So Long

A Note On Group Work
Like most students, when I came to the first day of class and found out about the large group project I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I have been in too many groups where no one was willing to do any work or even begin to brainstorm on topics for projects. Me, being the slacker that I am at times, can’t stand groups like this; I am willing to pull my weight but only if others are willing to do the same. If this isn’t a problem something else usually is. I have had experiences where a topic can’t be agreed upon, or where an individual’s style of work doesn’t mesh at all. But this may be the point of group work, getting students to work together even when their personalities clash.
My group in this class was an exception to my past experiences. While I do feel like we might have been able to come up with a more interesting and unique topic, I also think that we did well with what we chose. Maybe because, at least I would say, we were all fairly relaxed students we worked well together. I also think it could be because our group was chosen for us, based on our writing, rather than randomly putting members of the class into groups. Regardless of the reason this was my best experience working in a group.
Throughout the semester I think we became more aware, as a group, of our individual differences. In many cases this would have made our group project harder, but that was not the case here. As we became more aware of our differences we also became more accepting of those differences. This caused us to work even smoother together. Overall the group work to turned out to be a fulfilling experience.
I can safely say the same about the class as a whole. I enjoyed the class session because they left plenty of room for discussion and were very interactive. I also enjoyed the blog as the prompts were interesting and made me think about things in different ways, as well as making me think about things I never thought about before. The blogs also did the job of making us write more frequently, which is necessary to becoming a better writer.
I learned some practical things in this class, such as gaining a little more familiarity with grammatical rules. I also learned some things about myself as far as how to keep myself in check when I completely disagree with what other people in class are saying. Overall, the group work was the highlight of the class, but there were no low lights.
Until Next Time
Tractor

Full Stop

Because I am finally done with college. This is my last ever academic assignment, though I have to admit I am still not that good in writing blog after 15 weeks of practicing. Now, I am two finals away from my big milestone this weekend.

I have to say that Eng201 is one of my many classes that I did not anticipate very much at first but surprisingly end up learning many new things. I really enjoyed attending the class even though I was normally quiet in class. I love going class and just listened to others as there are still so many things I am still learning about this country and culture here. Other than that, my first ever blog was in this class. Not to mention I have never blogged before, not even in my best language, Chinese. I have to admit I was a little annoyed to blog and respond every week at first. After few practices, I think I blogged more fluently now. However, I still feel blogging is not something I will do naturally due to my personality. I also enjoyed more in writing after taking this class. Not only discovering many kinds of writing style other than academic research paper, but also few things to notice when listening to a speech. All these skills make my listening experience more pleasurable and interesting. In the end, other than surviving all the amount of writing in this class, I am glad I did learn a lot out of this class.

This class also sums up my two and half year experience in the States. I worked as a group, practiced on different kinds of writing, had class in and out of classroom, and listened to many public issues. I even think my class began and ended at the same building, as I took ESL117 in my first semester and now another writing class, which both were in Helen C. White.
Now leaving school, I am still unsure where my future lies ahead as I still have not found a full time job. One thing I have already planned is taking a break and visit around. Somehow the current flu epidemic has rendered my planned. Hopefully, things will still work out as planned. My family is coming for my graduation. I am excited; they have a chance to know my life here and enjoy this nice Madison. After that, we are visiting California and I will fly to Europe to visit my brother and some friends before going back home. If any of you have the chance to visit Malaysia, I am more than happy to guide you around.

Coming here is definitely not a choice to regret of. I have so much experience and stories to share with friends back home now. The whole experience here is really great. I have made many good friends, which I know they will be lifelong. I have visited many beautiful places in the States, the East coast and a totally crazy road drive to Las Vegas. I have experienced the party culture in Madison, of course, the Halloween State Street and Mifflin block party that I never missed. Every experience is priceless and will be remembered for life. Now, I am moving on to the next stage of my life. Out of school, I wish I could still enjoy as much as I could.


