Introduction
During the first half of the semester, I’ve learned many things about myself and about CODES. I learned that getting stuff done on time is important and giving myslef the time I need is even more important. I really enjoyed the freedom we get to choose what we get to work on and the amount of creativity that we were able to put into our work. Something I feel I struggled with in the first half of this semester was motivation. I feel that after the first couple weeks, my motivation to do things on time and efficiently faded away and impacted how I was able to develop some of the following skills. However, I do believe that I excelled at being able to creatively and clearly justify my central ideas as well as present my evidence in a way that convinces my audience to listen to what I have to say. I would like to continue developing these skills as well as gain new ones throughout the rest of my first semester.
Coming in on the end of the semester has caused me to look back on everything that has happened. It’s been a rollercoaster of events and emotions but now that I’ve made it to the other side, I can confidently say that everything has helped me to develop as a person and come to terms with many different things. I’m looking forward to the future semesters as I continue my journey at SIUE through CODES.
Goal 1 (25%)
Based on 6b: I will be able to demonstrate sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices
In my second Reflection, I analyzed a piece regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Through this, I learned a lot about the transgender part of the community specifically and it helped me to understand more of the struggles them as a community go through as well as the triumphs they have. In the future, I would go more in depth on how the difference between the triumphs and struggles are just as important as the triumphs and struggles themselves.
In my Photo Essay, I focused on the community that the Gardens of SIUE creates. This assignment helped me to develop a new perspective of the beauty that surrounds us. Making the photo essay and getting to be introduced to this different side of campus allowed me to gain more experience when it comes to observing other communities and cultures.
In my second Digital Project, I focused on appealing to a different audience than I usually would in my writing. Since my project was surrounding greek and art history and the meaning behind them, I also had to adjust to those topics and presenting them to people who were interested in them. The project gave me the opportunity to get to know more about the subject and the community. (See video clip from 0:59 to 1:33)
Goal 2 (35%)
8c: I will be able to develop clear, innovative central messages with significant supporting materials.
These are the rough draft and final draft of the script for my second Digital Project. I wanted to focus on getting all of my thoughts and ideas out first before condensing them into the script. This way I was able to find out the central idea of the text and a way to explain in a way that makes sense to my audience. In the future, I would go more in depth into the pain and suffering that isn’t necessarily described in the passage, as well as those that are happening around the world currently.
These are some clips from my presention of the Photo Essay project. During this presentation, I was able to showcase what I had learned and clearly get the main idea of the presentation acrosss to the class. Next time, I think I would include an interview or photos of other people outside of the class enjoying the gardens to portray an outside perspective of the Gardens.
This clip is from my second Digital Project. Throughout this project, I had to portray a central message of pain and suffering from an analysis of different poems and paintings. Since it was more of a “hidden” message, being able to pull it out and put it into a video format for the audience I picked helped me to learn more effective strategies for doing similar things in the future.
In my third Digital Project, I used a variety of sources to explain how industries use the Mississippi River to advance and power their businesses. I was able to observe their positive and negative effects on the river and analyze how they can improve for the future. This helped me to strengthen my group’s argument and assist us in making a well-rounded presentation.
Goal 3 (10%)
Based on 9b: I will be able to identify and evaluate multiple approaches for solving problems.
In my first Digital Project, I talked about how music has helped me become the person I am and get me through hard times. This project allowed me to give my peers another way of expressing their emotions and an outet for feeling their emotions as well.
Goal 4 (15%)
Based on 12a: I will be able to help collaboration move forward by articulating the merits of alternative ideas
In this peer evaluation, I was able to offer up some things that may nto have been thought of while still sticking to what she wanted to do with her Digital Project. This helped me get better at analyzing my peers’ work and giving constructive criticism. In the future, one thing I may do different would be to add in a few more examples to further explain the points I’m getting at.
These two text conversations with my Digital Project 3 group show how I was able to organize the group so that everyone did a fair amount of work. In addtion, I looked over and gave feedback when a teammate asked for it. This once again improved my ability to give constructive criticism.
Goal 5 (15%)
Based on 13a: I will be able to demonstrate a through understanding of context, audience, and purpose
With my rough draft of the second Digital Project, I was analyzing a type of media that I haven’t in a while. In addition, the topic was one that I knew of but wasn’t fully knowledgeable in. However, through this project and being able to analyze “A Poem (and a Painting) About the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight”, I got more experience in analyzing this genre.
In my fifth Reflection, I observed how the author of the text we were analyzing used his emotions and experiences to get the audience to understand what he was feeling at the time. In the future, I would like to replicate his appeals to his audience in my own writing to get them to see my purpose in the same way.