My Final Blog

My Final Blog Reflection

My first semester in college was very interesting especially in my English class I was challenge in my writing.  Before I start writing I thought it was going to be the same as high school I pick side and explain why I chose and support in my W131 was different weren’t suppose pick side. We always need to think about our readers, I had to think as writer and reader at the same time. It was different way of writing but interesting. The way I used to view things have change because now I know that  I need to  challenge the writer and ask things that he didn’t think of answering in his writing. I think I have become better writer then I was at the begin of the class.

It the ends of the semester and my views have changed a lot like my definition of happiness. I still believe that happiness isn’t material things that we have in our life it the love that we received from our loves. Although happiness isn’t money we still need money to be stable because we leave in growing country and without money we can’t do anything without it. I also know that having everything doesn’t mean happiness it just means that they have money without love but it doesn’t mean that having money means unhappiness it depends on the person. Also  home doesn’t mean we’re our parents live it the place that we consider home not what people think home mean parents’ house what we think and our definition of home it all depends on us.

At the end I have learned a lot and I have enjoy English class because I  became better writer and I learned to view things differently and question the writer and question my writing too and to think what my reader going to ask and make sure I answer in my writing. I learned to be better writer and to have different opinions my own opinions even if my teacher doesn’t agree with me. My writing should be about me and my opinion it something different but better.

Home- As My Final Blog

Home- As My Final Blog

            In the beginning, none of us really had a definite definition or set definition of home or happiness. By the end, I discovered a lot about the definition of home. My happiness definition evolved but did not really change much. Home, on the other hand, changed drastically. I started out with a simple definition; home was a place where I personally grew up. Mine was Morristown Indiana, which is suffering a recent loss of a loved one.

            Home isn’t the same for everyone. Home can be where you grew up, where you are comfortable, or even where your family is found. Home could even be somewhere like church where you are with people that know and love you the most; even if it is not your family. Throughout the semester in this course, my classmates and other people I just see as I walk or hear conversation pieces has helped me greatly change my idea of home.

            When I look at people now, it makes me wonder, how is there home environment? Is it with their family or friends, or is it with strangers they do not really know. I think that people choose their home by their status on how people treat them; maybe they are being abused by a parent and never want to go home. They could also be in the situation in which they are happier somewhere else. Maybe learning makes them happy so they prefer to be in a classroom or at work. Home definitely varies amongst everyone in  our society. Only we can determine where we consider home.

Final Reflection

The theme of our learning community this semester was “There’s No Place like Home”. We reflected on happiness and home. Through this course I learned a lot about happiness. Our first essay, we were asked to write a four page paper on what made us happy, and our actual definition of happiness. I never thought about happiness this much before this class. I sat down and examined my definition of happiness. I learned that happiness to me is: something that everyone wants. It is when you are at a state of content with all that is going on around you. Happiness is being satisfied with everything you have. It can also be a choice. You can be happy when you look at the bright side of things and not the negative side of them. The keys to happiness are to live, laugh, and love. Later in the semester we were asked if our definition of happiness had change thus far in the semester. Mine had not changed, but I did add things to what I thought about happiness. From reading other students blog postings, I learned what others thought about happiness. Some had great ideas about happiness which made me open my eyes and think “They are right, I feel that way too.”

            When it came to talking about and reflection on “home” I don’t think we went too in depth. We talked about it on occasion in discussions but not as much has happiness. This worked out for me though because to me, home brings happiness. Whenever I am home with family and friends I am truly happy. I believe that this was a great theme for the course, and it made us think a lot about what is special to us and what makes us happy.

Course Reflection- Christine Woods

Many of my views and opinions did not change through this course because I tend to be pretty informed on a topic before I make an opinion about it.  My view of happiness was no exception, it only changed slightly.  I originally thought happiness differed for every person, but by my definition, it is something all people can relate to.  I think that happiness is about obtaining security, through many aspects like money, relationships, work, and fun.
What did change for me, however, was my ability to edit my work.  Writing for me used to be something very personal.  I hated showing my work to others and I also hated hearing their feedback.  Of course I knew this wasn't the best way to view peer editing but that's the way it was until this course, especially considering the fact that I hadn't gotten much good peer feedback in high school. When we would break into peer groups we would end up talking about things completely off topic.  In W131 I really listened to what my group would tell me and look at how I could meet their needs while remaining true to my own writing style.  By the end of this semester (now) I actually feel the need to show everything I write to an editor before I turn it in.  I see that this is a necessary part of the writing process, especially if I want to be successful here.  This course helped me grow as a writer and I really feel like I am ready to move on to my other courses.

