Dru Smith
Professor McLaughlin
ENGL 2089
April 16, 2020
Final Reflection
I was very hesitant before walking into this class on the first day because I had no idea what to expect or how well it was going to go. In high school my teachers would always tell us that English courses in college are very difficult and you will be doing things that you have never done before within the class. But, in this class it felt like we were going at a great pace and the projects we were doing were going right along with that. With the profile, the photo caption project, and the midterm reflection are things that I look back to after this semester to reflect on the things that really helped improve my writing over the last couple of months. Especially the photo caption list because it allowed for us to take topics that we really didn’t understand and allow us to come together to create a great presentation, but we’ll get into that later. So, as I am sitting here thinking of this class has truly made me a better writer, I think I can answer that question with a yes. I will go into more depth with the projects but in general I know that the things we have done in this class have tested my creativity and truly made me think of the things I wrote and even the topics that I chose to write about. That’s when I personally knew this class was doing something for me when I couldn’t even think of a topic to write about, I had to dig deep to think of something creative and then bring it to life and that’s why I truly believe that this class has made me a better writer.
So, as I begin my reflection on this semester, we must first start with the profile that we did in the first week. The first couple of days I had no clue who I was going to do because I didn’t really know any professionals down here to interview and was confused on who I should. So, I ended up interviewing my friend who had went to three different universities in three semesters. I felt that the story that I told was something that a lot of younger people could read and figure out if they are in the right place or college for them. I feel as though a lot of people now a day’s don’t go to the right universities for the right reason, they might go because that’s where all of their friends are going and they might want to feel included. Or we see their families have strong decisions over where they go because maybe they want their kids to go to their alma mater. There are just so many different factors that go into choosing the right college and I feel as if a lot of seniors in high school are rushing that decision and need to sit on it for a while longer. For example, my friend that I interviewed told me that the main reason he wanted to start out at Xavier was because that’s where his brother went to school and felt like if his brother enjoyed it there so would he. Well he found out halfway through the year that it wasn’t the place for him and needed to switch it. He now goes to Cincinnati with us and seems to seriously enjoy it a lot more and I think he found the university he was looking for all along. So, I think the profile helped me become a better writer because I allowed for me to do some investigating into who I should interview and in turn allow for a better profile because I had thought so long and harder on why I should interview him and what to ask him.
The next major project we did in this class was the photo collaboration project with our group. Now I found this project the most difficult of all the projects because at the beginning I really had no clue as to what I was doing. I didn’t know if we were writing a paper or making a presentation or doing a collaborative paper. But once I found out it was a presentation; I was kind of excited because I am pretty good at giving them. Our topic focused on the idea of toxicity in terms of social media. People that use social media know that there is a bad side and a good side of social media. The good side is allowing to connect to with your friends and be able to communicate online and have fun. But, the toxic side of social media is something we must deal with all the time and we must allow ourselves to either stay away from it or be the people that try and stop it. For example, there’s always these bot accounts that try and make you click on links in their bios and if you click on them your product could either be infected with a malware or they could hack into your account and essentially be you for however long they have your account for. These people are the type of people you must look out for when using social media. I feel as if this project made me into an even better writer because of all the confusion there was in the beginning. Going from not having a clue to what I was doing to creating a pretty good power point, I feel as if this project really pushed me to see what I could do as a writer. So, I learned that I could do a lot more than I initially thought I could and since it was a group project, I was able to learn some stuff from me group mates and all the great work that they were able. As a side note that’s another thing, I liked about this project was the fact that it was a group project. I’ve always liked working in groups because the more people you have working on a project the better ideas you get and that allows for you to feed off of those good ideas and really put something special together.
The third and final thing I wanted to talk about was the transition that we all had to make at the halfway point if this semester. I think when we all started to see COVID-19 get bad here in the states we could all see it coming we just didn’t know when. So, when the decision was made to close the campus and go completely online I was kind of mad at first because I had never taken an online class and don’t prefer them so that’s why I never sign up for them. I was especially concerned with this class because of the way we had operated thus far in the classroom. I knew that if things were confusing to me in the classroom than they will be ten times more confusing online. But as these online classes began, I slowly began to realize that this was major for the teachers as well and they were some new to the whole online thing too. So, I realized that we were all in this together and it was just going to take some time to readjust but sooner than later we would be alright. So, here we are with about a week and a half left in the semester and it has all worked out especially in this class. This is not at all how I expected my fourth and final semester at Blue Ash to end but I’m not mad at how it all ended. So, as I continue to look forward and wonder if things will go back to normal soon, I’m not sure but one thing I do know for sure is that the teachers here at UC Blue Ash really made this transition from in class to online a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and for that I am grateful.
So, in conclusion I felt as if the profile and the collaborative photo caption were two of the toughest assignments, we had all semester. They really pushed the boundaries on what I can and can’t do when it comes to my writing skills. But I am grateful for them because from all the struggle and confusion I feel as if I really did become a better writer throughout this semester and that was my number one goal from the start of the semester. Also, we went through one of the strangest and most challenging things a university could do and that is completely close. The teachers were able to keep us always focused and on task through the whole rest of the semester. For that I am grateful for and will always remember my crazy sophomore year of college and all the surprises that came with it.
Sources Cited
Loria, Kevin. “No One Could See the Colour Blue until Modern Times.” Business Insider Australia, Business Insider Australia, 24 Dec. 2015, www.businessinsider.com.au/what-is-blue-and-how-do-we-see-color-2015-2.
Giang, Vivian. How Language Shapes Our Perception of Reality, getpocket.com/explore/item/how-language-shapes-our-perception-of-reality?utm_source=pocket-newtab.
Trapp, Brian, and University of Oregon. “Twelve Words: Journal.” The Kenyon Review, http://www.kenyonreview.org/journal/septoct-2019/selections/brian-trapp/?fbclid=IwAR0hYscxMTZjnoevfUuTNpT8nfjxiHMaGU7AKfHIXYpHkgBHmdeiVa8SmV4.
Dru Smith 