Elizabeth Crenshaw

            Did I think it was possible to grow as a writer in a five-week span? Not really. I expected to learn a skill or two maybe, but not nearly as much as I did. I can honestly say that this course pushed me into a new territory of writing that helped to enhance my personal style. I’ve had three classes with blogs used in them. The first one I did probably two blog posts the entire semester, so it didn’t help at all. The second class was here at UNCC and we did about one blog a week, but it didn’t have to relate to school or writing. With this blog, we were encouraged to not just write a couple paragraphs on random subjects, but to use the material we learned and discussed in class to extend the conversation into another realm. Each blog post I was able to relate something in the class to something outside of the class (my favorite being this post). It was not only helpful to see that what we’re learning is important, but it also pushed me outside my comfort zone and that’s where I really grew in the blog. Most of my growth in this class was in the two big projects we did: rhetorical analysis and research inquiry. I have been writing papers for years now, but digitizing them and incorporating outside sources to make a simple paper into a multi-media assignment was new.  I have never really had to think too much about how I want my project to flow because it always was linear and top to bottom. This semester I had to think about where to add images and buttons and links and videos. Just like my blog, this pushed me outside my comfort zone to something I had never really had experience in, and showed me that I loved it. I am such a fan of taking a paper and turning it almost into art. It was so fun and the designing of the digital aspect made writing the paper easier and more enjoyable. Learning that I was skilled in design for the digital aspect was awesome too because now I can use that in other areas of my life! Digitizing the projects really gave something extra to my writing. I haven’t had an English class that really encouraged me to bring new ideas into the classroom for a couple years now and this class really made me like English class again, even if it was challenging!

 

            As for where I am as a writer, I think that as I grow and learn more, my writing will get more mature. I wrote, “My writing style will continue to change as I grow as a person and as a writer,” in my first piece of writing for this class, and I consider that to be a loose goal I set for myself at the beginning of the course. I know that I achieved it because now I know a new type of writing style that I really enjoy: digital writing. I am excited to add hyperlinks and images into what I write and design all the pieces around each other (without a template, like weebly).

 

            I see this class in three parts: blog, rhetorical analysis, and inquiry research. The coolest thing about all those pieces of writing is that I got to choose the topics I was going to write about. My rhetorical analysis of Eminem is honestly one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done for school. I got to analyze one of my favorite artists and really look deeper into the skills he used to become the superstar he is today. When we were given the first information about the project, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to analyze. Even in my “RA Planning Guide” I was brainstorming and playing with a number of different ideas I could have used for my final project. Deciding which skills I was going to focus on and how I was going to relate what we learned in class to a rapper was really where I grew the most. I was able to develop new skills and approach analysis a completely new way and a stronger way then I had before. Although I’m thrilled with my Beyoncé project and my blog, my Eminem Rhetorical Analysis is my favorite product from this class.

 

            I am not going to lie, I had some worries about this class at the beginning. With a young professor you either get someone who is a really tough grader or someone who tries to get all the kids to think they’re cool. Although she (you) were indeed a tough grader, you didn’t try hard to be cool or to get the class to like you. There’s no way to write this without sounding like a suck-up, but you were a naturally cool and relaxed teacher who actually made class fun. After the first two or three days I set my expectations for the rest of the course. It was going to be a lot of work, it was going to be really tough, and I was not going to like it. Although it was absolutely a lot of work and tough, I ended up really liking it.

 

            Most English teachers make you write notes, but few actually incorporate them into projects throughout the semester, but not in this class. I believe it was the 2nd day of class (it was July 2 in my daybook) we first talked about genre, and then went into it farther the following day. Genre is one of many things we learned in the beginning and used throughout the entire course. Applying notes and terms we learned (genre, ethos, pathos, logos, rhetoric, persuasive techniques, etc.) in all aspects of our writing really solidified the meaning and the importance of the vocabulary. I remembered learning about ethos, pathos, and logos from high school, but I could not remember them exactly because we only took notes on them one day and never went back to it. In this class we took notes and then used the terminology in our blogs and rhetorical analysis’. Another important term I learned about was rhetoric. It’s crazy to think about how much I’ve used this word (and heard it used) without really understanding what it meant. The comic we read for homework that explained the origin and transformation of the word was one of my favorite homework assignments. It was fun to read and made a lot more sense to me than a paragraph in a textbook. Although sometimes taking notes and doing the homework/classwork seemed like busy work, I can look back and see that everything we did had a reason behind it and was used more than once in the course of the class.

 

            Like I stated earlier in my reflection, I was really worried about the toughness level of this class. When I saw that on the grading scale a 90% was “darn good,” I panicked. I worried that nothing I did was gong to be better than that, even if I worked my hardest. I tried my best not to worry about what I could do to get a grade higher than a 90% on each assignment, but instead to just do the best work I could do and my grades would reflect my skill and effort. Overall I know I turned in my best work and it’s something I can be proud of. As nerdy as it is, each time I finished a project, I emailed my family a link telling them to look at it because it was work I was personally thrilled with and wanted to share. I have good faith that because I worked my hardest and I turned in my best work, my grade will reflect that. This is probably the first college class I’ve had where I am going to be happy with whatever my grade turns out to be. I hope I get a good grade, but even if I don’t, I know that the work I did was something to be proud of.  

 

            I was thinking about my first blog post and one of our first homework assignments- picking a quote and writing about it. My quote was Robert Frost’s, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” I think I can one-up his quote with my own:

In three sentences I can sum up everything I learned in English 1102.

 

1) Even if it seems trivial at the time, all the homework and classwork is beneficial to your overall learning and understanding of writing and the tools you need to become a better writer.

2) When faced with an assignment that gets you out of your comfort zone, try your hardest. You never know, it could be something you fall in love with like I did with digital essays.

3) If you really try your hardest on your work and put effort into this class, it’s not going to be as tough as you expect. Instead it will teach you skills you will be able to carry into other areas of your life and your schoolwork. On top of that you will be happy and proud of the all the work you’ve done.

 

 

Thank you for doing what I thought was impossible- for not only not making a summer class miserable, but actually making it enjoyable. I really do think I’ve learned a lot and am excited to apply my new digital essay skill in other areas of my business-school life, especially if I’m doing marketing!