Final Learning Blog

I did not learn much from the first unit, but the last two have been interesting.  I learned exactly how one should not go about testing a genre of literature and my failure to learn anything makes me wish I could do unit two over again.  I did learn some things from unit two, but they were not about genres.  I got to practice giving surveys again and I was eager to implement what I learned about giving surveys first semester.  I feel like it gave me a chance to refine my skills in gathering the information I wanted from participants and while I was still dissatisfied with the survey results, I think I could administer a competent survey after my experiences in unit two.

I really liked the peer reviews we did in class and the fact we learned how to become better peer reviewers.  I have never had an instructor, from high school or college, address how to peer review, much less how to be a good peer reviewer.  I can count the number of positive and constructive peer reviews I have been a part of, outside of this class, on one hand, but I have found every peer review in this class helpful.  I wish we had more time to peer review during the course of this class, especially with the final article, I felt rushed during our peer reviews and I think I could have gotten more out of them if we could have had more time.  Until this class, I despised peer reviews and outside of this class I still find them largely unhelpful.  My English professors almost always set aside time for them, but they are never useful.  I think we could have spent more time on learning how to become better peer reviewers and I definitely think that it is something that should be addressed in introductory English classes for English majors.

The final article was the most challenging unit for me and often made me extremely frustrated.  I think it was a good way to end the semester and challenge us to employ skills we have been learning during the semester.  Especially considering that most classes don’t do anything like that, final tests draw on previous learned knowledge, but rarely does a class require me to actually employ any knowledge or skill from a course to create something.  I think I learned a little bit about myself from the assignment and that really did surprise me.  When I was writing it, I was just trying to get through it, but as I kept going and started to edit my article I realized a couple things.  It’s been a long time since I have written a really challenging paper and I had honestly forgotten what it was like.  Writing a challenging paper can be extremely stressful and frustrating.  I stressed when I did not have a topic and I felt childish and stupid when I was not prepared for class.  It takes me back to experiences I had with papers in high school and it was not pleasant.  It made me realize that I still have a very long way to go before I am even a decent writer and I need to be more aware of how I can improve my writing. 

I am surprised by how much I learned from this class, while a lot of what we talked about and sleeked to improve were by no means new concepts to me, but the practice is still important.  The most important things that I took away from this class were a better understanding of current social and historical contexts and stronger writing skills.  Discussing cultural and historical contexts was interesting, because I don’t consider the cultural and historical contexts of present times in the same way that I consider the contexts of the past.  I think it’s easier to look back on the past and identify contexts than it is to identify them as they are going on presently.  I think this is mostly due to personal bias, I have a very biased view of the present world and it’s more difficult for me to examine and identify my biases than those of other people from the past.  On the other hand, I think that I have a better view of a particular point in the past, because it can be generalized.  This is not the case with the present, everything is unfolding around me and it’s harder to find large patterns with shorter time periods and take into account everything that is happening.  I also found the writing we did for English 101 to be very helpful.  It seems plainly obvious now, but practice always helps and I am pretty sure, at least for me, I will never be too good for it.