Introduction
During this first semester, college has taught me so much already. With the new friends that I have made on campus, I have adapted new study methods, which help me receive good grades on my exams. I would have to say I have enjoyed making friends. Not to brag, but my friends are by far top tier. On the other hand, I have struggled with figuring out what to prioritize as far as homework and how to manage the huge work load. It’s been difficult to balance study time with social time. Out of my chosen learning outcomes, I think I have excelled at choosing credible sources for my pieces of writing and also working on my presentation skills. I want to continue to work on writing with fluidity and effectively. Even though my writing has improved, even if in the slightest bit, improving in writing will always be something I strive towards.
As my first semester comes to a close here at SIUE I have had some progress with certain aspects of the college life, while some of my struggles as a freshman have not been resolved quite yet. My prioritization has improved slightly considering I haven’t been as stressed the last half of the semester as I was during the first. The friendships I have created so far this semester are now built in sisters that I would do anything for, and I have so much to be grateful for with them and the many more friendships I have yet to make. The presentation in this CODES 121 course as our final project was a great success although it was turned in late which stressed me out, but it was out of my hands which was hard to come to terms with. My word choices in my presentation have shown my progress in writing, and I am proud of how far I have come thus far.
Goal 1 (20%)
4a.) Researching the people/culture that is currently being studied about prior to class discussion to bring up other points of view to the discussion.
For reflection #4, we had to analyze a piece of multimedia journalism. The photographer/author of my piece was Maurice Berger. Using the following links, I was able to dig deeper into Berger’s mind to attempt to understand the piece better. Next time, I would dive even deeper to learn even more about the publisher or author.
https://muckrack.com/maurice-berger-1/bio
Goal 2 (30%)
5b.) Finding trustworthy resources for projects/assignments and improving on how to find the best resources.
In my audience analysis and DP#2, I found credible sources to these assignments which helped me rule out biased sources. From this goal, I learned that I need to dive even deeper moving forward and also I need to implement the information that I find into my assignments. These last two videos are clips that did not make the final cut. My progress can be shown through my mistakes, and my possible reasoning for why I didn’t choose these clips.
Goal 3 (15%)
8a.) Delivering presentations in an organized and orderly fashion so that the audience remains engaged.
https://storymap.knightlab.com/edit/?id=black-lives-matter-in-tower-grove
In the three presentations that have been done collaboratively during this semester, my word choice as well as progress for making notecards has helped me not have so much anxiety when presenting. My only note for myself for future presentations is to engage with the crowd more and look up and smile.
Goal 4 (20%)
11c.) Reading with the correct mindset and effectively grasping the overall theme to involve myself in later conversations with others.
At the beginning of the semester, we had a few readings that needed to be annotated so I took notes of what was the most important. When reading this, you need to follow all of the steps of this article in order to grasp how to read efficiently. In the future, if I take notes on my iPad, then I can add visual graphs more frequently and in a more organized fashion so that I can follow what I wrote if I need to reference them. We also had to read “The Office of Historical Corrections” for class discussion. There is a huge improvement between the two examples. I researched the author before reading this short story which helped me grasp the perspective of where Danielle was coming from. I also wrote a summary after reading, which helps me revisit this information later. I annotated the entire short story which helped me follow along while reading, and I googled words I didn’t understand which made the story flow in my mind.
Goal 5 (15%)
13c.) Uses language to skillfully communicate with clarity and fluency
Between these two contracts, I have proven that my vocabulary and fluidity has improved. My formatting and flow through the paragraphs has also improved. I hope to continue to improve on my cohesiveness and clarity in order to get better at my writing. For the future, I plan on continuing to improve and expanding my vocabulary in order to make my words sound more intelligent and scholarly. In my reflection #9 when compared to #4 there is a major improvement in my word choice, grammar and spelling. There is also an improvement in my formatting considering in reflection 4 I didn’t format this piece at all. Compared to #9, I have properly formatted this piece in MLA style.