how best to achieve their purposes at the university and beyond, and to prepare students for further research and writing in their future fields of academic work. I think that I met all of these objectives throughout this course. I have noted how I have learned to write for audiences and situations. I surely learned more about finding valid sources and evaluating them for use in my own way. I definitely feel more prepared to write in my future field of academic work (engineering). This course taught me how to write better, more fluent, more organized, and more valid. Although the class was time consuming and tedious sometimes, I learned to manage my time and get things done with even more ease than I had known before. I feel accomplished with all of the goals set forth in the course syllabus.
1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year composition courses.
Because of my Advanced Placement Literature course, I learned a lot about reading more into works of writing for what they imply and what they mean, rather than just the words on the page. I feel as though a lot of first year writing is about analyzing and understanding what an author means and why he is saying what he is saying.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year composition courses.
The most important lessons that I learned as a reader and writer because of my first-year composition courses mostly involve time management and making sure I keep a routine. In English 101, my scheduled consisted of full time student, full time athlete, engineering projects, etc. This was not easy to manage. For my English 102 course, I was demanded over three times the amount of course work during the week, along with a full time job working outside in the heat, with early hours and long drives, along with being an athlete and performing off-season training. This was even harder than performing English 101 in the fall. This course definitely proved to myself that I still maintain excellent time management skills, and the ability to stick to a routine and post things, on time, when the need to posted.
3. The ways you brainstormed, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements.
There were a few new ways to brainstorm and make sure that my ideas were organized and developed. Using Google Draw, I was able to make bubble maps of what I wanted to discuss in my writing. This was good tool for me to use because it allowed me to visualize what I wanted to write about before I actually wrote about it. In relation to thesis statements, my biggest realization was that thesis statements do not have to be one sentence long. It is often easier to develop your thesis into two sentences so that your writing flows much more smoothly.
4. The peer-review process, including what you offered and what you received.
I felt as though my peers did a wonderful job of listening to what I was hoping for when reviewing my paper and editing accordingly. Sometimes, people can be too lenient because they don't want to hurt your feelings by saying that you some of your writing flat out stinks. I was appreciative when seeing comments that told me to change things because it wasn't very good. That type of criticism is very helpful to me because it makes me re-read and reconsider what I am writing and whether or not I like my own writing.
5. Individual or small-group conferences with your instructor.
We did not have any conferences with the instructor. I emailed back and forth with Ms. Wolfe a few times. She was relatively quick with her responses and was good with communication.
6. The discussion you had about your paper with people who were not in your class.
Most of the discussions about my paper I had with people outside of class were my parents. They were helpful in giving me advice and just discussing my topic. My parents were fascinated by my topic of controversy so it was easy to discuss with them my own thoughts and the facts about what was going on.
7. How yo approached the revision process for each essay.
I approached the revision process very simply. I read back through what I wanted my peers to see and edit on my paper and I went through my own paper just like I wanted my peers to do. I would read my papers slowly through in hopes that being slow and considerate of everything would allow me to see all of my mistakes without missing many.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres.
I learned a lot about reading and writing in different genres. I never considered the effect that writing to a specific audience can have on the quality of your writing. I thought it was really interesting to consider different genres and see how different genres are set up, how they are written, and the specific examples of different genres and their effectiveness. I feel as though I have a strong grasp on writing to specific audiences and appealing to their specific ideals and appeals.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take your first-year composition courses again.
I would not do much differently if I were to retake my first-year composition courses. To be quite honest, I would not want to take them again. I am not the biggest fan of English composition. It is sometimes cool to learn about different methods of writing and reading and analyzing, but sometimes I just get bored. I get the feeling, often, that the work that I am performing is monotonous and repetitive. I don't like to do things over and over again.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career.
College writing taught me a lot, though. I am glad that I learned how to appeal to different audiences. I think that will play a really big part in my future as an engineer. Understanding how to write differently to your boss than you do to your coworkers or to the public will be crucial to my effectiveness as an engineer and my ability to get promoted and move up the rankings within my job.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
11. What did you learn (from specific a writing assignment, from a specific experience, or from the semester as a whole)?
