During the second half of the semester, I believe my efforts were even greater than they were in the first half of the semester. In the first half, I was consistently busy with golf and traveling to different tournaments. With that being said, I feel as though I have put more time into each assignment and each reading to ensure that I am getting the most out of the class and handing in work with my full potential. I put the most time into the bigger projects such as the System Design, System Analysis, and the A/V Analysis projects. These projects required more time and attention and I feel that I completed each of them to my fullest potential. One thing that I did struggle with was brainstorming and coming up with a plan for each project that I could write a lot about and explain. Specifically, the last project I completed, the System Design, I had to restart after I finished the first part. The reason behind this is when. First was trying to explain the banking system, I realized I didn’t know a whole lot about it. Instead, I changed my topic to “Performing a successful hunt”, which I am very knowledgeable in and it came easier when I had to design the Twine game. Throughout the second part of the semester, I put more time into class readings, and I could tell that I benefitted more, especially when it came to class discussion. One thing I truly learned a lot from was the readings that explained how basically everything in our everyday lives is a system. This helped me relate to hunting, golfing, working, learning, and other everyday tasks and gave me a better understanding as to how I go about them and the system behind each of them. One thing that I mentioned that I would say was least effective for me was brainstorming ideas ahead of time for some assignments. While I feel like this should be beneficial, I happened to change almost all my topics right after starting each of the three most recent assignments.
My participation in class conversations and activities within the second half of the semester was more so on my own as I completed the readings ahead of class. During class discussions with my peers, I felt like I was knowledgeable in the topic and gave useful information that helped those I talked to better understand the material. In return, I feel like I gained helpful information when participating in discussions with my classmates as they helped me brainstorm and give advice for some of the projects. Specifically, when I talked to Mariah, she mentioned the banking system during our system analysis discussion. During this discussion, I realized that I had some personal experience with hardships of the banking system such as getting a car loan or a credit card for the first time. I used my experience along with some key points that we talked about to generate my writing for the System Analysis writing.
In terms of my Confidence and Independence during the second half of the semester, I gave a stronger effort to getting my assignments done, talking to my peers for advice, along with talking to Dr. King when I felt like I was stuck. This specifically happened when I was completing the Audio/Visual Project and was at a standstill with what other information I should involve. After talking to Paige King in class, and Dr. King in a zoom meeting, I came up with the idea of including some videos in my slides that showed my successes and challenges. My skills and strategies appear to have increased as I feel like I gained useful information in the different platforms that we used an examined in class. Specifically, I gained a better understanding of how the Twin app connects all different aspects of a story and gives the user the opportunity to see how the system works together to explain an event. Also, though it may seem simple, when working with PowerPoint, I used more pictures, video, and audio to display my information rather than bombarding the reader with too many words on a slide. Throughout the second half of the semester, my knowledge and understanding also increased. The main takeaway for me this second half was the use of systems and how relevant they are in everyday life. The different readings we went over along with class discussions helped me get a better understanding that basically everything we do in a day involves some sort of a system whether it’s as simple as brushing your teeth or as complex as playing 18 holes of golf. I used a lot of prior experience with the projects I completed the second half of this semester. Specifically, I used my path from high school golf up to playing division one golf here at St Bonaventure University, while including successes and challenges along the way. Also, for the System Design project, I used my experience with performing multiple successful hunts in hope that I could point someone in the correct direction and showing them the basic rules and standards to follow to perform their own successful hunt. In terms of reflection, Dr King does a great job of providing feedback on assignments and gives specific examples of what I did well and what I need to improve on. In turn, this then helps me go back and revise my work, taking out some things, and adding new details and content that suffice to the prompt in a better way.
If I were to assign myself a specific letter grade for English 325, I feel like I deserve at least a B, if not a B+. The work that I submitted was done to the best of my ability and I know that I went through the necessary steps to get to that point including participation in class discussions, meeting with Dr King, and reading and researching materials from class along with materials that helped me complete the assignments. On the assignments I submitted, my work and effort were excellent, even though there was always room for feedback and revising. In my opinion, nothing is ever done perfectly, especially the first time. To improve going forward, I think that using my peers along with class readings will help me gain an even better understanding. While I did talk to classmates for help on assignments and overall ideas, I could benefit from letting them revise my work before handing in a final draft. Overall, I gave the assignments, my classmates, and Dr King my full effort and satisfaction during this semester and believe that my grade should be reflected upon that.
My participation in class conversations and activities within the second half of the semester was more so on my own as I completed the readings ahead of class. During class discussions with my peers, I felt like I was knowledgeable in the topic and gave useful information that helped those I talked to better understand the material. In return, I feel like I gained helpful information when participating in discussions with my classmates as they helped me brainstorm and give advice for some of the projects. Specifically, when I talked to Mariah, she mentioned the banking system during our system analysis discussion. During this discussion, I realized that I had some personal experience with hardships of the banking system such as getting a car loan or a credit card for the first time. I used my experience along with some key points that we talked about to generate my writing for the System Analysis writing.
In terms of my Confidence and Independence during the second half of the semester, I gave a stronger effort to getting my assignments done, talking to my peers for advice, along with talking to Dr. King when I felt like I was stuck. This specifically happened when I was completing the Audio/Visual Project and was at a standstill with what other information I should involve. After talking to Paige King in class, and Dr. King in a zoom meeting, I came up with the idea of including some videos in my slides that showed my successes and challenges. My skills and strategies appear to have increased as I feel like I gained useful information in the different platforms that we used an examined in class. Specifically, I gained a better understanding of how the Twin app connects all different aspects of a story and gives the user the opportunity to see how the system works together to explain an event. Also, though it may seem simple, when working with PowerPoint, I used more pictures, video, and audio to display my information rather than bombarding the reader with too many words on a slide. Throughout the second half of the semester, my knowledge and understanding also increased. The main takeaway for me this second half was the use of systems and how relevant they are in everyday life. The different readings we went over along with class discussions helped me get a better understanding that basically everything we do in a day involves some sort of a system whether it’s as simple as brushing your teeth or as complex as playing 18 holes of golf. I used a lot of prior experience with the projects I completed the second half of this semester. Specifically, I used my path from high school golf up to playing division one golf here at St Bonaventure University, while including successes and challenges along the way. Also, for the System Design project, I used my experience with performing multiple successful hunts in hope that I could point someone in the correct direction and showing them the basic rules and standards to follow to perform their own successful hunt. In terms of reflection, Dr King does a great job of providing feedback on assignments and gives specific examples of what I did well and what I need to improve on. In turn, this then helps me go back and revise my work, taking out some things, and adding new details and content that suffice to the prompt in a better way.
If I were to assign myself a specific letter grade for English 325, I feel like I deserve at least a B, if not a B+. The work that I submitted was done to the best of my ability and I know that I went through the necessary steps to get to that point including participation in class discussions, meeting with Dr King, and reading and researching materials from class along with materials that helped me complete the assignments. On the assignments I submitted, my work and effort were excellent, even though there was always room for feedback and revising. In my opinion, nothing is ever done perfectly, especially the first time. To improve going forward, I think that using my peers along with class readings will help me gain an even better understanding. While I did talk to classmates for help on assignments and overall ideas, I could benefit from letting them revise my work before handing in a final draft. Overall, I gave the assignments, my classmates, and Dr King my full effort and satisfaction during this semester and believe that my grade should be reflected upon that.
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