My Blog: December 2010

Ryan Jacoby
English 111
12/14/10
Everything I Have Learned This Semester
I believe I have earned a low A to high B this year in class based on what I have learned and the work and effort I have put forth. I have learned a lot of new things over the course of this semester and I have work and notes to prove that I have learned a lot and that I am deserving of a low A to high B. I have done most of the assignments done for this class and I am doing my final portfolio right now. I have completed all my main papers on time too. I haven’t turned anything in late and always get them done. I may do it at the last minute some times but I get the job done. The main points I will focus on are rhetorical knowledge, organization, and technology.

The first thing I will talk about is rhetorical knowledge, this was the main focus of the class this year. Before starting the semester I had never even heard of rhetoric. Now I know that rhetoric is the study of how to accomplish your ends by using communications. I have also learned that rhetoric is based from the rhetorical triangle which is ethos, pathos, and logo’s.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-1.html ) Ethos is how we use a character and reputation. Logos is ideas and logic. Pathos is the study of how we use emotions. All three in triangle can also be written as audience, message, and author. You’re the author and have: agendas, goals, purposes, knowledge of what your writing about, and the conventions. You use these to create a message or craft which will be for a specific audience. The audience you will write for has specific expectations, and want to know how you will craft your message, the knowledge you have on the subject and what genre you will use.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-1.html) In every paper I have written this year I have been the author I have to write a paper about a certain subject for the teacher, who equals the audience. My midterm paper would be an example. I had to write a midterm paper similar to this one about what I learned so far through the mid-way point.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/revised-what-i-learned.html ) In this paper showed my knowledge of what I had learned through notes and blog posts that I had written prior. In the paper above I even used rhetoric to show that I deserved an A in the class. What I did was said that I deserved an A. Created a message to back up why I deserved an A. In my message I told the audience, which is Dr. Brandon, what I deserved and then wrote a paragraph containing all the information I learned. I knew he had expectations for what I was writing because in the opening statement I wrote that I deserved an A so I showed him everything I learned to demonstrate that I fulfilled the audiences expectations. The paper I am writing now is basically the last paper but adding more and using more sources to show what I have learned. Another fact I have learned about rhetoric is the communication can really effect how and author can get his message across to the audience.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-number-2.html ) Good communication is a form of communication that the author needs so the audience can understand him and his points clearly. What can affect communication though is noise. Noise can effect the senders message to the audience. Noise is everything that gets in the way of the author accomplishing their goal. To me noise it just more then literally the noise. It is also those distractions that distract you away from getting your work done. Now that I have learned about noise I try to avoid those distractions but its hard to just to get rid of them all. Oral communication is also a main focus of this class year. Oral communication falls into the category of communication in rhetorician. We have had a lot of group work to show oral communication skills. I was also the leader of my group for the history note card thing and I notified everyone the note cards were due Saturday to make sure no one forgot. I even had to post two of my group members note cards to my wall so that we could have all of our note cards online. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-10-28T08%3A58%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7). On this page you can see that I posted Marissa note cards because her blog wasn’t working so she sent me an email and I copied her note cards onto it. I did the same with Bil’s but he sent me the information through face book so I don’t know how I can show you he sent me it. Also I have revised and classmates paper, and vice versa. I took the information he wrote down and used it to improve on my paper. I have done the class assignments with the groups when we read out of the primary source books and talk about what we are going to write about. We also had to do a group activity where we looked into each other eyes. We learned how to long it takes to look into someone’s eyes before it got weird, how to master eye contact. First we had a partner and stood close and just stared into each other’s eyes and it was really awkward. Then we stood in a different stance and a little bit further away and it wasn’t as bad but got awkward after a little bit longer. Then we walked down a line and made eye contact with everyone in the line. This taught us to try to open up with others and to invite them into conversation. It definitely takes practice because when I try it I feel awkward. Hey, but at least I’m giving an effort. I tried it on my brother and he just said I was creeping him out I guess there’s an area I still have to improve more on.