W131: Final Thoughts

When I first started this class, all I could think was, “I just have to get through this class and then I can do what I really want to do.” But as time went on, I realized that this class isn’t something that I needed to get through. It’s a necessary tool for writing in all of my future college courses. From this class, I have learned so many things about writing and myself as a writer.  My instructor Keith Brown made this class especially better.  I honestly think that if I had any other professor I would have struggled to the point of failure. I think that him showing a lot of his previous writings and his past experiences made this class more enjoyable as well. I also appreciated his open door policy about his office hours and he even had extended hours when we all needed help with our writing. I think that really helped me to get a lot out of the class, because I felt like if he cares so should I. Some other things that this class has shown me is that if I am struggling, I need to ask for help so that the problem can be fixed or handled in a way that I can keep up in a class.  I think that from this class I am so much more prepared for writing in future classes. I now have a better idea of what college professors are going to expect from me, and I feel so much more confident to write for any type of assignment.  I have thoroughly enjoyed taking this class even though writing is one of my least favorite things to do. If I had the choice I would definitely take this class again because I think it has made me a better writer, thinker, and student on a collegiate level.

FINAL BLOG POSTING

Over all this semester I have learned a great deal about writing and being able to think outside the box and really comprehend the hidden message of things.  One of those things includes happiness.  This was the first thing we talked about in English and it has had an important role throughout the semester; so if you had a unique concept of what happiness is or if you thought it was the Webster’s generic definition of happiness you brought that with you this whole semester.  Not only did I learn about what happiness was, but I also learned many new techniques to write a good paper.  I initially thought that writing a good paper was all about the structure and organization, but in reality it’s more of how you present your ideas and what you put into them.  Writing an essay is not something that just happens over night, but over a long period of time that includes revising and editing your drafts to narrow it down to one final perfect piece of literature.

            Throughout the semester we have been taught different ways to write an essay and different ways to develop one.  For me, wallowing in complexity was the most intriguing and successful way to write.  This allows me to come up with new ideas that may not have been seen before and present them in a way that is appealing to an audience.  The audience is a big factor too, it allows you to write to a specific group of people whom might enjoy your essay more than others because they can relate to the topic at hand.

            I have to say that this English class has been the most beneficial English class I have ever taken because we were told to leave behind the traditional ways of writing an essay in high school and develop a method in which we actually enjoy what we’re writing about and make it mean something other than the same old 5 paragraph essay we learned how to write in high school.

Happiness: A New Definition

When I was first asked to define happiness I went with the generic definition and said that happiness is different for everyone. I said that buying a car makes some people happy and helping the homeless makes other people happy. I said that money could buy happiness. That is not true now that I really think about it. I went on a mission trip to El Salvador and we didn’t really bring the kids many material things, but they were still happy to see us. They were happy just playing and talking to us. Through class discussions and critical thinking I realized that happiness is not different for everyone, that deep down everyone wants the same thing. We all want to be loved by others. We want companionships and relationships. People say they are not happy if they don’t get to see their favorite TV show on a certain night. Are they unhappy because of missing the show itself? Or are they unhappy they missed it because they feel like the actors are their friends and they don’t want to miss that companionship? I am responsible for this too, I find myself thinking that the Teen Mom girls are my friends, when in reality they have no idea I exist. My happiest memories are when I am with the people I love the most like my mom, my dad, my brother, boyfriend, and dogs. Happiness isn’t different for everyone, in a way we all want the some things.

Final Reflection

Taking English W131 has caused me to contemplate many things that I otherwise would have never even begun to think about. Throughout this course I have revisited the idea of what happiness and home are to me. At the beginning of the semester, I thought happiness was the result of achieving what you have set out to do. It was being where you want to be at that specific point in your life. It was finding contentment and satisfaction. Since the beginning of the semester my views on happiness have changed a little. I have discovered that happiness is more than just a feeling that comes and goes through little things that happen here or there. It is an overall feeling that is indescribable. There is no way to describe happiness without using the word “happiness.” In my “Definition of Happiness Revised” posting I had a person in our class comment on it. She agreed with me on two things. First, that relationships are a great source of happiness and are responsible for much of the happiness that we have in our lives. Second, that more does not equal better. I had said that I feel very fortunate to have the resources that I do. But the possessions that I have do not lead me to happiness it is the fact that I have a wonderful family and great people surrounding me in my life. I have also thought a lot about what home is to me this semester. Home is where I feel secure and where the people that I care about are. I could be at home out in the forest if I had my family with me. I would not consider a house my home if I could not relax or feel safe there. It is important to me to get a place where I can start a family and feel safe. Only then will I be able to feel at home.

