Well, I wanted to give some reflection of my overall experience in your class this semester.
I gotta say... starting my first day in your class, I wasn't expecting to actually enjoy having you as my teacher this semester, going from loving music, to even bringing up George Carlin as a reference for a homework assignment. That can go a lot of the same with other teachers I've had so far, but you're an awesome teacher with, in my opinion, how flexible and relaxed you are in terms of our teachings in this course.
The blogging was something new that I never would of thought that would come up as a homework assignment. With the freedom of writing in our own way, with no boundaries of HOW we write, I quite loved the idea... and coming to today, I've enjoyed it so much.
You made our readings, and even our essays, interesting to tackle on. In comparison to the teacher I had last semester for College Writing I (even though he was good as well), you've actually made it more interesting, and mind grasping for the audience to get involved with, and be more creative (which is what I like in a English teacher). I rather express my writing through a more free-style of writing, rather than it being constricted and narrow.
Although I'm not in much favor of ALL the readings, most of them were ones I quite liked. Your AUDIO essay I LOVED (far as copying it onto my computer, as I mentioned... although I haven't listened to it so far yet lol). The Google article, and several other ones I've liked (and I gotta remember to copy those until my computer as well). You brought in topics that were interesting to being open-minded and awed about, in comparison to having a history lecture throughout the whole, entire course.
Your essay topics were a good mix. The 'music video' one was my personal favorite because it allowed me to think a little more open-minded about the video, and the song, through different perspectives of it. As a writer, I should expect to have more point-of-view on things, but you touched something in my head to look at a music video through more aspects of it. I never would of saw more to the 'One' song than before; it was all focused to the passing of my grandpa, and war, and pain... but you opened my eyes more to the overall production of the messages.
The only few things I felt were a little unease, were things like when we learned about topics like the Gettysburg Address and such. I'm not gonna say they were completely boring, or 'what's the point of knowing this', but... it seems like it was a fill-in, especially that we never really talked about it much afterwards. That, and when it came down to the last essay, the Works Cited... I was completely iffy with, and I felt a little uncomfortable about, because I wasn't sure on some things on a correct format.
Overall, Mr. Sloan, you've been an awesome teacher for your first steps into teaching the college level! I'm really glad to have you as my teacher this semester, and it's going to be somewhat of a mini-heartbreak when I end up seeing you again on Monday lol.
... On the side, I'm kinda curious about if you've ever done any creative writing, or perhaps have any recordings of music from your old band (or your own personal writing) that you've done. I would like to hear/see em' sometime!! : )
I'm hoping you may end up teaching College Writing II!!
Best of Wishes,
Joseph Sendelbach
Lucky for you, Joe, I am susceptible to flattery : )
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, it's encouraging to hear such positive feedback. You really made an effort to engage with things this semester,and, in the case of writing, you get out of it what you put in. Ultimately, YOU are the one responsible for constantly re-evaluating and expanding your OWN outlook.
I've found history lectures fairly interesting - but that has a LOT to do with the rhetorical abilities of the lecturer. Also, you'll probably find that writing courses tend to be more interactive and student-centered. Writing requires ENGAGEMENT on the part of the writer, and the lecture format doesn't generally encourage that. You consume information and report it back to the teacher, but don't produce much of your own.
With respect to the historical documents, the choice of a particular medium was a sociocultural decision - for instance, presenting the Declarating with calligraphy carried a certain meaning - a meaning that, in many ways, seems to contradict what we believe it to stand for. And transposing Lincoln's eloquent Gettysburg speech to Power Point was meant to illustrate the potential of a medium to distort or "dumb down" the intended message. It may have seemed like a departure - but it was still about rhetorical presentation.
OK...
ReplyDeleteRe: the band and other personal nonsense
http://www.myspace.com/ruthshat
This was my band for the better part of a decade - sort of garagey punk filtered through 50s rockabilly and 60s pop.
http://www.myspace.com/thepjexperience
These are some of my own demos - more of an alternative country sort of thing.
http://www.myspace.com/sloanbrothers
This is an acoustic project - just my brother and I (he was in R Hat with me). Sort of old-school country meets twangy pop or something.
I've done a lot of writing, most of it academic. I used to write music reviews - you might find some online. And I wrote semi-regularly on this blog for a while:
http://overlyactivebrain.blogspot.com/
Thanks again for the kind words, Joe.