This year I have also learned to be more organized and things that make me more organized are the writing process and the Cornell notes taking method. The writing process has been one of our main focuses this year. I have learned some tricks before I start writing that I never even thought about before this year. For instance I think about my audience, what my purpose and agenda is what genre I will be writing in, also format, tone, formality, and content. Some tricks and techniques I have learned are brainstorming, what I already know, research, listening, questioning, and talking with someone else. Some of my works that prove that I have learned how to use these tricks would be the brainstorming I have done on my blog, or the free writing that I did in class. One example would be prewriting I used prewriting to write a paper on the good life for Demayo. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/09/pre-writing.html) (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-9.html ) We did this prewriting in class but then I posted it to my blog. What I did was brainstormed ideas of what I could use to write about the topic and wrote them down. Everyone in the group would say an idea and I kept the ones I thought were best. Then I looked up sources I could use to write about the topic and wrote them on there too. I used some of these skills to start the last paper and now this paper. I also learned the different steps of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, proof reading, publishing, and review. For a few papers I have gone through that process. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-for-course-outcome.html). That is the draft for my midterm for English. I got my basic ideas down on the paper but it wasn’t quite finished. I just included my main points and general ideas. Next I revised the paper and I posted the final copy. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-2-course-outcomes.html) This is my final copy with all the specifics added to the general ideas. I even added some evidence to prove everything I wrote and used the P.E.A method to explain everything. I would use my main points as the P then would use evidence as my notes and blog posts and A was the explanation of my evidence and how I actually used that evidence to learn. I never really thought about using these steps before this year. I would always wing my papers and just turn them in without any revision or pre-writing before hand. The P.E.A method is a very strong method that I learned about and is one of my favorite new methods. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-9.html) This method makes my papers have more of a backbone. I can really support what I am saying and helps me out a lot. I am using this method while I write this paper now because it gives me a better chance to prove what I have learned to my audience and backs everything up by giving evidence and analyzing it. Another style of prewriting I used was free writing.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-11.html) (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-12.html). I don’t like free writing as much as brainstorming. In free writing you write until the time is over. You write whatever is on your mind. You try to focus on your topic but if you can’t you write what is on your mind without stopping. I don’t feel that this one is as effect as brainstorming but I did learn how to use it. The final aspect of the process I learned about what kaizen.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-13.html) Kaizen is a means of managing the process or routines to make more efficient. I am always looking for ways to make my papers more efficient and trying to improve my paper. For instance I did three drafts for my midterm. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-2-course-outcomes.html) (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-for-course-outcome.html) (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/10/revised-what-i-learned.html)
I kept working on that paper until I thought it was a great paper. I kept looking for more ways for it too be efficient and looked for ways to improve it. I had a classmate look over my second copy and tell me what I needed to add to my paper to make it better. I took his advice and made a third copy. Another organization method I learned was the Cornell notes taking method. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/12/image-9.html). In image 9 I used the Cornell note taking method to take my notes. Now that I have learned to use that I actually use it for a lot of my notes. A lot of my notes are taken like that but that’s just one example to prove I use it. It has made me a lot organized because I can just go to a page and all the main points are on the side and the description is in the middle. It’s easier to see where everything is. Then I write a conclusion on the bottom to sum up everything I learned on that Paige. It is very helpful and has made me and my notes a lot more organized.

The last thing I will talk about is the digital technologies aspect. I had never used a blog before this year.(http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/) That right there is my blog website. It is the first blog I have ever created and used. There I submit all my work: papers, prewriting, learning reflections, history papers, history notes, information about me, and other assignments I have had to do. I actually had never really taken place in a website where you can write things our express what you want to on them. I use the blog a lot because I have too, but also I enjoy reading others blogs to see what they write about. I sometimes look at my classmates blog to get ideas, to see how they write, and sometimes just because I want to see how well my classmates can write. Its fun to compare your paper with another classmates. Also I have had to use the blog for most of this paper. I have had to use the blogs to back up my information and show that I have learned a lot this year. I also had to bring my notes into Kinko’s, scan them, and then put them on a flash drive, then put them onto the blog and use them as hyperlinks in the paper. So this class is really teaching me how to master all different aspects of the internet. Another thing I learned about is citing sources. In my history paper I had to quoted facts from primary sources to back up my information. (http://ryanjacoby.blogspot.com/2010/11/crusaders-final-draft.html) In this paper I used the history primary source to back up my information on the crusades. I used different multiple primary sources to show how the crusades were unnecessary and just means for the pope to gain power.

This semester I have learned a lot of new things. More then I expected to learn coming into this year. I thought it was going to be going over grammar and writing papers to improve of writing skills. Boy was I wrong it was way more than that. I learned about a new powerful technique called rhetoric. I didn’t even know there was such a thing but now I know that is a good thing to be aware of. It makes you more aware of your surroundings and how you present yourself. Also I learned a lot more about the writing process. I was used to writing three paragraph essays my whole life without ever doing prewriting or any other process before. I would occasionally write a rough draft if it was due. Know I do prewriting’s, drafts, revisions, and then make my final copy. I have become a much stronger writer because of it. Also the P.E.A technique has come in handy and has become my new favorite technique. I use this in every paper I right now its awesome. Mastering technology has been helpful too. I haven’t quite mastered every technological thing but I now know how to use a blog, and cite sources. That is enough for me to be able to do a lot more with writing. I now know I can go online and create blogs to write about whatever I want not just for English class. There is so much I have learned this semester I am very excited for next semester with you and Dr. Demayo in the learning community again!