First signing up for English 15S was done by the
recommendation of my FTCAP advisor, and because I had no idea what sort of
classes I should be taking on my own. I came in with moderate expectations, as English
is by no means my favorite subject, however over the course of this semester I
have learned to really enjoy English 15S; even if it is a little early for me.
Coming to Penn State I had been warned of the class sizes
here, and a lot of questioning was done about how fluid a learning environment that
situation creates. After spending a semester here, I would say that even though
some of my classes enroll over seven-hundred students, Penn State does a very
good job at fitting class sizes to the course material to most efficiently
serve their purpose. This is reflected in this class, being about twenty-two
students, as well as in the rest of my classes.
In terms of the class material itself, a lot of emphasis was
put on the arts in general instead of focusing it on English. This is an approach
that I have not experienced in my previous English courses, and a pleasant one,
as I am heavily involved in the performing arts. I very much enjoyed our
required out of class arts trips, as one thing I think Penn State promotes
poorly are the events happening around campus, and it was great to have the
opportunity to go to these events that I would not otherwise have known about.
In particular, I really enjoyed seeing In Red
and Brown Water, which has been the only theatric performance I have gotten
to see since coming to Penn State. I heard no mention of it outside of class,
and unfortunately I think that was reflected in attendance. Once again I think
Penn State is lagging on this note.
Another focus of this class was put on our course blogs, and
our effort in them. Before coming to college I had written blogs for classes,
but they were usually one and done assignments. I did not realize that as much
focus is put on them as it is in college, as several of my classes require
them. I think this is a reflection of the student body at Penn State, as they
are known for being extremely active online. Anyone who questions this needs
only look at any public voting competition online. If Penn State is involved,
expect them to be winning by a considerable margin. So in this sense Penn State
is very intelligent with marketing their classes towards a medium that the
student body is already intimately familiar with.
With my writing itself, I would say that I have improved in
the concision of my texts, which in the past has been a serious problem for me.
However I have also improved with completing thoughts instead of just stating
them, which fills out my papers and blog posts much more than I have been able
to do in the past, without stating the unnecessary.
Overall I would rate my experience in English 15S to have
been a very positive one; miles ahead of my expectations. More so than this I
believe this course has been a good stepping stone towards more difficult
courses that I will be required to take in the future, a stepping stone that I
had previously hoped for but was a big unknown coming in. I would like to thank
Sheila for helping (and putting up with) me through this course, and wish her
the best of luck in her future endeavors, as I’m sure she has more magazine articles
in her future.
Blog
Under- you think you
know art
The link to the course evaluations (SRTE) can be found on
ANGEL. Please take a moment to fill this out--it's important!--and then post a
sentence under #3 of your final blog journal that says, "Hi, Ms. S--I
completed my SRTEs!"
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