Comm Reflections

Like some others who have posted before me, I have to admit that I missed several classes this semester, and only once was it because of a legitimate excuse. I figured out pretty early on that I could miss a lecture here and there, and it would not have much of an effect on my overall grade, because the lectures were pretty much read word for word from the power points in class. One major thing that I learned through this class is that I should never talk an 8:00 class again. On a college student schedule, I found it really hard to get up that early in the morning.

I think my biggest problem with the class was the fact that I really could afford to miss a class, and it would not be detrimental to me at all. I could learn everything I missed from that class from the power points posted on the blog- because there wasn’t much else in the way of information that would be presented in the class. This made it incredibly tempting just to stay in bed in the morning- and so sometimes I did.

Another problem I had with the class was the textbook. I felt like the textbook was sort of like teaching a class on the ABCs to students who are already literate and know how to read. A lot of the information in the textbook is common sense stuff, and things that I learned years ago. Of course, I have been involved in plays and debates in the past, and so perhaps these things that seemed incredibly elementary to me were not so intuitive for others. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I did not learn much from this class, especially after we got back from midterms and focused on speeches. I just thought that most of the chapters dealt more with common sense things.

However, I really did find giving speeches in class to be incredibly helpful. Andi, you are really good at giving feedback, and so I feel like the things that I did learn from this class, and about myself as a speaker, came more from actually giving speeches and receiving feedback than from the textbook itself. I guess my advice would be to maybe have more of those impromptu speeches in class- I found that to be challenging and really helpful. I also found out about a lot of interesting new sites, like TBD and TED, that I now use regularly now and enjoy.

Andi, I thought you were a good teacher and made things interesting when you could- I’m sorry that you’re stuck using that book that you are. I enjoyed a lot of the activities we did, like eavesdropping on other peoples’ conversations. You were personable and explained things well, and were really good with constructive criticism. One thing I found slightly frustrating, though it was understandable and I know it wasn’t your fault, was when class would be cancelled about 15 minutes beforehand. I also had a problem with remembering to post on the class blog each week, but I think that was more me than the blog itself. I thought the integration of new technology was interesting, and learned a lot about it through this class. You also made class a very comfortable environment to be in, and when I did make it to class, it was nice.