The Introduction to Liberal Arts class has taught me valuable skills that will be continuously refined throughout my years at Monmouth College. The skills and strategies that were introduced in this class and were refined was close analysis, annotations, and reflections on a work. Being assigned multiple close reading and analysis assignments throughout the class refined my writing skills. Simply writing more in the class helped me improve my skill on how to delve into a reading assignment and being able to discuss it in writing and conversation. Annotating assignments for specific reasons such as vocab, themes, and specific questions expanded my thought process when analyzing the reading. After annotating a reading, I was able to refer to the text to back up my discussion points in class when the class was conversing over specific points in the text. Reflecting on the readings that were assigned, connected to many of the main themes of the class. These …show more content…
reflections demanded a close analysis of the reading that brought cohesion between the theme of the reading and the goals of the class. Analysing and discussing reading in class brought a deeper meaning to why we read. I used these skills that were taught and refined in class to critically read this passage and write this paper. This class was designed by the faculty of Monmouth College and they implemented these ideas in the course because they thought that they were important to succeed in future endeavors. The Monmouth College faculty believes it is essential to our development to take a course in Introduction to Liberal Arts because being able to successfully transition to the college's learning community.
This community values the spirit of inquiry to have academic excellence. The purpose of the course is to successfully teach students how to engage in questions referring to human values and their purposes. Understanding how to engage in intellectual challenges and become life-long learners was extremely important to the faculty and how they incorporated it into the class. Learning the relationships and the dynamic definitions of self, stranger, and community that were constantly bring incorporated into class was to give students a sense of purpose. Lastly, the faculty expressed the need to be understand reading and be able to actively contribute to conversations that are happening. These goals of Introduction to Liberal Arts were very important to the faculty and expressed them through the class this
semester. Introduction to Liberal Arts course readings reflected on disciplinary differences and critical reading strategies throughout the course. This course prepared me for the future in many different ways. Global, personal, and ethical issues were alluded to prepare us for our future courses. The discussions about self, stranger, and community alluded to the issues we will be addressing in future courses. We discussed global issues relating to where people are from what it means to be a citizen of the world. We discussed how interacting with strangers helps build a community and relationships with people. Many different readings addressed about developing the self and its meanings to make you a better person. All of these ideas were incorporated to address our participatory in being citizens of the world. This course was designed to develop students into well rounded, enlightened, and productive people.
If they are taught correctly, liberal arts classes have the potential to help “students cross social boundaries in their imaginations. Studying a common core of learning will help orient them to common tasks as citizens; it will challenge or bolster… their views and, in any case, help them understand why not everyone in the world (or in their classroom) agrees with them,” explains Gitlin in his article “The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut.” By exposing students to this in high school, they will be more prepared when this moment occurs in their careers. I, along with many students throughout the country, have been exposed to incorrectly-taught liberal arts classes. Students taking English, for instance, must read specific novels while assessing a theme that is already pointed out to them.
As the semester finally approaches the finish line, I revisit my past work to compare and contrast how this class has developed me into a successful writer at the college level. Throughout the year my writing style has developed and become broader as I have learned how to incorporate more of my personal views as well as reliable, unbiased information. This portfolio is a representation of how many things I have learned along the way while being an English 102 student.
Most of us write in some form every day, so you would expect that most of us would be well practiced and pretty good at writing. I read and write all the time; I have been taken several college courses and nearly all of them require write of some form. However, before taking this class not only was I not a good writer, I knew I wasn’t a good writer. Now I am not saying that I am ready to write my first novel, but I certainly more confident in turning in my college papers. The content of this course and the style of teaching was incredibly beneficial to me. Throughout this course we had multiple assignments that were aimed to improve us as writers. I am sure that everyone took something different from this course, and I am sure that each student took more from some areas than others; however for me there were three major things that I saw that I benefited from most. Our weekly craft lessons, grammar plan, but most of all, observational learning.
I am currently an English 160 student who is hoping to move on to the next course, which is English 161. I understand the requirements for English 161. It require students to explore a topic in some depth and conduct independent research related to that topic. Conducting research allows students to learn what it is like to participate in academic culture, posing questions about important issues and developing an argument in response to what others have said. It expected students to learn the most valuable skill in college, which is critical thinking. Students have to be able to read challenging readings. Although I still have problems with English, I think I’m qualified to move on.
In COL 101 I have learned many new things about college. Since this is my first semester at college I did not really know where everything was. This class really helped me to learn new things about myself, including what resources are available to me, what my plan for the future is, and the many changes I have endured during this course.
For me, being a college writer means writing well-organized essays that readers enjoy reading. Being a well rounded writer was also important. Each unit in this class challenged me to write in a well-organized, concise way. During each unit, we conducted some sort of revision activity where I was exposed to other students’ writing. As I read their work, I picked up on their use of transition words and separation of paragraphs to make the essay flow. Naturally, I began implementing more transition words in my own work and learned the appropriate ways to split paragraphs. The structure of the class was key to the organization of my ideas which was crucial to the development of my essay. During the third unit of this class, we were asked to identify an issue on campus, conduct research on the issue, and finally propose a solution to correct the issue. At first, it was difficult to get my ideas down and figure out what it was I would research. What I learned in class allowed me to first identify the issue I would research, write a rough draft, and hear what others had written before the final paper was due. This helped me to identify the main points, brainstorm and figure out what additional research I would need to find to support my argument. Being able to organize my thoughts from the beginning made writing the paper a much easier process. This course has helped me to grow as a writer and make
The liberal arts are becoming increasingly rare in schools and universities. However, Saint Catherine University makes it a priority to teach its students the core benefits to the liberal arts college. It requires students to take the course “The Reflective Woman” along with “Global Search for Justice” as an introduction and conclusion to a liberal arts education. Throughout this semester I became more knowledgeable on what the liberal arts truly are, honed my reflective judgment, developed my writing skills, and I now have a deeper and defined sense of self.
