Final Paper

It is such a relief to have finished my final paper for English 3010. I am so happy that we did it on Pretty Women. I was very familiar with the movie so it made the paper easier to write. I was suprised when I watched the movie for the hundreth time from a different perspective and saw things that I had missed all along. Watching the movie to critisize it made it more interesting because there was hidden meanings to things that I never picked up on before. I admit that I thought 7-9 pages was going to be rought but after watching the movie over again and taking notes it was much less painful than I thought it was going to be!!! I actually found this paper to be very interesting.

tutoring

My last tutoring session went really well. I am happy that everytime my partner and I have been in the writing center we have had someone to tutor. I really think that looking over other peoples writing has helped me to become a better writer. This week a women came in and needed us to look over her resume. I thought that was pretty interesting because I have to write one this week because I am looking for a job this summer. Helping her with her resume not only helped me with mine but it also answered the questions that I had about resumes. I must say tutoring in the writing center was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be difficult and it ended up being enjoyable.

Thursdays Class

Thursdays class was a lot of fun and very helpful. We got into groups based on the type of critisism that we are doing for our final paper and presentation. I found this to be very helpful , even though everyone in my group was attacking the gender aspect on different commercials or movies we were still able to help each other and give and recieve great ideas to other people. It was interesting to see how other people in other groups viewed gender and how they were going to talk about it in their papers and presentations. It definetly gave me more ideas for my own paper. I am also happy that I now have until Friday to work on my paper I want to do a good job and I can use the extra time to make sure that it a good paper.

Tutoring

Tuesdays session went really well. A young man came in and needed help on how to write a paper on the similarities between two english stories. At first this was difficult for my partner and I to help him with because we had never read the stories before and they were long stories so we did not have time to read them. Instead the tutee gave us the jist of the story and we went from there. However in the story there were far more differences than there were similarities so it was difficult for us to help him think of more similarities. Lucky for him, Nicole ( Another tutor in the writing center) had taken the class before with the same professor and she had read the same stories. At the end of our session our tutee had over 10 similarities and was very happy with his tutoring session.

Thursday

I was very happy that we didnt have class on Thursday because I really needed to spend sometime on our final project. I was short on ideas and our meeting really helped me. I am planning on renting the movie this week to watch it again so that I can take notes and get even more ideas. I am really happy that my group chose to do our final projects on the movie "Pretty Women" because it is a movie that I am very familiar with and I have seen it many of times. I do think watching it again will help me because I can write down certain scenes that I may not remember off of the top of my head. I am also happy that we chose this movie because it is a movie that has a great amount of information that deals with all of our topics to write about in our final papers.

Tuesday

I found Tuesdays class to be very interesting. Im glad that we had the chance to discuss our findings from the media projects. Many of the people in the class talked about things that were going on that I had no idea about so it was very interesting to hear what was going on and how each source was different. I even went home to look up the story about the pregnant man because I just couldnt believe what I was hearing. I had heard about it once before but I honestly thought it was a joke. I also found out a great amount about the writers strike. I had no idea that most of the writers were middle class people nor did I know that the main reason that they went on strike was because of the internet.

No Class

I did not have to attend class on Thursday. I would like to say that I thought this class was going to be a lot more boring than it really is. I have never really liked to take English classes because I dont enjoy writing papers on a given topic, but I must say I have really enjoyed this class. I have learned a great amount of information. Rather than just being taught how to write I have learned many other useful skills. I wasnt really sure how to feel about the ending of How to Catch A Tiger By the Toe. I really wanted things to work out with her father and I was disapointed that Jamies father had to go to prision. On the other hand I was happy that he stood up for what he thought was right and that he didnt back down just to stay out of jail. I like the book because prior to reading it I knew nothing of the McCarthy years. To be honest, this is my junior year of college and I am just now starting to be interested in politics. The book gave me an insight into those years and I found it to be very interesting. I also like that it gave us an insight into who Jamie was and how she overcame the obsticles that she faced in the begining of the book.

Tutoring

Once agian my partner and I had a successful tutoring session. A man came in and needed help on his grammar and sentence structure on a paper that had to do with a play. I thought the session was going to be much harder than it was. I am not very good with writing about plays on my own so I didnt think that I could be much help to the person I was tutoring. I also thought it was going to be hard because I had never read this particular play before. To my suprise I enjoyed reading what this person had to say. The play was very interesting and his writing caught and kept my attention. He really didnt need much help, he like all writers just missed simple mistakes.