I think I took more from the semester as a whole than I did from any one particular assignment or experience from the class. I learned more about audience and how you can speak differently within the same research topic depending upon who you want to reach and how you want to reach them. As a person, as I stated before, I learned more about myself in the time management fields. It was cool to see my real life time management skills at work. There were many days that I felt like I wasn't going to be able to get everything done, but somehow I managed to prevail. I learned that I am stronger and better than I thought I was with scheduling and making sure I accomplish my goals.
12. Did the choices you made, or writing experiences you and, reinforce something you already knew about yourself or about writing?
I chose to write about robotics and their influence on the world. This was a choice that stuck with my though the entirety of the class. I learned a lot about robots and their impact. This choice certainly reinforced my appreciation for the sciences and continued to further my interest in technology and more specifically engineering.
13. If you did not gain as much from a particular project as you had hoped, what are the possible reasons for that and what might you do differently next time?
I think every project that we managed to do exceeded my expectations for what I would learn and what I would gain from it. I didn't have much of an expectation to begin with, so it wasn't difficult to beat, but everything exceeding the expectation that I had, drastically. I felt as though I actually came away with some valuable skills, knowledge, and experience that I was not expecting to have acquired.
14. Think about the course objectives listen on your syllabus as you consider you success in the class. What course objections did you meet? What objectives are you still working on?
The main course goals that are listed on the syllabus are as follows: help students write for varied audiences and situations, find and evaluate sources, make critically aware decisions about how best to achieve their purposes at the university and beyond, and to prepare students for further research and writing in their future fields of academic work. I think that I met all of these objectives throughout this course. I have noted how I have learned to write for audiences and situations. I surely learned more about finding valid sources and evaluating them for use in my own way. I definitely feel more prepared to write in my future field of academic work (engineering). This course taught me how to write better, more fluent, more organized, and more valid. Although the class was time consuming and tedious sometimes, I learned to manage my time and get things done with even more ease than I had known before. I feel accomplished with all of the goals set forth in the course syllabus.
Revisiting My Writing Process
In the beginning of the class, I considered myself a procrastinator and also a heavy planner. I still feel the same at this stage in the class. I procrastinate often and with almost everything that I do. That may seem bad sometimes, but when I enjoy something or when I know something needs to get done, I will get it done. Sometimes procrastinating can get stressful, but in the end, I know that what I needed to get done is done, and it's all over. I do still consider myself more of a planner than a reviser; however, I did find it very useful, throughout this class, to revise my work and to come back to pieces of my work and re-read them with fresh eyes.
In the future, I can see myself becoming more and more of a revisor. I am very organized and I like to get the bulk of the work done in the beginning (this applies to almost everything I do), but after having the opportunity to go back and re-read my work days later, I noticed how many things I wanted to change about my writing. The things that I wanted to change weren't necessarily that bad in my writing, they were just sentences that I felt could be worded better or ideas changed a little because of reflection that I was able to have after writing.
In my next two or three years of college, I would like to discontinue my habit of being a procrastinator. Although my work normally gets finished on time, sometimes school can become very stressful. I feel as though I could avoid that if I would just get ahead of the game and stay ahead the game, rather than being in catch up mode for all of my classes. I did a good job with this class about getting stuff done early, except for a few days. I felt very accomplished and successful when I would get stuff out of the way early. That will certainly be one thing that I want to focus on throughout my career as a Wildcat.
In the future, I can see myself becoming more and more of a revisor. I am very organized and I like to get the bulk of the work done in the beginning (this applies to almost everything I do), but after having the opportunity to go back and re-read my work days later, I noticed how many things I wanted to change about my writing. The things that I wanted to change weren't necessarily that bad in my writing, they were just sentences that I felt could be worded better or ideas changed a little because of reflection that I was able to have after writing.
In my next two or three years of college, I would like to discontinue my habit of being a procrastinator. Although my work normally gets finished on time, sometimes school can become very stressful. I feel as though I could avoid that if I would just get ahead of the game and stay ahead the game, rather than being in catch up mode for all of my classes. I did a good job with this class about getting stuff done early, except for a few days. I felt very accomplished and successful when I would get stuff out of the way early. That will certainly be one thing that I want to focus on throughout my career as a Wildcat.
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