Until next time,
CY

What I've Learned..

My time in English 201 this semester was nothing short of a very pleasurable learning experience. Going back to high school, I had always been one who enjoyed writing and crafting language, and because of this I took all of the English courses including AP English courses that I could. This class brought back a lot of the good memories I have about writing from a few years ago. While there was a good amount of writing assigned to us through the blog posts and various papers, we weren’t so overwhelmed with work that it took the enjoyment out of the craft. Everything in the class was balanced just right, and I will therefore look back at it with fond memories.
I’ve also made a very profound decision recently, and it’s no coincidence that I was currently enrolled in this course at the time it came. I have switched majors, and am pursuing a goal of graduating with an English degree, and there after getting a teacher’s certificate, with hopes of teaching high school English. This is no small happening considering I had been dead set on graduating with a degree in Kinesiology for a number of years; but no more. I can look back to a good deal that occurred in this course and use it as a guide when I begin teaching my own classes down the road. The amount of freedom that we were able to have during the course of the semester was a real breath of fresh air, and a much needed break from the usual set of unbreakable rules and guidelines. This freedom of a hard set of rules often goes hand in hand with a freedom that is given to our imagination, allowing our true creativity to shine through. This was indeed the case for me, and very likely many of my other class mates. Without a doubt, the time that I invested every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon was well spent. There’s no question that I have a stronger confidence in my writing, and also a new found confidence to teach others and guide them in their very own writing endeavors.

All in all, I am very content with what I have taken from this course, and I hope that everyone would agree.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blogs this spring, and I wish all of you a great summer.

Until we meet again,

DP

What Guides Me..

In the past, writing always seemed to me to be more of a chore than an enjoyable activity. Mid-way through high school this changed. The particular English class that I took that year had a lasting influence on me as a writer, and many of the personal rules and regulations that I now hold myself to emerged because of it. The “A Completely Idiosyncratic, Slightly Off-Beat, and Potentially Helpful Collection of Writing Advice” worksheet that our teacher Christine Stephenson gave us lists many of the rules that I already adhered to.
Rule #1: The better you understand the rules, the more liberated you are from them.
In the English Composition class that changed my ways as a writer, the first thing that our teacher beat into our heads was the proper use of grammar and language in our writing. At first, the amount of time that we were spending on it seemed obnoxious, but in hindsight, her way of teaching made sense. Before you can truly blossom as a writer, you need to know the simple do’s and don’ts of language. Then, and only then, can you use your creativity to its fullest and most uninhibited extent. It was no coincidence that after she felt that our class had a good grasp on the rules, she then sought to emphasize the second portion of Rule #1. Thanks to her method of teaching, I now firmly know the regulations imparted by the English language and can creatively stretch the rules in order to allow my writing to have a larger impact on my audience.
Rule #2: Heed this gruesome advice: murder your darlings.
This is another very important rule that I hold myself to. The more and more I’ve worked with writing and language in general, the more I have come to understand that one should always strive to achieve “quality over quantity”. Economical use of language is hugely important, because not only can you get to your point faster, but the point that you are trying to make is made more effectively because of it. It is indeed true that “culling your hard work may be the toughest of [them] all”, but it is without a doubt worth the time and effort to perfect your craft. When this idea was first imparted to me, following its principles was a tough task to say the least, but as anything else, the more one practices, the better one gets. This has been true for me, and I look forward to improving even more as time goes by.
Rule #3 Read!
To be perfectly honest, this is a rule that up until the point, I haven’t adhered to. It has always been something that I’ve wanted to do more of, and I put this as my number three rule, because I am making it a goal to go out of my comfort zone and read on a consistent basis. I know for a fact that if I stick to my pledge, my writing will improve. The more one reads, the more he/she is exposed to as far as different writing styles go. I believe that to improve one’s craft, one should observe others who have already become successful in their field. It’s just like job shadowing. The more you observe others, the greater knowledge pool you will have from which to draw your own ideas and conclusions.

