half way done with school this semester! i've had three exams, one final, and just finished my second big paper. thank heavens this week will be a nice relaxing one.
my communications class has been so much fun. we've been talking about interpersonal communications and sexual harassment. i know, how can talking about harassment be fun? well, it was. my professor came up with some pretty ridiculous scenarios and we had to tell if it would 'create a hostile environment' or not. most of them got the response "it depends on....". that's what happens when you have me in your class. despite the topic, it was fun. this week we have to write out our second speech on 'this i believe'. it doesn't have to be serious, actually, i think he would prefer fun. anyways, after switching my topic and rewriting my speech a few (5) times i decided to go with 'i believe in everything'. i'll let ya know how it turns out.
my writing class has been fun the past few weeks. i guess it just takes a while for people to warm up. but our big paper this time was to analyze a 'visual' text(s). so basically, get an ad, a picture, a spoof ad, or whatever and find a bigger argument out of it. i thought about the sculptures of david... there are at least 4. the prof said that doing artwork would be tricky, because you would have to be careful not to write too much of what the critics wrote. i took the challenge. 1800 words later and i have the draft done. take note people: when you are doing footnote citations, write those citations in as you write the paper, or you'll spend over an hour trying to remember where the notes came from after. the upside to the week, this class is cancelled for our paper conferences. one class on monday and wednesday! woo-hoo!!
my psych class is done. i don't remember if i already wrote about this, so i'll say it again if i did. i got a c in the class. i studied for the final and only did three points better than the midterm. oh well. i passed and enjoyed the class. that's all that matters to me.
history... FUN! mostly the discussion section. the prof said he likes our section better than the other. i guess we're more fun and have more participation. last week we talked about hawaii and read the book 'legacy of the landscape'. just made me want to go to hawaii even more. we looked at some cool surfing videos, watch iz (famous singer from hawaii) music videos, and even got the professor a little teary eyed... at least i think we did. but it was all good. i haven't looked at this weeks discussion class assignment, but it will probably be just as fun.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
i am just that awesome!
that is what i've been telling people today. early this morning i was wide awake due to a little tot falling out of her bed. (i took one side off the crib since sofia can now get out herself). that was at 5:30, after a half hour of tryin... i gave up and got up. turned on the computer and looked for my school emails. to my happiness, my GCom professor sent me the link to watch my first speech and also sent me the evaluation form. i watched my speech, realized i talk way too much with my hands, and hated the way i looked (a totally girly thing). i actually didn't realize that my evaluation form was sent too, so i didn't read it until after class today. but here is some of what my amazing professor said (yes, i be brown-nosing):
my writing class was cancelled again today... YEAH! but that just meant i came home earlier and still have not gotten a good start on my paper. i still have some time.
my psych class has come to an end. my mom is doing the happy dance over that one. i studied for the final, really studied. funny thing was, i only did three points better than the mid-term. go figure! my final grade is a c and i am ok with that. wish it was better, but i can live with it and move on. now i'll be home to get my kids from the bus all but one afternoon!
my history class was a bit iffy this week. the discussion section was great. we talked about the book the osage rose... i highly recommend that book (written by my professors advisor from his college days). it had murder, mystery, racism (not so happy), and a happy ending... sort of. i liked it so much i went out and bought it. also because i wasn't finished reading it through the library's 2-hour reserve and wanted to know how it ended BEFORE class. anyways, the class section was my problem. tuesday's class was fine. thursday's class brought up the mormons. of course, transitioning into that topic right after talking about prostitution in the west. lovely right! anyways, the professor got the basics right. well, some could have been better, but more correct that i didn't feel the need to correct him. BUT when he talked about how joseph smith was killed... he got the basics wrong AND I DID NOTHING! how wimpy am i?!?! i was mad and my hands started to shake, but i still said nothing. that actually bothered me the rest of class. i did correct the 'mormons were racist' misconception (it was said that blacks were not allowed to be mormon). he tried to counter it by saying "there are hardly any blacks in utah..." sooooo, yer pernt sir?! anyways, i came home, gripped to a friends voice mail and called my mom to verify some facts then sent an email to my professor. he hasn't responded, so i don't know how he took it... but i'm hoping it goes over well.
so it's close to 11pm.... my floor has finally been mopped and now my blog has been updated. and now, onto bigger and not so fun projects. two papers to write and a presentation to finish. good times!
- The attention-getting device that you used in the introduction was very effective; it certainly got the attention of the audience. You also did a good job explicitly previewing the main points you would cover in the body of the speech.
- Your speech benefitted from the use of clear transition statements and signposts.
- The examples that you used and the explanations that you made in your speech presentation were clear and memorable. I wish the rest of the presenters had been able to “follow your lead” in this area.
- Since you did use an effective attention-getting device in the introduction, you were able to refer back to that device in the conclusion. The conclusion was effective because you were able to summarize the main points again and provide a way to bring the speech back to the beginning
my writing class was cancelled again today... YEAH! but that just meant i came home earlier and still have not gotten a good start on my paper. i still have some time.
my psych class has come to an end. my mom is doing the happy dance over that one. i studied for the final, really studied. funny thing was, i only did three points better than the mid-term. go figure! my final grade is a c and i am ok with that. wish it was better, but i can live with it and move on. now i'll be home to get my kids from the bus all but one afternoon!
