Hello, my name is Tyler Eppley. I am a junior and majoring in Civil Engineering and Surveying. I’m from a small town about one hour northeast of here called McConnelsville. I commute from McConnelsville five days a week, which adds up to 10 hours a week that I’m on the road. My parents own a Christmas tree farm which my older brother Sam (who is also in Civil Engineering at Ohio University) and I maintain and up-keep for our jobs during summer and part-time during school. My hobbies and interest are pretty straightforward; I enjoy anything to do with sports and I also enjoy hunting.
My prior English class experience before this course was English 151. I took this class as a freshman at Ohio University Zanesville. What I liked most about 151 was having other people read and comment on the paper or assignment, which I was writing. It was extremely helpful and opened my eyes to different points of view and different styles to attack a subject. From 151 I was able to build on my writing skills and become more efficient and effective when addressing different topics and situations of writing. What was least helpful to me was for the instructor to be unclear and rather vague on what was expected from you during your assignment. The professor said that it was to give room for us to be creative but when trying to begin a paper with no direction it was extremely frustrating and destroyed my confidence when writing.
As to address the issue of the given structure of this course (308J) I would have to say that it seems perfect. In this time of age the majority of writing is through technology. Whether it is email, blogs, instant messaging, or whatever we are now in a time of technology and computers. Yes, I believe it is important have a draft that is a hard copy. This is a great time to brainstorm when it is just you, a pencil, and some paper; when it comes down to it though the final copy is almost always on a computer. So, why not have a class that is structured around technology. From 308J I hope to be able to write and have people comment on my work so that once again as in 151 I can find new avenues to approach writing and grow from it. My one and only worry about this class is how long it has been since I have written any lengthy papers. So far in engineering there is writing but it consists of bullet points and responding as quickly and correctly to an assignment as possible. So for me to once again dig down to find my writing style could be a challenge and a difficulty, but hopefully not.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteReally great introductory post. I liked hearing about your crazy commute (My wife has to commute to Parkersburg 5 days a week)) and about the family business. Sounds like you help out a lot with that. Winter break is probably pretty hectic for you, huh? About the vagueness of your 151 instructor, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I EVER DO THIS. Furthermore, your openness to having your writing reviewed by others in the class is admirable. We'll do this a lot and I hope its a useful exercise. Finally, I like this short argument or rationale for using tech in a writing class. Your recognition that "in this time of age the majority of writing is through technology" is particularly smart. There's a handful of people in my field (Rhetoric & Composition) saying the same thing. I'd be interested in having a fuller version of this conversation toward the end of the course as we look back on what we've accomplished. Maybe you could remind me? Welcome to the course.