WoW does time fly...

It is weird how time flies by so fast. Four months ago I was thinking ugh I have to blog, I’m so bad at blogging. Now, four months later, I am writing my last blog. It is sad almost how fast semesters fly by; especially the last few weeks. You never really have time to enjoy the classes your in because our lives are so hectic with projects, papers and projects. It’s almost annoying that students can’t just sit and learn from a class. I mean we can, but there’s so much added pressure with assignments, papers, midterms, that there is no time to enjoy the material. You are always worrying about your grade, or missing a side note that a teacher made in lecture. You go to class, scribble down every word the teacher says (if your paying attention that day) then you leave, memorize what the teacher says, memorize other notes from different classes, go to bed and do it all again the next morning. Luckily, this class was more hands on and didn’t have a lot of that.

This is one of the classes that I am actually sad is over. I hate to admit it, but I really enjoyed this class. English and composition classes always are my favorite. I’m a nerd though and love writing papers. I like writing papers that make my mind have to work, that sort of push me out of the boring student essay bubble and that’s what this class did. I think that was my favorite part of the writing assignments. We were free to do almost anything we wanted to write about; which was good for me, because I always feel so constricted when teachers give out specific topics and guidelines. I could write how I wanted, and about what I wanted, without being boxed in like other teachers do.

I think that this class has really helped me as person, not just as a student. This may sound a lot like my introduction to our portfolio but it’s true. Working with a cohort all semester has really been a great experience. I liked that I had other people to collaborate with and learn from. I didn’t just go to a lecture, sit and leave, I got to interact and form a bond with a group throughout the year. I’m normally a bit OCD about certain things, especially school, and it working with the three other guys has really helped me to chill a bit. The cohort taught me to be patient with other people, and that my opinion isn’t the only one that matters.

After a semester it is really cool to see the result of four months worth of work. The four of us started out in the computer lab trying to think of any random name to name the blog and now we have developed a unique voice and personality. We were just four random people who were put together in a group and now we are the New Standard of Normalcy. A group with such different people, who have different perspectives on anything, yet, we managed to make a pretty interesting portfolio, blog and semester project. We are one group, but at the same time our individuality shows in everything we do as a cohort.

I am defiantly going to take a lot of what I learned in this class out into the real world. And like I said before, this class is one of the few that have offered me that option. I feel like in a lot of my classes I lose the information I retain because I don’t have enough time to soak it in but in this class I did. I have learned a lot about me as a writer, and what I like write specifically. It was a great experience, and it’s sad that it is over, but life's got to keep moving!

So until next time,
CS

Writing tips that work for me

Learning English as my second language, I see myself write best in structured essay, such as research and argument paper. Probably due to the way I am educated in my early school year. Writing is not my strongest subject in school. It always takes me quite some time to write a piece of paper. Thus, I have come across few writing tips that have helped me in some way.

First, talk with people. My writing skills have greatly improved since I come to the States, especially during the semester I stayed in the dorm. When I am surrounded with Americans, this only English-speaking environment has forced me to express myself in the common language. That semester has not only polished my speaking skills but also helped me to think in English more often, which eventually improve my writing process. Back home, the only place I have conversation in English is in English classes. Even having friends that speak only English, the language and practice are still different than how it is spoken here. My dorm mates have definitely helped me a lot though I always had to repeat my sentences at first or just listened to their conversation. I believe that the easier way to learn a language is live in the environment that uses the language most often. Of course, that is me who come from a different background. I think conversation will help one’s writing more fluently and also motivate a writer to explore something else. The paper will cover more grounds by knowing more people’s thoughts. Experience has now played a big part in my writing. Thus, by talking to different people or just listening to others will enhance one’s ideas on writing.

