The semester focused on enhancing critical thinking, research, and compositional skills through various assignments and activities. One of the main areas of improvement was research, particularly using databases and writing annotated bibliographies, which was a novel experience for the students.
COURSE GOAL 4: REFLECTION AND REVISION Understand composing processes as flexible and collaborative, drawing upon multiple strategies and informed by reflection.
This Course Goal was super important for this class.
I felt as though peer review and reflection was the
focal point of the semester. Peer review is something
that can never hurt, but only help your project.
DD14HW1 was our peer review for project 2. I saw
a lot of growth for me during this assignment. I
learned that my first draft might look nothing like
my final draft, and that that is okay.
DD10HW1 was our first full-draft peer review.
This is the epitome of Course Goal 4 as we
collaboratively improved our papers as well
as reflect upon what we had learned in the process.
DD5HW3 was when we discussed what peer
review was to us. This was important because
in order to work collaboratively and effectively
we needed to make sure everyone was on the
same page for what peer review meant for us.
COURSE GOAL 2: CRITICAL THINKING AND COMPOSING Use reading and writing for purposes of critical thinking, research, problem solving, action, and participation in conversations within and across different communities.
The main way that we touched on this Course
Goal this semester was through our research.
Using databases and writing an AB was completely
new to me, to this goal is probably the one that I
improved upon the most this semester.
In DD4HW1, we actually conducted research for both
popular and scholarly sources, fitting each into a
different category on a worksheet. This helped layout
the rest of Project 1.
In DD3, we generated research terms and learned
how to use a database. These were both critical
in order to have a smooth research project.
COURSE GOAL 3: CONVENTIONS Understand conventions as related to purpose, audience, and genre, including such areas as mechanics, usage, citation practices, as well as structure, style, graphics, and design.
Although we didn't work specifically on grammar
this year, we did work on citation practices and design.
I think my grammar skills improved through peer reviews
though.
For DD7HW2, we used the peer review feedback
in order to perfect our drafts both grammatically
and in the citations. This was the main point of
emphasis for this Course Goal this semester
DD6HW1 was all about peer reviewing
and revising our citations for the AB. This
assignment definitely helped us learn how to
correctly cite sources.
PERSONAL GOAL 3: BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH RESEARCH
COURSE GOAL 1: RHETORICAL AWARENESS Learn strategies for analyzing texts’ audiences, purposes, and contexts as a means of developing facility in reading and writing.
For rhetorical awareness this semester,
I think that I best display my learning of
this topic through the activities surrounding
the topic of learning your audience, and how to
connect with them.
In DD13HW1, we learned all about visual persuasion
which was necessary for our Project 2. It was important
to understand how to apply what we had learned about
rhetoric to a visual project rather than a written one.
In DD5HW1, we analyzed the purpose and the audience
of each article we had selected for our annotated bib.
this was important because really had to have a good
understanding of rhetoric in order to do this HW.
In DD2HW1, we explored the rhetoric in our own lives.
this gave me a new, expanded understanding of what
rhetoric meant for my future career.
PERSONAL GOAL 2: BECOME A MORE WELL ROUNDED WRITER