Class

I did not have to attend Thursdays class because I am covering gender so I am going to write about Tuesdays instead. On Tuesday we talked about the book Catch a Tiger by The Toe. I must say this was the most interesting thing we have read in this class. I really enjoyed this book, I read it over spring break. Although I am not into politics as much as I would like to be so talking about it in class helped me on a few parts of the book that I did not understand. I really felt bad for Jamie because her family seemed to be just as normal as mine and I felt that she was treated unfair. I dont think that she should have been kicked off of the NB and I dont feel that her father or mother should have been fired. I do understand that at that time people we looking out for our country but I dont think that people should be fired just because of word of mouth. I felt bad for Jamie when she was at school and noone would talk to her because of her fathers beliefs, that was unfair. I am looking forward to talking about the rest of the book next week.

Tutoring

Tuesdays tutoring session went really well. A women came in from nursing school and needed help on a paper about constipation. I was very interested in what she had to say about this class and paper because I am applying for nursing school. Her paper was very well written and she really did not need that much help. My partner and I looked over her paper and didn't have too much to say about it. They only problem that she seemed to have was that some of her paragraphs were too long and could have been broken. She had two different subjects in one very long paragragh and they should have been two different paragraphs.

Thursdays Class

For our final project it was my day to attend class on Thursday for the gender portion. I was very happy that I chose gender because there seems to be a lot to talk about. In class we watch a portion of the movie clue and talked about the various aspects of gender and how they applied to the characters in that movie. I am very happy that there were different and individual days for the topics that we are going to talk about in the last paper. Having a single class for gender was very helpful because there was a great amount of things to talk about regarding gender. I am just hoping that in the end I wont have any problems making my paper 7-9 pages.

Tutoring

Tuesdays session went pretty well. My partner and I needed a little extra help than normal. A women came in and needed help on citing a paper in APA form. My partner and I were very unfamiliar with this because we had never had to use APA before. We used a book in the writing center to help us help the women that we were tutoring. We were successful in helping her with most of her paper except when she wanted to know how to cite a tax paper. After asking for help we found out that in the book you could look under the government documents part to find out how to cite it. Overall the session went really well.

class

Well I did not go to class on thursday because I am doing the portion of the final project that has to do with gender, so I attend class this thursday for my part. On Tuesday we talked about gender and sexuality. The final project and paper was also one of the many things we talked about. I am a little nervous about the final paper because of its length. The last time I had to write a paper that was 7-9 pages was my freshman year of college and I am now a junior. I am hoping that because my group is writing on the movie Pretty Women it will be easy to talk about gender. I am very familiar with this movie and I already have a few ideas of how this movies aims to a certain gender.

Tutoring

Our tutoring session went well on Tuesday. A women came in and needed help on writing a paper on a story about an organ donation. Her paper sounded good she just needed help on her sentence structure. At the end of the session she seemed very pleased with what my partner and I had helped her with. I felt bad because we were not able to help her with her whole paper and she had to make another appointment. She had a four page paper and we had only gotten through two pages. I guess thats not too bad. I would rather do a good job with helping her than to skip over stuff just to get throught the whole four pages.

In Class Excersise

Thursdays class was very interesting! During my first year of college I was in an honors class and we also talked about structuralism and I also found it interesting then . Im the type of person that likes to read into things and find double/ hidden meanings. I loved watching the Inanimate Alice video. After watching the trailor for the movie Misery I was waiting for something scary to happen during the Inanimate Alice video. I think the because the settings in the video were dark and the music was suspenceful I was thinking that some kind of bad character was going to pop into the aninmation. Instead the music changed to happy and Alice found her dad. I think im going to try and look up the other 2 animations and watch them.

Writing Center

On Tuesday my partner and I did not have anyone to tutor. This was the first time since we have started tutoring that noone showed up. I must say, I was a little disappointed. Instead we shared ideas for our icon papers and I worked on the body of my paper. I found that switching my paper topic was a great idea because it was so much more interesting for me to write. I went onto the Tiffany & Co. website to find some backround information and I think I might have spent more time reading the history than I did on the paper. The history is so fascinating! Tiffany supplied the men in the civil war with swords!! They have also made Nascar trophies and Superbowl trophies. The most suprising thing to me was that they were founded in the 1800's that is amazing that they have lasted that long!

Thursdays Class

Im am very happy that in class on thursday we had the chance to go over our rough drafts of our icon papers. I was really having a hard time with my topic. I wanted to do Canon (as in cameras) and I had many ideas for my paper but when I sat down to start my rough draft nothing seemed to sound right. I had finished my introduction and couldnt think of anything else to say. I took my introduction into class on Thursday hoping that I could get some feedback. I did recieve some feedback from my peers but it still wasnt enough to write a three page paper on. I then decided I wanted to change my topic to something that might be a little more interesting. Someone gave me the idea to write my icon paper on Tiffany & CO. I love that idea! Hopefully now my paper will be more interesting.