Next, I need to jot down my points before I start writing. Since I write directly on my computer, I normally just brainstorm all my ideas in short sentences in a blank document for the first hour. Then I will start skipping around to expand my points whenever I think of something. Whether it is in a grammatically correct sentence or makes sense, I will just jot down whatever come through my mind. I think I like doing my paper on computer is it is easy to edit. Unlike writing on a paper, which sometimes gets untidy and hard to keep track, writing on computer is more structured. After that, I will take a break then start writing my paper.

Personally, I can’t write in a quiet room, so I need to listen to some music or switch on the TV so that I know time is ticking while I’m writing. It is just a habit that I could now even seat still for a period of time. The music or TV should not be too loud, just as a background noise. If it gets too loud, it will distract my attention and get annoying. For instance, I am watching the NBA game while I am writing this blog. Of course, it will take me longer to write a paper. So, I will time myself if I am in a rush or just plan to write earlier. I think I sometimes just spend too much time writing, which I know many people could not afford it. However, it somehow helps me write better in term of the flow of the essay.

One more thing is be comfortable when you are writing, whether it is seating under the sun, lying on the bed, or drinking coffee. Once you feel comfortable sitting in front of the computer or paper, it is when your ideas come flow. At last, everyone have different writing tips that work, but revising more than twice is the least required steps. No matter how well one writes, he or she must have revised that paper more than once. I believe revising is much more important than crafting. So, instead of going through a paper once, be make sure you have enough time to revise repeatedly before handing in the paper.

Write Like You MEAN It

When it comes to my writing style I don’t have grammar rules informing me on good style and good structure. I don’t say this because I think I am above the rules, I say this because for multiple reasons I have never been given what I feel is a concrete understanding of grammar. Either I am lazy, or public education has failed me, probably a combination of the two. I was home schooled until the eighth grade. My school day usually consisted of writing my name and the date and an hour or so of math. Then I would study whatever topic I felt like after the mandatory part of the day was done. I don’t remember once going over any grammar; I think I learned nouns, adjectives and verbs from playing Madlibs. I feel like some of this must have been covered while I was in High School, but I got bored with that and quit paying attention pretty quick.

That being said I try to follow the rules the best that I can, but at the same time I try and let my thinking flow smoothly allowing me to unconsciously use words that make the most sense together. Obviously I am not doing that very well right now because what I have typed so far doesn’t make much sense. Another thing I think happens to me when I just let myself right without thinking too hard is that I combine random things in metaphors and strange exaggerations. I think there are so many words out there that it is pointless to limit yourself in your use of words. Every time you write something you shouldn’t have trouble conveying your thoughts in a unique and different way.

I also let my values and morals guide my writing. My values and morals come from my life experiences, which have been fairly intense at times. With that being said I think I try and us words to convey the intensity of situations rather than just stating things in a matter of fact way. For example, rather than saying getting hit by a car hurt it would no doubt be more effective to say “it felt more like a train the car was moving so fast and that I have never felt the crushing blow of pain with so much force ever before in my life. This may be a bit over the top, but you get my point. Again I say why limit yourself when there are no limits.

I would say my life experience has also given me a good idea of what is important in life. This is another characteristic I take into account when writing. I think this pertains more to content than style and grammar. What I like to think while writing a paper is would I ever want to read this again, will my professor want to vomit in their mouth while reading this and isn’t there anything actually worth saying being said here? As college students we are required to spit out paper after paper year round so without a doubt we have all written those papers that we can’t wait to turn in and never see again. Still most of us have written a paper or two we are actually proud of. It is these papers that are obviously guided by something within us that we feel a real attachment to. Whether it is a creative non-fiction piece like the one for this class where you are writing something that is personally significant to you, or it is a paper within your major that actually tweaks your interest. These are the papers that whether we consciously see it or not are guided by our internal voice and values. These are the papers we actually care about because they reflect who we are.

If I reread a paper I have written in the past and it at least seems like it is following grammatical rules and if my use of language is unique and reflects some part of my personality I am proud of it. If the writing doesn’t reflect any of these characteristics chances I will never reread it and I have already forgotten I wrote it.