At the beginning of this semester I honestly wasn't quite sure what to expect from this class. I had always done well in my English classes, but they were always so boring. The papers I had to write lacked the creativity I wanted to express as a writer. So when Professor Reed explained to us that she wanted us to be creative with our writing, I was pretty excited. Rather than have us write about the same topic, we got to write about things that interested us. This is where I flourish as a writer, because I'm writing about things I'm passionate about. Not only were we able to be creative with our writing, but also with our forum presentation. I attribute the success my forum group received to the fact that we got to present something that my whole group was interested in. We had all bought into the idea of presenting on how the money from college athletics is distributed, so we really wanted to do a stellar job.
One thing I liked about the class was the blog posts. For me these didn't feel like homework since they were a place where I could express my thoughts freely. The blog topics usually allowed for a lot of creativity, which let me really express who I am as a writer. The blogs also helped my deep thinking skills, as I was encouraged to understand different sides of topics. Rather than focus just on what I think, I incorporated opinions that I didn't necessarily agree with. This process is important as it helps the writer truly understand what they're writing about.
Another thing I enjoyed about the class was that we had a lot of group discussions. With all the group discussions I got to hear different thoughts, some which I hadn't even thought about. It really helped me see all the sides to whatever topic we discussed. I also liked having the opportunity to share my thoughts whenever I wanted, and not being forced to. Though I didn't always talk, I especially liked to share my thoughts on things I'm passionate about. Adding onto that, I also liked that I didn't feel judged about my opinions.
I want to thank all of you for making this English class one of the best I've ever been apart of. Not only do I feel like I'm a better writer now, but I also leave feeling more knowledgeable. I enjoyed attending class, because I was really interested to see what we would discuss. Though there were some topics I didn't really care for, it was really interesting hearing everyone else's opinion. Again thanks for making this class so much fun, definitely will miss it.
Sincerely, Michael Trautmann