It has been a pleasure taking this class with each of you. I have learned so much from reading your blogs and I hope I have been able to return the favor. I wish only the best for all of you in your academics and future ahead. God Bless!
Lauren Kirkland
ENG 241-DL FALL 2009
December 13, 2009
Dr. Steve Brandon
This semester, I took an online English class that was like no other class I had ever taken before. Under the teaching guidance of Dr. Brandon, each class member was asked to create a blog that would function as a means of communication between students and serve as a place for our assignments to be posted, reviewed, and discussed by our group members. Dr. Brandon also employed a website, created specifically for the English 241 class, which contained a place for class discussions as well as assignments, messages from the teacher, and extra credit opportunities. I knew from the beginning that this class would be different, but I completely underestimated the knowledge and voice I would take away from it. Though I sometimes fell behind in submitting assignments on time, my studies were enriched through exercises that instituted communication, critical thinking and information literacy, cultural and social understanding, and personal development, exemplified in the following pages of this letter. I feel a proper grade for the time and effort I put forth for this class, with minor mistakes and tardiness, would be a B+.
Communication was the main key to this class. Without a classroom type setting, students had to rely on a website, class discussions, and blogs to communicate and interact with classmates, resulting in understanding and being understood. I preferred this type of setting however, because it allowed me to convey my thoughts, opinions, and essays with my classmates which I would have quickly shied away from doing in an open classroom setting. I was able to communicate my voice through my essays, particularly through my most recent essay that expressed my public profession of belief. “This essay presented me with the opportunity to lay it all out and come to terms with what I truly believe” (Public Profession of Belief). Through class discussions, I was able to communicate my voice and learn from the opinions expressed by others. My classmates shared views that I agreed and disagreed with, and through these discussions I was enlightened and often inclined to share my own. For example, in week ten, we were asked to discuss a time where we had to “fight the good fight.” I shared my fight for religion because “I personally believe that America has entered moral decline because of laws forbidding such things” (Week 10 Class Discussion). Many other students raised the question as to whether or not there should be separation of church and state, something I had not considered until reading their posts. I contemplated the question and determined through my classmates’ posts and my own beliefs that “church and state should not mix…because the Separatists wanted complete separation of church and state because religion was being forced upon them. But the state should in return not reprimand a child for bringing his Bible to school, or forbid speaking the name of Jesus, or remove prayer” (Week 10 Class Discussion). Had my classmates not communicated their own opinions and raised this question, I would have never been able to comprehend the concept or state my opinion. During week fifteen, one of my group members posed a question in her blog concerning an essay I had written about virtues. She asked, “Do you mean the least religious a person is, the least fulfilled their life will be?” This was entirely too thought provoking to pass up, so I posted a response in which I was able to communicate my beliefs with her and found it to be “uplifting and eye-opening for me to talk about” (Week 15 Comments on Group Blogs).
Through this class, I found my own voice often in writing reflections. During week seven’s reflection, “I struggled to write my essay on nature. I discovered a personal flaw, communicating my voice. Sometimes I focus so much on the “eloquent” wording, that my message becomes marred and indirect” (Week 7 Reflections). During week eight’s reflection, “in reviewing and commenting on my own blog posts for week eight, I was able to read how my voice has changed since the beginning of the semester. It seems I am constantly finding a stronger voice every week, something I have struggled with” (Week 8 Reflections).
Without communication, there would be no thought stimulation and voices would be suppressed. This class has truly opened my eyes to a whole new world of communication, blogging, and through the use of communication in our assignments, I was able to freely express my thoughts, discover my voice, read others opinions, and gain insight into issues discussed.
