WRD-110 Course Reflection

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I signed up for WRD-110. I know there would be writing and speaking involved but not much more than that. I feared a group project and was not disappointed. This class allowed me to develop as a writer and speaker by challenging me to pick topics that I may have not chosen otherwise and to view things from perspectives that I may not have before. We were asked to set up a blog and post a few items to get us comfortable with writing.

Our first major assignment was to write about a place on campus and discuss how it was used. Being a first semester student and not knowing much about campus, I chose the one building with which I felt most comfortable, the student center. I approached the paper based on my previous experiences as a student at Western Kentucky University many moons ago. By comparing the differences and similarities, I became more familiar and thus more comfortable with my new environment. I was happy that I was able to have a viewpoint different from most of my fellow students.

The second major assignment consisted of an essay and presentation about another place. I chose to learn more about the Anderson County Humane Society, an organization that I have volunteered with for several years. As I interviewed the director and researched humane societies in general, I began to realize how large the unwanted animal issue is. I tried to use this shock to give a sense of urgency to my audience and emphasize the important of the work done by local humane societies who have very limit resources.

Assignment 3 was the dreaded group project that consisted of a multimedia project about a controversial place with a collaboratively written proposal, a presentation, and an independently written essay. The original idea was to do a video/presentation type project but time and resource constraints changed it to a blog type website. The topic revolved around if firearms should be allowed on college campuses. There were issues that arose but we worked through them and made sure that the project and proposal were completed before the due dates. This assignment was definitely the most challenging.

For the outside writing piece, I chose an article summary that I completed for Evolution (Bio-303) recitation. As my computer hard drive crashed, I was limited in my choices. Though probably not the best piece of writing that I had completed this semester, sadly, it was one of the few to which I still had access.

Overall, I feel I gained a lot of valuable skills from this course and it helped get me back in the swing of things after being out of school for so long. Despite conflicts that seemed to reduce the amount of time I would have liked to spend on each project, I did the best I could with the time I had. I know, though I am not the worst public speaker, this course has helped me improve my speeches and I will continue to become more comfortable and proficient in this area.