Other than English classes, I haven’t spent too much time writing in my life. I am usually too shy to share my writing and generally, I would be so embarrassed if something I wrote was seen by someone else. When I was a kid, I occasionally used to have a little journal or diary that I would mostly doodle in, I would seldom ever write. Now I am a 27 year old graphic design student because art is what I love. Although I have enjoyed this last quarter in this class, I honestly don’t think I would have taken it if it wasn’t required for my degree. Aside from art, my other love is music. I love to doodle, draw, and create art on the computer, as well as listen to music and see live shows as often as I can. I have a very laid-back, easy-going personality and it takes a lot for me to get worked up on any certain topic or issue. With all of the discussion board topics and posts that we completed this quarter, I was usually able to see all sides of every issue and agree with most of them to a certain extent.
The time we spent on the theme of identity this quarter was great. I really liked the topic, the readings associated with it and spending time connecting everything all together and relating it to my own life. Identity is something that we think about everyday, maybe not directly but it is still thought about. This class is the first time I have ever had to take those thoughts about identity and write them down and reflect on them. The identity blog assignment was a ton of fun. As I read through other classmate’s assignments, it was interesting to see what people had in common with others, as well as their differences. The discussion board postings challenged me to think outside the box and consider other options that I wouldn’t normally have thought of, and everyone else’s input helped me to do that. Other classmates brought up different aspects that I wouldn’t have thought of immediately, if even at all. This theme helped me think of my own identity differently and how my identity has changed or been influenced over the years. It was the most interesting theme of the class for me.
I struggled a lot through the community section of the class. For some reason I just couldn’t get into the theme and I had a hard time writing about the topics and subjects, and unfortunately my grades reflected that. The biggest challenge of the quarter was to broaden my horizons and think and write about different community topics that normally I wouldn’t have really given a second thought about. The community theme was all about new ideas and concepts for me. The readings didn’t completely interest me and I had a hard time relating them to any personal stories or experiences.
The last theme that we discussed was tradition and I absolutely loved this section. In the first blog assignment I had to think hard about traditions about food relating to family and friends. In the beginning I had the hardest time, but once I thought of one the ideas just kept coming. It was one of my favorite assignments over the quarter. The tradition portion of the class brought back so many memories for me and allowed me to reminisce about the past a little bit. When I discussed some of the assignments to friends and family some interesting conversations arose. I feel that the tradition section of the class was where I was able to exhibit my best work and it was also when I felt most confident with my writing.
It has taken me a few days to finally pick the pieces that I am going to include in my E-Portfolio. I am not a huge fan of any of my writings but I did finally make some selections. My critical writing piece is going to be the first Identity group assignment, “Gender and Identity Markers.” This assignment was completed early on in the quarter and so I feel it could use a little more work, but at the same time I feel that it showed my ability to critically analyze an issue. I have chosen the second discussion board posting under the Community theme, “’Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans,” as my revision piece. I struggled a lot during the Community part of the class and it was hard for me to stay focused and on track so I would like to revisit this assignment and improve it. The third selection that I made that shows my awareness of audience and voice is the Tradition blog assignment, “Family & Friends Food Traditions.” Out of all the blog assignments, I enjoyed writing this blog posting the most. Finally, the last piece of my E-Portfolio, my “Writer’s Choice” is going to be my Tradition essay, “Traditional Dating vs. Internet Dating.” I spent a lot of time on this paper and I feel as though I put a lot more effort into this assignment than a lot of the others.
Honestly, this quarter has been really tough for me. I’ve had so much going on in my life and with school and, on top of everything else, this class hasn’t been easy. Throughout all the challenges, I feel that I have learned a lot and I have noticed all the changes I have made in my thinking and the way it connects to my writing. I know for a fact that I will always be into art. But who knows, after all this I might start a little bit of writing.
Thanks for reading,
Desi Goodwin
The time we spent on the theme of identity this quarter was great. I really liked the topic, the readings associated with it and spending time connecting everything all together and relating it to my own life. Identity is something that we think about everyday, maybe not directly but it is still thought about. This class is the first time I have ever had to take those thoughts about identity and write them down and reflect on them. The identity blog assignment was a ton of fun. As I read through other classmate’s assignments, it was interesting to see what people had in common with others, as well as their differences. The discussion board postings challenged me to think outside the box and consider other options that I wouldn’t normally have thought of, and everyone else’s input helped me to do that. Other classmates brought up different aspects that I wouldn’t have thought of immediately, if even at all. This theme helped me think of my own identity differently and how my identity has changed or been influenced over the years. It was the most interesting theme of the class for me.
I struggled a lot through the community section of the class. For some reason I just couldn’t get into the theme and I had a hard time writing about the topics and subjects, and unfortunately my grades reflected that. The biggest challenge of the quarter was to broaden my horizons and think and write about different community topics that normally I wouldn’t have really given a second thought about. The community theme was all about new ideas and concepts for me. The readings didn’t completely interest me and I had a hard time relating them to any personal stories or experiences.
The last theme that we discussed was tradition and I absolutely loved this section. In the first blog assignment I had to think hard about traditions about food relating to family and friends. In the beginning I had the hardest time, but once I thought of one the ideas just kept coming. It was one of my favorite assignments over the quarter. The tradition portion of the class brought back so many memories for me and allowed me to reminisce about the past a little bit. When I discussed some of the assignments to friends and family some interesting conversations arose. I feel that the tradition section of the class was where I was able to exhibit my best work and it was also when I felt most confident with my writing.
It has taken me a few days to finally pick the pieces that I am going to include in my E-Portfolio. I am not a huge fan of any of my writings but I did finally make some selections. My critical writing piece is going to be the first Identity group assignment, “Gender and Identity Markers.” This assignment was completed early on in the quarter and so I feel it could use a little more work, but at the same time I feel that it showed my ability to critically analyze an issue. I have chosen the second discussion board posting under the Community theme, “’Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans,” as my revision piece. I struggled a lot during the Community part of the class and it was hard for me to stay focused and on track so I would like to revisit this assignment and improve it. The third selection that I made that shows my awareness of audience and voice is the Tradition blog assignment, “Family & Friends Food Traditions.” Out of all the blog assignments, I enjoyed writing this blog posting the most. Finally, the last piece of my E-Portfolio, my “Writer’s Choice” is going to be my Tradition essay, “Traditional Dating vs. Internet Dating.” I spent a lot of time on this paper and I feel as though I put a lot more effort into this assignment than a lot of the others.
Honestly, this quarter has been really tough for me. I’ve had so much going on in my life and with school and, on top of everything else, this class hasn’t been easy. Throughout all the challenges, I feel that I have learned a lot and I have noticed all the changes I have made in my thinking and the way it connects to my writing. I know for a fact that I will always be into art. But who knows, after all this I might start a little bit of writing.
Thanks for reading,
Desi Goodwin
3 comments:
I like the look of your e-portfolio with the pictures. Throughout this course I also was usually able to see all sides of an issue and it made it hard to write in favor of only one. Since you wrote that quarter has been hard for you, you must be relieved that it is finally over.
I discovered in this course that I did not approach things with an open mind, even though I thought I did. I found feedback on the discussion boards very helpful. This quarter was difficult for me also, but I really enjoyed it.
-- Todd
Funny thing, you said you had trouble in the beginning of the class, I had it in the end. Everyone came and left this class in a different way. I love the pictues, it made the blog look nice.
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