Happiness - Amy Williams

I find the term happiness to be remained undefined. It is a term that we as a whole have such different ways to define it individually. However, the concept of it bringing joy, contentment, and love into our lives is universal. After class discussions, talking individually to family and friends, and reading other blogs on happiness, I have come to the conclusion that we all deep down strive for the same thing to bring happiness into our lives. That one thing is relationships. Whether it is a relationship with family, pets, friends, or creating new ones with strangers, we all want that connection and bonding which brings us the joy, contentment, and love that we long for. People lose their families and friends all the time, yet they're able to create new relationships throughout their lives to replace those lost relationships, leading me to believe that the interaction, connection, and relationship with others is what creates the happiness rather than who it's with. However, the who does have an impact on the relationship. A relationship with a mother would be deeper than a relationship with a stranger. This is because you have a closer connection with the mother since you've been around her much longer, but one could become just as close to a stranger if the connection is there. We're always going to strive for new relationships with others, it just comes naturally. It's not that we want to replace existing relationships with new ones, rather it's having the new one to bring something different into our lives.

Final Reflection

As the first semester of my freshman year comes to a close, I think often about what I have learned since the beginning of this year, mostly about my changed perceptions of the term “happiness”. I am still not entirely sure whether or not I have a complete definition of the term, but I certainly have a better understanding of how the concept influences personal decision making. I realize that “happiness”, whatever it is, is a final emotion that everyone sets out to find, some meaning in hardship and purpose for when times are difficult or boring. True happiness is achieved by developing a personal mind-set that things will work out regardless of what events actually take place. Many spend their time searching after other things that they think will make them happy. For example, workers who put their faith in financial gain continue to perpetually buy the newest technologies, regardless of how working so hard and so long by themselves creates societal tension and personal decrease in self-value. I am still unsure about whether happiness is created by continued achievement, accomplishment, or contentment. But I understand that happiness wouldn’t be happiness without some personal relevance being attached to it.
Also how does happiness relate to success? In reality, success is a matter of self-evaluation and self-interpretation, a concept that cannot be defined or measured by popular opinion. Much like the idea of happiness, defining success is a matter of establishing a mind-set and basing other interpretations around it. In contrast, accomplishing some specific goal is a great tool to measuring success. Students who invest time and energy into meeting some predetermined objective have the potential of coming to a personal conclusion of self-importance and worth. The distinction between success and happiness is that success isn't happiness unless happiness is the goal that you set out to achieve.

Looking back on W131

During the semester in English W131 we were supposed to have met six different goals that have been put into place since the beginning of the semester. I am proud to say that because of my participation in this class, I have met and exceeded all expectations for all of these goals during the semester. At the beginning I was overwhelmed when looking at the syllabus. I didnt know at the time what a reflective, summary strong response, image analysis, synthesis, or retrospective essay was. However, because of discussion in class and reviewing of the textbook, I have created a better understand of all of these types of writing and I am now more confident when it comes to writing these types of papers. Because of this class, writing in the future, whether it be for other classes or for my career as an adult, will come a lot easier. Meeting the six goals proposed at the beginning of the semester has definitely helped me to become a better writer and will continue to make my writing better in the future.

Final Look Back on W-131

Reflecting back on my first college English class, it is hard to believe that I learned so much in what seemed to be such a short amount of time. I have never been confident with my writing until after my completion of W-131. I have grown not only as a writer, but as a thinker and a person as well. One of the focal questions of the course was one that seemed to be easy to answer, so I thought. That question was, what is happiness? And what does it mean to be happy?

Happiness is not something that we think about too often. I have never in my eighteen years of living thought about what happiness meant to me more than I did my first semester here at IUPUI. Having to write papers over what makes me happy was a very challenging experience and it caused me to really search deep down to realize what in life makes me happy.

Looking back at our first blog posting, my mentality has not changed a whole lot on what happiness is to me. As cliché as it sounds, I still believe happiness and love go hand in hand. I still believe that true happiness cannot be reached through material objects.