Critical thinking and information literacy were primarily applied while reading assignments and writing essays that pertained to the readings, participating in class discussions, and commenting on other group members’ blogs during this course. When reading assignments and responding to the readings through writing essays, I had to recognize information that pertained to me, translate and evaluate how it applied to my life, and decide for myself how I would use it effectively. During week four, while “reading Emerson’s “American Scholar” essay” I was “struck…with the notion that today, it is especially important that myself and my fellow students take initiative to be a “Man-thinking” and not just a “thinking man” (Week 12 Reflections). While writing my essay “I compared myself to Emerson’s ideology for the prime American scholar” and noted “similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses in myself. Because of this” I determined that “I am, and am not, the kind of scholar Emerson describes” (The American Scholar). I discovered extensive wisdom in Emerson’s “American Scholar” essay and decided to apply his challenge to “to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.” Through employing critical thinking and information literacy to Emerson’s work, I found “a sense of empowerment and truth” and “by obtaining knowledge from nature, books, and experience” in turn applied it to my own life so that I might also “prosper from a self-revival” (Week 4 Reflections).
During the course of this class, cultural and social understanding came into play in various assignments. The topic that personally impacted me the most occurred during week one when posed with the question “What is an American?” We read Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” which describes different characters’ roles in society. The poem gave an accurate glimpse into American culture. We were then asked to describe our own glimpse of America to an immigrant. I distinctly remember most of my group members’ essays portrayed America positively. One stood out from the rest with lines like “America is the land of the free, but that can only be taken in context, because we’re only as free as our bureaucratic governments’ laws let us be” and “it’s a nation that only cares about monetary value, and it can be easy to get taken advantage of and thrown to the wolves if you don’t watch out for number one.” I was shocked when I read the essay and almost jumped to write a rebuttal. After taking a moment to contemplate, I decided to approach the essay from a different social understanding and came to appreciate my group member’s voice and passion in his opinion. He offered different stances on many issues and I found solace and reassurance in reading his essay in week five when he stated “the silence lets us preach to ourselves and come up with our own opinions, which allow us to be individuals” because “this is something I struggled most with, forming my own opinion and then voicing it. By looking at his work with a different social understanding, I benefitted and learned “that silence can be a positive thing, and an individual’s silence can define them as an individual” (Week 4-5 Comments on Group Blogs).
Throughout this course, I can honestly and proudly say that I engaged in personal development and transformed as an individual. I began noting changes in week five, when we read Thoreau’s “Walden.” When asked to write about what living a full life means to me, “I viewed it as living life without restriction: being happy 100% of the time, never saying no to a selfish ambition, or yes to self-sacrificing demand; it was the most self-centered way of living” (Living Life to the Fullest). I did not want to be someone who lead a life “of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in” me. However, after “I evaluated my life without those who mean the most to me, my life dwindled down to nothing but a hollow, empty mess” and I came to the realization that “the repercussions outweigh the momentary happiness by far. In making myself 100% happy and living a self-centered life without restriction, I would bring down everyone I know, ultimately leading to my own downfall” (Living Life to the Fullest). “When I looked at life from this perspective, I had a clearer understanding of why Thoreau believed we should give up our “stuff” to find true happiness in life. It was only after I analyzed his theory from an entirely opposite point of view that I came to an ironic agreement” (Week 5 Reflections).
Personal enrichment ensued in the latter weeks after reading Franklin’s thirteen virtues. Inspired to create my own list, I realized the need to develop my virtue of spirituality because I believe that once “that once this virtue is developed, other virtues will ensue. Living a healthy lifestyle starts with seeking the most important thing in my life, God, and putting Him above anything else” (My List of Virtues). I began focusing on my personal spiritual development and have rediscovered my passion for going to church and reading my Bible. It amazes me how when you truly and whole heartedly set your mind to something, nothing is impossible, and you sow great rewards.
The same goes for my future. I know that I can accomplish and achieve anything I set my mind to. This class has not only inspired me to find my voice, but also to speak it. I will carry this insight with me into my career as an event planner, because I will have to have a voice, and a loud one at that, when it comes to dealing with clients, and playing the role of coordinator and leader. I would personally like to thank Dr. Brandon for the thought provoking reading and exercises he organized for us, because through them, I am leaving the class with greater understanding of myself, my classmates and the world.