Tutoring

My second tutoring experience went great. A student came in with a paper that he had wrote and wanted my partner and I to help him with his sentence structure and to help give him ideas on how he could finish his last couple of sentences. I think that my partner and I work really well together and together we were successful at helping this student. I would say that the session was pretty easy. The student was a good writer and the only problems that were present with his work were problems that any good writer would have. My partner and I helped him with fixing a few sentences that made sense to him but did not make sense to the reader. We knew what he was trying to say but it would be difficult for the reader to comprehend. I hope that our next tutoring session goes this well. :)

Class Exercise

I enjoyed our class exercise on Thursday. During the superbowl when I was watching the commercials that we discussed in class, it never occured to me that the companies who made these commercials were targeting different emotions in the people who are viewing them. When watching them I didnt analyze what they were trying to get across, but now that we have discussed them the main point of some of these commercials and the tactics that the advertisers used is more clear. I think that this weeks reading were more interesting than last week. This week it took me longer to read them because some of the reading was a little difficult to understand and I had to go back and read it over. Hopefully this week they only get more interesting.

First Tutoring Experience

My first tutoring experience went much better than I thought it would. I was expecting someone to come into the writing center and sit down and ask me to help them with something that I knew nothing about. Instead a women came in and needed help on her reading comprehension,so I gave her advice on how she improve her reading comprehension skills. I was also happy that I had a partner sitting next to me. It makes the session a little easier knowing that you have someone thats in your class sitting right next to you so that if you get stuck or dont know what to say they can help you out. I think our tutoring session was very sucessful and I am looking forward to my next tutoring experience.

In class assignment for Week of 1/29/08

I thought the readings for the week of 1/29/08 were very interesting. I enjoyed reading about popculture. I am happy that we have moved on to popular culture because it is a big part of the society that we live in. I also enjoyed our in class assignment and the discussion that followed. It was fun to think of the television shows that we watched as children and to talk about why some of these shows were a success. Before last thursday I never really took the time to think about how the shows that I watched as a child were apart of popculture. This is the first class that I have taken in college that has spent time on popculture so I am excited to see where it goes.

Tutoring Observation

This week I observed a tutoring session in the writing center. This tutoring session was different than the one that I observed last week. This week a women came into the writing center to find out how to do citations in the APA form. The tutor had not had much experience with APA so she got out a reference book and they sat down together and went through the guide. This made me feel more confident about tutoring because I know that even if I do not know how to do something, that there is always someone or something in the writing center that can guide me in helping the person that I am tutoring.

English 3010

I think that our class sessions this week were very helpful in learning how to become a successful tutor. Even though my partner and I did the wrong assignment on Tuesday, I think that reading and acting out different scenarios that could take place in the writing center is helpful. I am the type of person who likes to be prepared to handle different situations and by reading and acting out these scenarios it helps me to be prepared, so that if these situations happened I would know how to react. I had a difficult time with the MLA project. I am happy that we did the assignment in the computer lab together because I had many questions. I have struggled with citing papers properly since high school, but I felt much more informed after our MLA project.

The Writing Center

Yesterday I went into the writing center in order to observe a tutoring session. During the first couple of minutes of the session I was beginning to think that tutoring was going to be much harder then I thought. When the writer first came into the writing center and sat with the tutor to talk about the paper she mentioned what the professor had wanted her to do. Within the first 5 minutes of her talking to the tutor I felt lost because I didn't understand the assignment. This made me question if I was going to be a good tutor. To find out, neither of them understood until they read more into the assignment. By the end of the session I felt much more confident and I was happy that I was able to observe the techniques this tutor used to have a successful session.

English 3010 Readings

I think that the readings for the week of January 15th were helpful in giving different views on tutoring. When reading Kenneth Bruffee's reading I felt that tutoring should be more voluntary than involuntary. I think that it would be easier to help someone who wanted to be helped. Having someone come to the writing center who has no interest in being there would make it hard on the tutor to distinguish what the writer feels they need help on. I also agreed with Stephen North in the fact that many people may only see the writing center as a fix it shop rather that a place that can help someone write at any stage of their writing.

My First Blog/ 1/15/08

Im sure most of you dont know me so I will take the time to introduce myself. My name is Nichole Wendl and I am a junior at Wayne State. I am majoring in Nursing and I am applying to the program this week!!