Final thoughts on English 111 and blog

I have really enjoyed my experiences in English 111.  I feel that taking the class has helped me to grow as a writer and better express my ideas on paper.  My favorite assignment was the literacy narrative essay because it brought back fond childhood memories and was genuinely fun to write.   The pitch, on the other hand, was probably my least favorite assignment.  I liked my lunchtime therapy dog group session but felt that I could have presented the information differently in order to accurately convey my idea to the class. I'm not the best at public speaking, so my presentation was a little shaky.  Even though I did not enjoy the pitch as much as the other assignments, I think it taught me that I need to focus on improving my public speaking skills and spend more time practicing my presentation. All in all, I did enjoy the class and assignments.

Now, moving on to my experiences with the blog.  I've never had a blog before, but was excited when I was assigned the task of creating a blog for class.  As I've mentioned before in previous blog posts, I'm not the most technologically advanced person in the world, but luckily I found Blogger to be extremely user friendly.  It literally only took me five minutes to set up my blog.  After establishing my blogger account, all I had to click was "create new post" and write my blog entry.  I liked writing the blog posts, as they are less formal than an essay and allow me to easily share my ideas.  I’m a little sad that this is my last blog post for English class but I’ve loved writing it, so I might just create my own personal blog. Lastly, I’ve enjoyed getting to know a few of my classmates and feel that I am leaving the class as a more experienced writer.

Thanks :-)  

A modest proposal essay review

      I had read a modest proposal once before but was excited to read it again when it was assigned in class. I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved Swift's satirical solution to solving hunger in Ireland.  However, coming up with my own modest proposal was not quite as enjoyable. I couldn't seem to find an issue that I thought would be both interesting and allow me to come up with a good satirical solution.

    Finally after brainstorming for a while, I decided to write about feral cat colonies in the community. Once I had the idea, the rest of the writing process went rather smoothly. I found a plethora of information regarding feral cats. The research aided my writing process by generating more ideas and ways to expand upon my solution. However, I was surprised to find that there are only two "solutions" available to help control the feral cat population.  

     All in all, I enjoyed trying my hand at satire and thought that it was a good learning experience.  I had never written a satirical paper before, but I was satisfied with the overall product. Finger crossed that I will be able to accurately convey my ideas through my power point presentation as well.    

Lunchtime Barkin' and Buds presentation review

I have always been absolutely rubbish when it comes to public speaking. When I found out that I would have to share my lunchtime therapy dog school program idea in front of the class, I was not thrilled to say the least.  It seems that no matter how long I practice my presentation and go over my notes, I always end up freezing and stumbling over my words when it comes time for me to present. Hopefully I was able to get my main idea across without completely confusing everyone in the class.  I chose to do my presentation on a subject that is near and dear to my heart, therapy dog work.  Personally, I have not yet had the opportunity to work with therapy dogs, but do know a few people who work with therapy dog organizations and own certified therapy dogs.  Recently, I heard about therapy dog programs that worked with the public school system by using the dogs to help both students with disabilities and stressful home lives.  I thought that these programs would be a perfect topic for my presentation.  While researching the programs, I discovered that most of them were one on one (student and dog).  I think that if the programs had a 2:1 ratio (two students to one dog) that they would prove to be more effective.  If my strategy was used, the program would contain not only the therapeutic benefits of the dog but also help the students to bond with one another and create friendships.  I used Microsoft powerpoint to create my presentation.  Although I am not the most tech savvy person on earth, I think that the powerpoint slides turned out alright.  All in all, I was satisfied with the content and subject of my presentation but not completely satisfied with the presentation that I gave to the class.

Movie Review Choice: Amadeus

I have always enjoyed dramas and period pieces.  For that reason, I have chosen to watch Amadeus for the movie review assignment.  I have heard a lot of good things about Amadeus and have had it in my movie queue on Amazon Prime for a while, so I figured I would watch it for the movie review.  The only hesitation I have is the fact that the movie is three hours long.  However, it was nominated for multiple awards and won 8 oscars, so hopefully it will be a good movie and not a waste of three hours.  I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks intriguing. However, it was the first few words of the trailer that really hooked me. The trailer begins by saying, "Are we going to appall you with something confidential and disgusting? Let's hope so, because that is what you really like, unconfessed crimes of buried wickedness. If that is what brings you to us, the prospect of hearing horrors, you shall not go unrewarded."  I enjoy movies that are kind of out of the ordinary, so after watching the trailer, I decided that Amadeus was the movie I wanted to watch for the review.

Movie Rave

I've enjoyed movies of many different genres over the years.  However, I don't think that I have an all-time favorite movie.  For this assignment, I am choosing to write about my favorite movie that I've seen in the past year, About Time.  About Time focuses on the life of a young man who finds out that he can travel back in time to any of his past days and relive/change them.  He uses his gift mainly to try and find a true/lasting love and help members of his family through difficult times in their lives.   He follows the advice of his father and relives each day, using the second day to enjoy the small things that life offers. By the end of the film he is not time traveling anymore, but instead trying to make the most out of every day.

One reason that I liked About Time was the fact that even though it has elements of science fiction (with the time travel), the ultimate message is one that I think applies to everyone.  Another reason that I liked this movie, was that it didn't just focus on the romance aspect.  Although I admit that I do occasionally watch some sappy romance films, I enjoyed About Time because it primarily dealt with problems that normal people go though on a daily basis.  All in All, I thought that the movie was both well written and acted.  Domhnall Gleeson played the main character, with supporting characters played by Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, and Rachel McAdams.  Even though Gleeson has not done a lot in Hollywood yet, I thought he did a fabulous job in the role.  Again, even though the movie was about time traveling, I thought that the characters were still relatable and likable. I would definitely recommend this movie because has it deals with common issues and has a good message.  

Reflective blog post on the profile assignment

I have always been a shy person, hesitant to share my thoughts and ideas with others, so naturally I was not extremely thrilled when I first found out about the profile assignment. However, my feelings quickly changed when I meet my partner for the project, Jennifer.  I actually ended up genuinely enjoying the profile assignment because Jennifer, is super easy to talk to and extremely friendly.

The most enjoyable part of the assignment was getting to know Jennifer and finding out that we had some common interests.  I would probably say that the most difficult part of the assignment was actually making the presentation because I had never used Google Slides. I am not the most tech savvy person, so my presentation didn't have any of the bells and whistles that could be included but I think I was able to make a fairly interesting presentation without all of that stuff.

As far as the content of the presentation, I was really happy with Jennifer's profile of me and believe it accurately described me.  Hopefully I was able to do the same with the profile that I wrote about her.  I liked the fact that we created presentations of the subjects instead of writing essays about them.  I feel like an essay would not have been as personal because it wouldn't have included visuals.  All in all, I enjoyed making the presentation and getting to know Jennifer.

Who is Jennifer Hartwick?

I had the pleasure of meeting and writing about Jennifer Hartwick.  Jennifer is a very friendly and caring person who has a bright future ahead of her. She is planning on becoming a child psychologist. However, child psychology was not always her passion, as she attended JMU for a year after high school as a theater major before transferring to J Sarg. to major in social science.  Jennifer is currently working at Build-A-Bear. She helps kids to build their stuffed animals and works birthday parties.  She says that working with children has inspired her to study child psychology.  Jennifer currently lives with her parents, dog, cat, two birds, and pet rescue turtle. Besides her parents and pets, she also has on older sister. She and her sister, who is now at UVA, are exactly one and a half years apart to the day! I have really enjoyed getting to know Jennifer through this project and wish her the best of luck this year!

Jennifer Hartwick presentation