One thing that definitely did not cross my mind when I was asked to explore what makes me happy was school. At the beginning of the year I was not all that excited about continuing my education, especially not right after high school. After getting my feet wet and doing well in my classes this semester, school may just make it on the list of things that make me happy. I do find it enjoyable to be challenged to explore questions that I would not look at on a regular basis. I am taking a new approach on school after hearing Keith say that it is much more beneficial to do an assignment to further you education rather than to complete an assignment. After the completion of this course I now feel confident not only in my writing but in knowing what makes me happy as well.

final reflection brooklynn

My definition of happiness has changed a lot during the course of this semester. I’ve never really thought deep enough into happiness and never thought about how it applied to me before this semester. My view of happiness differs from the beginning to now. At first, I thought of happiness as just a word with really no meaning. Once I sat down and thought how the word happiness applied to me, my whole concept changed. I now realized that happiness is not just about material things or money. Happiness means a lot more. Material things only last for so long, whereas internal happiness can last forever. Bill Mckibben’s concept of happiness also persuaded me to change my view on of happiness. After reading Deep Economy, I realized that happiness comes from within. Happiness is being with or around family and friends. Happiness is experiencing life long moments with people you care about. I have learned a lot during this semester, not only about the word happiness, but the meaning and how it applies to different people. It is obvious that everyone has his or her own view or concept of happiness. Many people probably haven’t and won’t sit down and evaluate what really makes them happy. But, for me, happiness is a lot of things.  Happiness isn’t just material things, happiness comes from within. Happiness is the joy and satisfaction of being around people you love and people who love you. Happiness is more than a word and it has many definitions. 

A Final Reflection

            Looking back at my first college level English course I know I have learned a great bit and become a considerably stronger writer.  However, of all the writing we did, I believe writing about what happiness is, was probably the most influential to myself. 

            Although we are often asked questions about what makes us happy – it’s not often that we sit down and write out a meaningful response on paper.  Sitting down and having to actually put this to paper made me consider a lot about who I am as a person and what things I should strive for going forward.  Many of us in the class had similar feelings about what made us happy – and virtually everyone agreed it wasn’t material objects.  This matched up with what we had read in Deep Economy about the point where more money doesn’t equal more happiness.  This very concept is partially why I sit in school today. 

            Prior to returning to class I had a decent job with decent wages, but I wasn’t happy.  I didn’t feel fulfilled when I came home from work – I felt more like I had been beaten.  Was the money worth it?  No, the money didn’t equal happiness.  Now after I have thought out my opinions on happiness and read so many others I know I made the right decision to return to school.  I am happier now than ever and I don’t even have any money.  It’s amazing to think that working very hard for no immediate cash return can make someone so happy, but it does. 

            I am very much looking forward to the next 3 years of school.  The lessons I’ve learned from happiness have told me I am doing the right thing and I am in the right place.  I just can’t wait to see what else this adventure brings me. 

Final Blog

I have learned how to write an essay for a reason this semester. When I started out writing the reflective essay about happiness I thought it was easy. When we revised it for the midterm portfolio I had changed it so much from techniques learned in class. I learned that you write an essay sometimes to make a contribution. It is like talking in a conversation. You have to bring up a new point of view and not repeat what everyone else is going to say. This has helped me find my voice in my essays. Also I learned who I am writing to, who my audience is, which I had never thought of before when writing essays. Knowing who your audience makes planning an essay easier. The thing I learned that was most valuable though was how to really expand my mind and wallow in complexity. I still think that is something that I need to work on. To really wallow in complexity shows a lot of points of view that don’t come to mind unless there is deep thought involved. While wallowing in complexity I strengthened my reflective essay on happiness, because it changed my perspective on what happiness was to me. I feel like after writing that particular essay I have a new definition of happiness and that is what I apply to my life now. From wallowing in complexity I have learned what happiness is too me. I will continue to carry this definition with me though out life and when I am having rough times, I will apply what I learned about happiness. All of these lessons I have learned are being applied to my essays and making them stronger essays. This is just a little of what I have learned this semester. I have really enjoyed this course and enjoyed Mr. Brown teaching it. I really respect his teaching style and I know this class will stick with me throughout my writing career.

What I've Leaarned through the Course of W131 -ZHarris ..

