Reflections
Walking into class that first Monday night, I looked around and noticed that the whole room was practically full. I did not think that there would be that many people in a night class for English. The teacher came in and introduced himself and then began talking about the assignments and how to turn them in and how frustrating it was that his other classes did not understand and could not seem to get it right. We better pay attention and make sure we understand this because if it is not done right then we get a zero. After leaving class the first night, I was actually terrified. How would I possibly get all of this work done and be able to figure out how to turn my assignments in correctly. I actually considered quitting as it had been seventeen years since I had attended any kind of schooling. After the first essays, it got a little better, except the nail biting in between assignments when I was waiting very impatiently and checking blackboard ten times a day for my grade to be posted.
Mr. Gasparo was a good teacher that was able to keep us all engaged in the learning process for writing. Never did I realize how much rhetoric influenced our lives on a daily basis. The class discussions were very interesting and at times had me wanting to roll on the floor howling in laughter. The movies that he showed us were engaging and really made you think about the influences that are imposed daily upon us in the world. Adding technology into the class was a great asset and made it easy to find the help needed for assignments with all of the student examples and helpful texts that were provided. It was really cool to see how the writing process affects people like Bruce Springstein. Prior to class I had always thought that Born in the USA was actually a patriotic song and not a slam on the government and people for how Vietnam vets were treated.
The hardest assignment that I thought we had was the rhetorical analysis essay. Writing about yourself I believe is the absolute hardest thing in the world. Having to actually think and write about what made you who you are is completely and absolutely aggravating because it is really hard to lie to yourself. The argument essay was also very hard as sticking to one topic without branching into others and going off on a tangent is something that I have a hard time with. I learned that as Tim O’Brien said in his speech, to be a writer you must learn to ration the alcohol. I also found that difficult to do through the course of this eight-week ball busting class. Whenever I would get ove
rwhelmed in this class, I would look at the pictures I took in Yellowstone with my children in 2004( see picture to the left), and take deep breaths and calm my inner psycho (yes, I did mean psycho not psyche). I would not recommend an eight-week course to everyone. I know that most people if they wanted to could do it, but from what I have seen of other students since I began taking college courses, I do not know that there are many that are willing to put forth as much effort as is required to do well in this class. I believe our class started with twenty-five people and in the end, there were maybe only ten to twelve of us left.
At the end of this experience, I am glad that I had Mr. Gasparo for a teacher and that I made myself continue and finish the course. I do hope that our adjunct teacher finds a school that takes care of him and allows him to continue to help students in the engaging manner that he has helped me.
Walking into class that first Monday night, I looked around and noticed that the whole room was practically full. I did not think that there would be that many people in a night class for English. The teacher came in and introduced himself and then began talking about the assignments and how to turn them in and how frustrating it was that his other classes did not understand and could not seem to get it right. We better pay attention and make sure we understand this because if it is not done right then we get a zero. After leaving class the first night, I was actually terrified. How would I possibly get all of this work done and be able to figure out how to turn my assignments in correctly. I actually considered quitting as it had been seventeen years since I had attended any kind of schooling. After the first essays, it got a little better, except the nail biting in between assignments when I was waiting very impatiently and checking blackboard ten times a day for my grade to be posted.
Mr. Gasparo was a good teacher that was able to keep us all engaged in the learning process for writing. Never did I realize how much rhetoric influenced our lives on a daily basis. The class discussions were very interesting and at times had me wanting to roll on the floor howling in laughter. The movies that he showed us were engaging and really made you think about the influences that are imposed daily upon us in the world. Adding technology into the class was a great asset and made it easy to find the help needed for assignments with all of the student examples and helpful texts that were provided. It was really cool to see how the writing process affects people like Bruce Springstein. Prior to class I had always thought that Born in the USA was actually a patriotic song and not a slam on the government and people for how Vietnam vets were treated.
The hardest assignment that I thought we had was the rhetorical analysis essay. Writing about yourself I believe is the absolute hardest thing in the world. Having to actually think and write about what made you who you are is completely and absolutely aggravating because it is really hard to lie to yourself. The argument essay was also very hard as sticking to one topic without branching into others and going off on a tangent is something that I have a hard time with. I learned that as Tim O’Brien said in his speech, to be a writer you must learn to ration the alcohol. I also found that difficult to do through the course of this eight-week ball busting class. Whenever I would get ove
rwhelmed in this class, I would look at the pictures I took in Yellowstone with my children in 2004( see picture to the left), and take deep breaths and calm my inner psycho (yes, I did mean psycho not psyche). I would not recommend an eight-week course to everyone. I know that most people if they wanted to could do it, but from what I have seen of other students since I began taking college courses, I do not know that there are many that are willing to put forth as much effort as is required to do well in this class. I believe our class started with twenty-five people and in the end, there were maybe only ten to twelve of us left.At the end of this experience, I am glad that I had Mr. Gasparo for a teacher and that I made myself continue and finish the course. I do hope that our adjunct teacher finds a school that takes care of him and allows him to continue to help students in the engaging manner that he has helped me.
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