As the world becomes more specialized it raises the question, should undergraduate institutions change their curriculum requirements to better equip students? The goal of a liberal arts education is to enlighten individuals and prepare them for the complex and diverse world by requiring the study of literature, philosophy, mathematics, and sciences. As professional careers evolve into more specialized fields the argument that a liberal education is no longer needed rises. Some educators feel that future professionals would be better primed for the future by focusing specifically on subjects that deal with their intended field. However, a liberal arts education provides benefits that go beyond the classroom. The experience of studying a wide range of material makes an individual well rounded, creates opportunities, and allows for personal evaluation. Broadening one’s knowledge in vast areas develops communication, problem-solving skills, and social responsibility regardless of intended careers.
There is a debate about if liberal arts are still applicable in today’s society. Well, Sanford Ungar, in his work “The New Liberal Arts,” unveils eight misperceptions of modern day liberal arts in our post-secondary educational institutions. Society has labeled liberal education as too expensive, unnecessary, and out of date. Liberal arts are the baseline for education and the author exploits the untold truths of the benefits of obtaining a liberal arts degree. Ungar reveals to us that liberal arts still hold a worthy place in society ranging from communication skills, better writing, and having a degree that covers a wide range of topics that could be applied to a plethora of jobs in the work force. He tests
Looking back over the course of the semester, I feel that I learned many new and interesting uses for technology within the classroom – both for classrooms that have a lot of technology and for classrooms that are limited with technology. For the majority of the class, we utilized William Kists’ book The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age (2010), which provided multiple modes of instruction that both utilized and/or created technology. One of the first things that I remember, and consequently that stuck with me through the course’s entirety, is that individuals must treat everything as a text. Even a garden is a text. The statement made me change the way that I traditionally viewed Language Arts both as a student and as a teacher, as I very narrowly saw literature and works of the like as texts only; however, by considering nearly anything as a text, one can analyze, study, and even expand his/her knowledge. Kist (2010) states that society is “experiencing a vast transformation of the way we “read” and “write,” and a broadening of the way we conceptualize “literacy” (p. 2). In order to begin to experience and learn with the modern classroom and technologically advanced students, individuals must begin to see new things as literature and analyze those things in a similar manner.
We should strive for perfection in all walks of life, but if we are to be successful on life`s journey we must hold these truths to be self-evident: that error(s) are a must in growth and perfection is impossible. Throughout this fall semester in Writing 101, I have grown as a more confident writer. I have learned to overcome the fear and hindrance of inadequately transcribing my true thoughts to paper- selfishly working to please the reader and not my idea(s). Sharing my perspective, without fixed add-ins, is what makes me unique as a writer. I feel this can lead to constructive debates and can act as a learning tool for uninformed readers, but if the writing tampers the room for debate and learning is lessened. As a writer, I pride myself on the ability to pay close attention to detail; however, it was not easy for me to become a more confident writer. Although I praise the work of my first essay, Common Readings, because it
Over the period of time that I was in this course, I thought it would be a very simple and easy to finish class. But as time went on, I found myself to be demanded more of what I think, what I feel, what must be relied on my ability to understand the concepts and conventions of not only the essays, but of what goes on in the writers mind when writing.
To tell a story is to expand tragedies, to spread the comedies, and to share the love and wisdom throughout humanity. Poets, musicians, authors, philosophers and even aristocrats have stories to tell. As a college student and aspiring author, I will share my story at the boundary of this realm. I will proceed to claim myself to be an adequate student and dispute the reason for this by comparing a mediocre student in contrast to me, a much more sophisticated student.
During this College Composition course, I came across numerous obstacles and educational involvements. Every factor of this course contributed to my overall learning experience. For starters, we often read out of our textbooks, “The Little Seagull Handbook” and “They Say I Say”. These books helped showcase proper writing techniques. In addition, we would have class discussions that everyone would participate in. This opened my eyes to different viewpoints that could influence my writing. I recall one class we had a debate over a topic and everyone had to choose a side to argue. Then when we wrote argument essays, even though they were on a different topic, it helped me view my topic in different ways. Lastly, the most helpful to my writing was peer review. We were told to read our paper out loud to our partner. Although personally I am quiet and dislike reading out loud, I found this very helpful. Instantly, my partner and I could find grammar mistakes that one may not pick up on while reading silently. Then we could also talk about other possible revisions for my paper. For every paper, we would have conferences with the professor. This was effective as well to have a professional giving corrections and ideas. When we would get back our graded rubrics on the assignments we completed, the instructor would leave comments to
Overall my experience of being in Lingleville ISD was a great experience that allowed me to learn a lot not only about the students in the classroom, but also helped me learn a lot about myself. Going in to this classroom I expected to only learn things about classroom management and maybe a few strategies. After spending a few days in this room I learned many other things. I did learn about classroom management but I also learned about content, strategies, organization, lesson planning, and inclusion adaptations. I learned that an inclusion special education student can really thrive being in a mainstream classroom, not only academically but also socially. It was a wonderful learning opportunity to get to be a part of that. My mentor teacher