                    In the beginning of the semester, of this class, I was not excited about having to take it because it was a composition course,and I didn't think it was going to be as challenging as it was. Reading Deep Economy was the icing on the cake. I didn't particularly like the book and it had a huge affect on my negative thought of the class. We basically had to turn a paper in just about every class period to reflect on assigned readings of the book. Then, preparing for a bigger writing assignment, we were basically told to just forget anything we ever learned in high school about writing because it wasn't right. Then I really had no idea what to think about the class.
                 As we were assigned bigger writing assignments, with that in mind I had no idea on how I was going to pass the class. We were taught many ways to go about writing. One way was to wallow in complexity. This had a huge affect on me because it was something I had never heard of, yet it was helping me. I helped me greatly when writing my reflection of happiness. I thought, not only, about my happiness, but the happiness of others, and what it actually takes to be happy and developed what I thought to be one of my best papers I had ever written. We were also taught how to make strong, effective thesis statements. I've  learned that when composing a thesis statement, there is always two sides to an argument and whichever side you chose, you have to strongly support you decision.
                  The image analysis paper was somewhat difficult. The assignment was to reflect advertisement and my images weren't exactly of products trying to be sold. I had done image analyzing before and thought that it was going to somewhat be easy. I chose to images reflecting something I felt strongly about and went about writing my paper that way. Although, my image analysis essay wasn't about a product being sold, it reflected advertisement, and I learned many things about advertisement when writing my essay. The purpose of advertising any product, idea, or thought is to capture the attention of a selected audience, holding their attention, and persuading them to do whatever it is that hoped for them to do.
                 The synthesis essay was amognst the hardest. When it was assigned I had missed class, so when we were to work in our synthesis response groups I was completely lost. I had not picked a topic and was sort of forced into a group. I had no idea how I was going to write about something I hadn't even got a chance to develop an opinion about. Not knowing where to begin, I chose two readings on education and developed my own opinions on each of them and developed a writing on which I felt was good writing. The basis of my synthesis essay was to tie education into home and I felt as though I had done a good job doing so. Reflecting what I've learned from synthesis brought to my attention that my desicion to make this the point of my essay totally goes well with the fact that the Themed Learning Community I'm in is "There's No Place Like Home," tieing education to home.
                As the semester came to an end, I checked repeatedly on the grades in which I received on all the work I had done, to find out that a lot of it didn't even count towards my course grade. That was kind of disappointing because the thought of it being all for nothing came to mind. Reflecting on what I've learned from this class, I now realize that writing all those papers helped to fully develop my writing. I've also realized that the structure of how to write a paper doesn't work well for everyone. In class, Keith stressed how important it was to plan and organize before attempting to even write a paper, but this just didn't work for me. Anytime I had to write a paper I went about it by thinking about the topic and just writing whatever came to mind. I would write in paragraph style and edit the paper by adding and deleting things as I went back over my writing. This may not be the best way, but this is the only way I feel I can do my best. Having to preplan a paper and organize it by taking baby steps doesn't help to develop my writing with its full potential. Overall, W131 is a good course and I feel as though it has helped me become a better writer, even if not in ways it was structured to.
            

Final Blog Reflection

While I have learned a lot from W131, wallowing in complexity, contributing to the conversation, etc. The most valuable thing that I have taken away from this class is being able to write a paper without treating it like an assignment. While the other things are useful to know and use I think being able to look at a paper and not look at it as an assignment is much more valuable. Once I was able to do this I found it much easier to keep writing and contributing more to the paper instead of stopping at the minimum page number. Before when I acted like these were assignments I would just stop and not go on because I had nothing more to say. Later when I stopped treating it like an assignment and thought of it as contributing something to the conversation then it was much easier and quicker to write. Then the only had part became cutting out extra things so my paper wasn’t so long. The only way I was able to treat my papers like this was because I learned how to first wallow and contribute and analyze things first. Once I reached this stage of writing I also grew more confident in my ability to write. Thoughts were coming in easier and I didn’t have to go to great lengths to reach for any ideas. I don’t worry so much about limits that high school writing taught me for so many years. As long as I can back up my ideas with creditable sources then I really have no limits to my ability to write.     

