Final Exam

Jason Florez
Mr. Neuburger
12/12/11 Comp II
Final Exam
I’ve always thought I was a pretty good writer for the most part. I have a descent vocabulary and I enjoy reading, so that helps. But one thing I’ve always had trouble with is my thesis statement. I’ve have countless English teachers in my twenty-three years on this earth, none of them gave me a clear precise outline for thesis statements. Mr. Neuburger sat me down a few times one-on-one and explained to me, in detail, what was wrong with my thesis statement and helped me figure out a solution to the problem. You don’t see one-on-one time between professors and students in college very often, but it’s the most important time to learn.
Doing research for papers I have to write I never found enjoyable. It was always work to me. Mainly because it was always for a class assignment, but partially because I wasn’t very good at it. I didn’t know how to tell the difference between a primary, secondary or non-credible source. This semester I learned exactly how to tell the difference between those three and knowing that information has helped me research for my papers this year.
I had never used Twitter before this class and had no idea what it was. We used Twitter several times in class to prove our participation in previous assignments. It was different than any teaching style that I have encountered and I really enjoyed it. Even though I’m somebody who participates in classroom discussions daily, this teaching method made it so the people who normally don’t say a word all year were forced to participate in class discussions. More professors should use Twitter at least some because many people feel much more comfortable chatting online than talking to someone face-to-face.
Bitly really came in handy this year for me. Once again, a tool that I was unaware of its existence that I now use very often. Bitly takes ridiculously, pointlessly long URLs and transforms them into easy to use, short URLs in seconds. This tool has proved to be very useful to me and I’ve used it several times in almost all my classes this semester.
The last thing I learned this semester that I will take with me is Blogger. Blogger is a neat tool because it allowed us to view each other’s work online. The first day of class we all wrote a paragraph about ourselves and posted it on Blogger. Then we commented on what each other had written. I’ve done many different “get to know you” games and exercises but this was by far the most affective. It allowed us to share many things about ourselves and since it was all posted on Blogger we could all give feedback to each other and ask questions without even saying a word. It was much less time consuming and much more informative than most.
Before this class the longest paper I had ever written was about 5 pages long. This semester a paper with a 10 page minimum was assigned. I had trouble getting starting on it but once I did it turned out to be not quite as difficult as I thought. The most difficult aspect of it that I had to deal with was the fact that it’s very difficult for me to concentrate in class. When there are people around me working, writing, typing, talking, and whatever else might be going on, it’s almost impossible for me to focus. This made it challenging for me to make progression on my paper in class and put more pressure on me to get it done on my own at home. It was good for me and I learned a lot from it.
What I’m most disappointed in myself about this semester is my lack of attendance. I needed this class and the 7 o’clock time slot was the only one that would fit my schedule. I intended to make it to this class as much as my others but it proved to be a very challenging feat. I know I could’ve learned more if my class attendance was higher but I still feel like I grasped the important tools taught in this course. From now on I will definitely make a point to make it to class more often.
The last thing I’m going to say about this course this semester was the professor himself. In college, the course is almost solely dependent on the professor. He or she makes their own outline for the course and has their own teaching methods. Many professors are very bland and boring. This course might not have been the most exciting but the fact that Mr. Neuburger was always here and always happy to be here made every difference in the world. He made us laugh daily along with teaching the material. You don’t find that very often.