Coming into this summer semester I wasn’t sure if waking up at 8am was going to be a struggle, as I had previously had to wake at 6am just to make it to high school on time. Walking to class on the first day I was nervous to see how college would be like and how classes were going to be. As I walked in I was greeted with a good morning and was told to grab an index card. I feel like this index cards were a great way to take attendance on Mat’s part because it got us involved and thinking right as we walked in. I thought that the setting of the class was a little odd as it wasn’t a conventional classroom but more of a computer lab. Even with this inconvenience the class was very comfortable and suitable for learning.
The work that was assigned through these six weeks was very appropriate and doable within the time constraints that summer brings. When I was first informed with the 6000 word count that we are supposed to have at he end of the course I was genuinely scared. I never thought I would be able to write that many words. Once we were assigned the first project I knew that it wouldn’t be as hard as I thought. Once Mat explained that our first project was a personal narrative I knew exactly what I was going to write about my fishing trip with my dad. This was a very defining moment in my life and I felt like the storied deserved to be shared. As I got to writing the first draft that was only supposed to be like 600 words I realized this would be easier than I thought. I just kept writing and writing and before I knew It I was at 1000 words. I knew my story was good because of how genuine it was but I never expected to get a 94. This was so encouraging as I never really considered myself very good at writing and I never liked it either but Mat telling me that “my paper was one of the best of the term” was very nice to hear and made me change the way I thought about writing. The notes that Mat left on my paper also helped me see where exactly I could improve on my paper that was almost perfect.
On my second project I was able to explore essentially whatever community I was looking to join. As a student looking to pursue a career in civil engineering I know I am going to have to find internships in order to learn and grow. So therefore, I decided to explore the process of finding internships at FSU. As I wrote my first draft of this paper I felt a bit lost but I then powered through it and got to my word count. This wasn’t the brightest idea; as I did not receive a good score on this paper. Mat then emailed me back with a bunch of tips and notes and also had me schedule an appointment with the RWC in order to improve my paper. I am so happy that Mat recommends the RWC because without the girl that helped me in there I don’t think I would have been able to write a whole new research paper in 2 days. I haven’t received my score on my revised paper but I’m hoping its closer to what Mat was expecting on this paper. After doing all my research I can say that I have learned a lot of valuable information that is going to help me when I start trying to find internships and my paper can really help others that are going to want to join this community too.
As Mat began to explain the third project I knew exactly I was going to do. During my research into internships at FSU I was able to find a career and internship fair that the career center was hosting and I thought it would be perfect for this. I think the concept on the third project is very interesting as when we get to the real world we are going to have to present our ideas in other ways besides just essays. The pitch was a great way to learn and practice expressing our ideas in a real world situation. As I was making my twitter page I made sure to include a bunch of information that was necessary for the event. Through this project I also learned about a very user friendly website to make flyers and posters. I now know that whenever I need to make something like the flyer I made for this project I have a easy solutions to this problem.
Overall I very much enjoyed this class. Mat was very informed with all the information that was presented in this class. During the conferences he was very easy to talk to and was always trying to come up with new ideas that could improve your work. I would totally recommend to my friends coming in fall to take ENC 2135 with Mat due to the experience and classroom vibe that he gives.
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