This semester with Keith Brown in W 131

As I read the first sentence of my fellow classmates' blog postings they have all said that they have learned a lot, or so much. But, I feel I have not only learned how to write differently. I have experienced how to write differently. I experienced different ways to portray my opinion without being too outspoken and still having the other side of the argument in mind. In high school it was all about book-report style writing. You read the information given to you and write a summary or about how much information you contained. But in W 131 we were taught how to write with our opinions and others in mind. For me this made things more difficult because after writing book report papers for four years straight breaking that habit was difficult. I really had to sit and think about how I wanted my paper to appear to the reader. One big thing in W 131 was brainstorming. Luckily I had done a lot of that in high school but I never knew how it would end up helping me write my papers in college. By brainstorming I was able to take the ideas that I had flying around my head and put them on paper. Then I was able to organize them and add more to each thought. So W 131 I did more than just "learn a lot" about writing; I experience a different way to write papers and how to show your reader a two different sides to each topic without favoring one over the other.

Image analysis/ Synthesis essay

I learned many things from the image analysis and synthesis essays. I learned things about how to approach looking at things in a different light. Like in the advertisements, before, when looking through magazines I would nonchalantly pass through the ads or make a small comment on how great those shoes looked. Now I see all the selling tactics that the companies put into their ads. Before I thought that they just liked to use attractive things to draw in their buyers. But now I know that this has a name ego, pathos and logos and that these companies are masters at using this to attract buyers in. In the synthesis essay I learned a lot about contributing more into the conversation. Before it was just one guys opinion and my own but now I have to take two different or similar opinions and then contribute my own new opinion. It wasn’t as difficult as it first sounded. All I had to do was act like I was really having a conversation and inputting my own voice into it. By the end of the paper I had successfully synthesized two ideas and came up with a brand new one.  

what i learned from W131

I learned a lot from this semester in W131. I learned that there is more about writing then just writing little essay like back in high school. my favorite essay i would have to say is the happiness one. the reason for this one because i enjoyed writing about my family and how this experience changed me as a young child. i worked hours and hours on this essay trying to make it better to where i grab my readers eyes to finish reading the story. the main point of this essay was to teach us how little things can make you happy. and how you don't need a lot of money to make you happy. while writing this essay we were reading deep economy which is a great book to read. It made it really interesting to get into the role of this essay because it talked about our economy and how people think that money is everything. and if you don't have money then your not happy which is not true at all. I think i grew a lot from this essay from a thinker and writing. This class as helped me become a better writer and have more knowledge to where i hope that this will help me in my future at IUPUI.

what i have learned

I learned a lot from this semester in W131. I learned that there is more about writing then just writing little essay like back in high school. my favorite essay i would have to say is the happiness one. the reason for this one because i enjoyed writing about my family and how this experience changed me as a young child. i worked hours and hours on this essay trying to make it better to where i grab my readers eyes to finish reading the story. the main point of this essay was to teach us how little things can make you happy. and how you don't need a lot of money to make you happy. while writing this essay we were reading deep economy which is a great book to read. It made it really interesting to get into the role of this essay because it talked about our economy and how people think that money is everything. and if you don't have money then your not happy which is not true at all. I think i grew a lot from this essay from a thinker and writing. This class as helped me become a better writer and have more knowledge to where i hope that this will help me in my future at IUPUI.

What I have learned

I learned a lot in Kieth's class especially from the synthesis essay. It was the most challenging essay i had to write this semester.It was very hard finding a common link with in my articles and being able to write a four page papaer about that link.I learned that  it is very hard not to use words and terms that people consider racist. I already knew that racism was way beyond just black and white but it was interesting sharing my stories of experienced racism and hearing others stories too.It was very difficult writing about race especially with my two articles talking only about black and white racism and not being biased.I always have in the back of my mind being racially profiled or called a racial slur.Not being able to move past skin color and racism is part of why the idea of race still exist. I think that some people will always have racist ideas and opionions.I do not think race will stop being an issue anytime soon.I think that the concept of race and the ideas of racism have been around for to long and people just have to ignore and live with people opinions no matter how hateful or ignorant they may be.  

learning to open my mind

I have learned so much this semester. I am pretty sure i was grumpy and complained about every assignment that we got in Keith's class. But after actually doing what i was supposed to i ended up liking my papers. Two papers that were challenging to me were the synthesis essay and the analysis essay. As i  pushed through and completed these assignments i have learned alot. I have learned to critically think about the subject i am thinking about. I though i knew how to do this before, but truth is i didnt. Class discussions helped me expand my mind and see diffrent perspectives. Also the way Mr. Brown taught class helped alot. I really like how he gave us optional critque. If we took his suggestions or not he was fine with letting us correct our papaer the way we wanted. I have learned how to open up my mind while writing and i know it will be very helpful in my future endeavors.