my history class was a bit iffy this week. the discussion section was great. we talked about the book the osage rose... i highly recommend that book (written by my professors advisor from his college days). it had murder, mystery, racism (not so happy), and a happy ending... sort of. i liked it so much i went out and bought it. also because i wasn't finished reading it through the library's 2-hour reserve and wanted to know how it ended BEFORE class. anyways, the class section was my problem. tuesday's class was fine. thursday's class brought up the mormons. of course, transitioning into that topic right after talking about prostitution in the west. lovely right! anyways, the professor got the basics right. well, some could have been better, but more correct that i didn't feel the need to correct him. BUT when he talked about how joseph smith was killed... he got the basics wrong AND I DID NOTHING! how wimpy am i?!?! i was mad and my hands started to shake, but i still said nothing. that actually bothered me the rest of class. i did correct the 'mormons were racist' misconception (it was said that blacks were not allowed to be mormon). he tried to counter it by saying "there are hardly any blacks in utah..." sooooo, yer pernt sir?! anyways, i came home, gripped to a friends voice mail and called my mom to verify some facts then sent an email to my professor. he hasn't responded, so i don't know how he took it... but i'm hoping it goes over well.
so it's close to 11pm.... my floor has finally been mopped and now my blog has been updated. and now, onto bigger and not so fun projects. two papers to write and a presentation to finish. good times!
Friday, October 7, 2011
that awesome!
and i'll tell ya why, because i rocked one of my assignments this week.
so to start, this week my communications class had to give a 90 second speech from a section of our book. i properly stressed, but not overly, over this. you all know me as a talker, my impromptu speech was close to 3 minutes. well, i scraped many ideas and finally came up with one that would keep me within my time frame. my topic.... gaining and maintaining the attention of your audience, piece of cake for a mom of three right? i practiced most every night, a few times in front of my kids, and timed it. i was never consistently over or under and that was driving me crazy. well today was my speech and i had some butterflies. i even got up EARLY (not really by choice) so i could make myself pretty for the presentation. it confused erica greatly to see me in a dress and not be a sunday. anyways, i made my kids listen to my speech again, a few times actually, and then sent them off to school. out of 8 i was number 7.... and my anxiety level for not screwing this up was sky high. I KICKED BUTT! well, that is, i went for 89 seconds. that pretty much guarantees me an a, but my outline may dock me a few points. i was having a hard time with that part.
moving on. in my writing class we have our new assignment.... write about a 'visual text'. i had so many ideas this morning, i think that's why i was up at 5:30 wide awake! i'm going to write about the sculpture 'david', but all three. the professor seemed genuinely interested, especially when she guessed what i was going to write about. to top it all off, class was canceled today. so while i should have been in class i was eating lunch with a very good friend that i haven't been able to hang with much this year.
on to a sadder subject, my history class. thursday i had my first exam. i did study and i took it very seriously. but my problem was this: i focused on the beginnings when i should have just focused on the last bits that we learned, namely the American Revolution and the Civil War. the professor said "it could be on anything we have talked about in class and in discussion...." so that left the subjects wide open. out of four questions, i probably got at least half points on the first, full points on the next two, and partial (but more than half i think and hope) on the last. i know, doesn't sound too promising. but i think i got some kudos for finding the location where a picture was taken in 1912 at jmu.
my psych class is almost done. one more lecture and then the final. i promise i'll do better on that one. class on monday was a movie "the story of us" with burce willis (back when he had hair) and michelle pfeiffer. our most recent topic was on conflict, that movie covers it all! and very entertaining.
so a good week. i'm glad it's over and i am looking forward to doing just about nothing this weekend. though, thanks to my mother-in-law, now i am the go-to girl for yummy dip and have been asked to make it for a post-baby shower. all good, it's quick and easy. maybe with my next post i'll actually have pictures of my kids
so to start, this week my communications class had to give a 90 second speech from a section of our book. i properly stressed, but not overly, over this. you all know me as a talker, my impromptu speech was close to 3 minutes. well, i scraped many ideas and finally came up with one that would keep me within my time frame. my topic.... gaining and maintaining the attention of your audience, piece of cake for a mom of three right? i practiced most every night, a few times in front of my kids, and timed it. i was never consistently over or under and that was driving me crazy. well today was my speech and i had some butterflies. i even got up EARLY (not really by choice) so i could make myself pretty for the presentation. it confused erica greatly to see me in a dress and not be a sunday. anyways, i made my kids listen to my speech again, a few times actually, and then sent them off to school. out of 8 i was number 7.... and my anxiety level for not screwing this up was sky high. I KICKED BUTT! well, that is, i went for 89 seconds. that pretty much guarantees me an a, but my outline may dock me a few points. i was having a hard time with that part.
moving on. in my writing class we have our new assignment.... write about a 'visual text'. i had so many ideas this morning, i think that's why i was up at 5:30 wide awake! i'm going to write about the sculpture 'david', but all three. the professor seemed genuinely interested, especially when she guessed what i was going to write about. to top it all off, class was canceled today. so while i should have been in class i was eating lunch with a very good friend that i haven't been able to hang with much this year.
on to a sadder subject, my history class. thursday i had my first exam. i did study and i took it very seriously. but my problem was this: i focused on the beginnings when i should have just focused on the last bits that we learned, namely the American Revolution and the Civil War. the professor said "it could be on anything we have talked about in class and in discussion...." so that left the subjects wide open. out of four questions, i probably got at least half points on the first, full points on the next two, and partial (but more than half i think and hope) on the last. i know, doesn't sound too promising. but i think i got some kudos for finding the location where a picture was taken in 1912 at jmu.
my psych class is almost done. one more lecture and then the final. i promise i'll do better on that one. class on monday was a movie "the story of us" with burce willis (back when he had hair) and michelle pfeiffer. our most recent topic was on conflict, that movie covers it all! and very entertaining.
so a good week. i'm glad it's over and i am looking forward to doing just about nothing this weekend. though, thanks to my mother-in-law, now i am the go-to girl for yummy dip and have been asked to make it for a post-baby shower. all good, it's quick and easy. maybe with my next post i'll actually have pictures of my kids
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