Saturday, September 30, 2006

Another Great Day, Slow As It Was

You know JP, I couldn’t agree with you more. In thinking back to the days of high school I find it difficult to remember all the details of what we were being taught, but completely agree that most of what we were taught will not be applicable in our lives. It seems that high school is just another form of daycare while the parents are at work.

For me, the common adage that you only get out of something what you put into it is a stark reminder that I must be optimistic and enthusiastic about all things. While in high school I didn’t care that much about attaining high grades or being at all my classes, so my level of success there was minimal. On the other hand, my experience here at college is completely the opposite as I now find myself working harder than ever and devoting all my energy towards obtaining successful goals.

What I learned this week

Like you, I also learned a great deal about the technicalities of the expression, “edit and revise.” In one sense I’ve always though of myself as being a decent editor/reviser, but in another sense I’ve wondered how my writing could be better.

What I already knew

In order to assess my options prior to applying to the college I met with 2 career counsellors, Glendon being one of them. This gave me an understanding of the resources available to the students, so as much as I appreciated Glendon’s presentation, it was mostly a refresher for me.

What I still wonder about

For the most part, my questions have been answered and I feel content about the course material, but I am desirous to know how my writing abilities will be construed by Marc and where I will need to improve in order to obtain better results.

How I participated

During the same time that you were approached by Dietrich I was helping Ryan understand the technicalities of the persuasive document and how it would need to be edited. I am more than happy to be one of the tech captains because I love to help people, providing support where needed.

Yes, I too thought it was a bit of a slow day, but it was also a great day because each new day provides different opportunities and experiences for growth.


Steve

Friday, September 29, 2006

Slow day in the learning blub of my mind.

It is amazing how much we learnt in high school that we will never use. I personally will not be using much of my math that I learnt in grade twelve and the writing skills I was taught need to change if I am going to survive college.

While In high school I wrote short yet to the point and I was always told to write more; even though there was nothing left to talk about. Just like Marc says; “In high school you wrote a lot of filler.” I learnt how to write junk and B/S which got me marks. Now I have to go back to my old writing style, short and to the point.


What I learned this week
We all use the words ‘edit’ and ‘revise’ but today I learn the actual meaning of the two. ‘Edit’ is more of sentence structure while ‘revising’ is changing the layout of ideas.

Making ideas clear and concise was shown to the class by using lists.
The reasons for using revising are:
1) Content
2) Organization
3) Paragraph and Sentence
4) Diction
5) Mechanics

I like lists because they make less work and they are easier to read.


What I already knew and what I still wonder about

We had a guest speaker today and we were told about the great counseling we could receive. This was not new to me because the same guest speaker came into another one of my classes with the same papers and talk. The same speech must get boring after a while.

I still need to learn more about the six little thingies we learnt in class today. I’ll look them up on my notes again.

How I participated
Even before class started I was approached by Dietrich and I helped him submit his persuasive document. During and after class I also helped Latif with PDF’s and getting his Persuasive document submitted.

Today was a slow day in my head.