Learning from Writing

From writing the past two essays I have learned a lot about life and how others live their life. In my image analysis paper I wrote about two smoking advertisements and the people in the ads. The companies that were promoting these products wanted to make in seem like the audience had to smoke in order to look like the people in the ads. Before writing this paper I hadn't ever thought about companies doing this through advertisements. I always thought it was about catchy slogans and ideas that would grab the consumers attention and not using the people in the ads as products themselves. I learned something that I never thought I would and about something that I didn't even know was out there. For the synthesis essay I wrote about the idea of race and how its is dealt with in today's world. When reading some of the articles that were given, I noticed that all of the author's focused on the black community and nothing else when talking about race. They never took into perspective that there are more than just blacks that are discriminated against in today's world. As I began to write my paper I noticed that these types of things needed to be taken into account when talking about this subject. Before writing this paper I had no idea I would be writing about what I ended up putting on that paper. The more you research different topics or analyze different images, the more you see what this world is coming. I know that I didn't expect to learn what I learned.

Learning Through Writting

I have learned a lot about writing, and life in general, from writing the last two essays. The synthesis essay was the first time I really used other sources to develop an essay. I really had to take into consideration the other authors opinions and value what they thought on the topic. From looking at their point of view I came up with my own insight on the subject. This was a different essay for me because in High School whenever I looked at sources or other author's writings I was taught to agree or disagree with them. Although, the synthesis essay taught me to look at the author's topics and then formulate my own ideas. I liked writing this way better because it broadened my views and I wrote about what I thought rather than being one-sided with another persons thoughts. Also, by writing my synthesis essay on education I really gained different views. The topic I wrote about was very relevant to my life so I enjoyed writing it and it kept me interested. Now after looking at it and revising it I have gained stronger opinions and a slighter different view on the subject.

What I have Learned

I have learned a lot thing this semester I have learned how to challenge myself when comes to my writing and to think about my reader when my writing my essay. The last two essays we’re really challenging for me. I knew I was supposed to write about two ads but it was challenging because I couldn’t figure out what to write about. I couldn’t come up with thesis statement because I never put a lot of thought into ads and the affect they have on us. I couldn’t figure out if ads we’re good thing or bad thing to society and without guideline I had to challenge myself to come up with a good thesis on my own and convince my writer to agree with my argument.

Before I came up with my thesis I made outline that help me write my essay and my thesis I never knew the power that ads have over teenagers. Once I had my essay done I realize that ads have big effect in teenagers when it comes to having sex at young age. I never thought of ads as bad thing in teenager’s life and how they base their decision on what they see in magazines and TV show instead of listing to their parents or their sex education teacher it show that media has more power over teenager then parents and teachers. Teenager s base their decision about having sex in ads. Before I never thought of ads as big issues in teenager’s life  actually  it never came to mind until I wrote this paper.

Learning from Writing

While drafting my image analysis essay I felt that I learned more about being incredibly descriptive with my writing. Before taking on this essay, other than in story writing, I had never really wrote quite as descriptively as the image analysis essay called for. Though I already knew a good deal of how to compare and contrast, I learned more of how to use ethos, logos, and pathos to give more depth to an essay, something which helped me lengthen it to a decent size.
When writing the synthesis essay on the other hand, I felt I did not learn as much, likely because I already had experience with it from AP Language my junior year in high school. I felt as if my synthesis essay was a little short though, I felt as if I didn’t have enough material to properly synthesize a proper argument.

What I Have Learned - Eric

I have learned a lot this semester about how to write different types of essays. In the past I have just written summary style essays and have never really been challenged to put a whole lot of thought into what I was writing. My favorite essay that I wrote in this class was the image analysis essay. I enjoyed looking at how different advertisements would entice consumers to buy their products. I chose to analyze AXE Body Spray and TAG Body Spray. I felt that the product itself was not actually being advertised. The products themselves were nowhere to be seen in the advertisements. The main goal of the advertisement was to show that the product will help attract women if you wear it. It became interesting to me that these products sell well just because the advertisers show in a commercial that they attract women. I have never had an essay that was more difficult to write than the synthesis essay. I put a lot of thought into how I would create a new idea from the two articles. I think that I grew more as a thinker on this assignment than on any assignment that I have had in the past. I am glad that I know how to write a synthesis essay now. I hope that the knowledge that I have gained in this class will go on to benfit me in my other classes at IUPUI.