Week 15: Writing

 What did you like best about the writing for this class? What would you like to see more of?

I really enjoyed the commenting on other peoples posts and the option to do the last words assignments. The last words assignment was kind of a relaxing thing for me to do every few weeks because I felt like it allowed me to reflect on what was going on in my life and what I needed to prepare for. I enjoyed the creativity that you left us with for each assignment. That definitely helped make it more fun. 

* Did you choose the Storybook or the Portfolio? Are you happy with your choice? What information should I emphasize to next semester's students when they make that choice?

I chose the storybook. I liked the storybook set up, but I'll admit that I didn't even look at what the portfolio was about. The storybook was more of a website setup and I think the students were able to figure that out from looking at previous storybooks, so I don't really know what else you could say to inform them of what it is all about.

* Do you have suggestions for the commenting process: suggestions about commenting on blog posts? suggestions about comments on Storybooks/Portfolios?

I think that the list you have posted to help students with what to comment is very helpful. The most important information that the future students should know about commenting is that positive feedback is the most important. 

* What kinds of comments did you find most useful as you working on your Storybook/Portfolio?

Honestly, I found your comments the most useful and pertinent. I hardly ever looked at the comment wall for guidance because I knew you would catch anything that needed to be changed. 

* Do you think this class helped you to improve your writing? 

Yes. Improvement of writing was a major thing I noticed happening for all of the students throughout the semester. I made comments about it in some of my last words posts. It was pretty incredible to watch some students improvements!

* What kind of writing do you see yourself doing in your future career? Will writing be important in that career?

I want to go to graduate school, so I am anticipating many research papers in the future. After grad school, I want to go into health administration, which requires a bit of writing but mostly professional letters and things of that sort. 

Week 15: About the Reading

What did you like best about the readings for this class? Are there any general suggestions you would make about how the readings are set up?

I really enjoyed the readings. They were not heavy readings and they were interesting for the most part. At a few points throughout the semester it seemed like a lot to get done, but having the extra credit was always a great solution to missing a reading diary or two. 

* Did you find some new reading diary strategies that you used in the second half of the semester?

The second half of the semester I realized that the reading diaries did not have to be 400 words long... So I started shortening them because I take really good notes in my book and it was always a pain to have to jot them down online on top of that.  

* What did you think of the overall balance between reading - writing - commenting in the class assignments?

The reading was definitely a lot more time consuming than the other aspects of the points system, but it is easily the most necessary part of the course. Commenting on blog posts wasn't too bad, only 60 words, but the comments on the storybooks were a tad excessive. I felt like I was always saying the same general thing on everyones storybooks toward the end. 

* Do you think I should offer a reading assignment extra credit option? 

There is definitely enough extra credit. I think that if you emphasized more to your students that they should try to do as many extra credit assignments as possible at the beginning of the semester, that would help a few students out. Its the procrastinators that have a problem. If you did decide to offer a extra credit reading assignment worth a considerable amount of points (maybe 20-30?) then I would offer it at the end of the semester for those who have been procrastinating. 

Week 14: Reading Diary B

I really enjoyed the descriptions of what the festival was like and all of the separate events that occurred at it this week. It was Yudhisthira's idea (or so he would want us to think). I would love to have attended this festival because everyone who came was given free food and presents. There was an interesting golden (grains) mongoose... and that was an interesting story. Eventually it actually turned into gold, so that was really lucky considering that was its goal all along.

Week 14: Reading Diary A

Duryodhana was depicted much differently here. This week was pivotal in defining his character. He has 100 brothers... Kind of crazy. Although his right to the throne was taken away, at least someone thinks he is great. Yudhishthira thinks that he is so powerful that he could take on one of the Pandavas.

Week 13: Tech Tip || Google doc dictionary

Here is one of the most commonly misspelled words in our language. If you are not sure if you spelled a word correctly in google docs, you can right click the word and "define" it, or you can highlight it, choose "tools," then "define."

Week 13: Famous Last Words

This week has been very hectic and we have not even had class yet! My sororities formal date party is this Friday so I am trying to get everything done in advance so I do not have anything to worry about come Friday. I have an organic chemistry quiz this Friday, which is rather unfortunate because I wish I could just take the day off to relax from (what I am anticipating to be) a stressful week. This quiz is really important though. Our professor has agreed to use the best 2 out of 3 quizzes from the semester, so I have to do really well on this one. I also have to visit career services and have them critique my resume and submit the finalized version to one of my other classes by Wednesday. I have so much online Italian homework to complete on top of all of that. I do not expect to enjoy much sleep this week!

Here's a personal picture of my ochem textbook!

Other than my usual stress with school, I really do not have much else to comment on! I am really looking forward to our date party, but I am also (almost more) looking forward to getting this quiz over with! I want to have all of my work for this class completed by tomorrow. It was nice to have the snow day, and an extra day to complete our weekend assignments, but I spent most of today studying for ochem anyways.

My third post to my storybook has gone along great! I think that everyone who has read it is able to really envision my characters and get a better understanding of who those characters are and what is important to them. I had a friend read my storybook (so far) and she liked the blog posts even though she has no idea what the Ramayana or Mahabharata are! Sounds like good news to me!

Week 13: Reading Diary B

Wow, the death of Drona was written very well here in comparison to Narayans version. Drona kills Drupada because he is his enemy. While Drona is mourning over the death (or so he thought) of his son, he puts down his defense for one moment and is then beheaded. Kind of messed up. Not a very fair fight.