What I Learned This Semester

One thing that I learned a lot about was the Rwandan genocide. Before this class I had never even heard of it, but after researching it I realized so much more. There were so many groups involved with this and none of them really made an effort to stop it. Groups like the MRND and the Interahamwe are responsible for these killings, but which ones do we really blame. I learned how different countries and different people could have many different opinions based on how the genocide had an effect on them and their country. During the debate that we did on this it helped me to really get out there and speak up on a topic. Listening to everyone’s opinion and how many people had different thoughts really made you want to fight for your opinion and make a point. The Rwandan Genocide taught me a lot about how a difference in something like ethnicity or just a label on a name tag can start a horrible event.
Doing the weekly articles for current events helped me learn a lot. In my other English classes before we never took a look or even cared about what was going on in the news. Since, I decided to join global ed this has all been so different. Every day we hear the most current events and read articles about some really important ones. I learned a lot about places like Iraq, Iran, and places with nuclear power plants too! Before reading these articles I really had no clue. Although, writing about these was a challenge, I have become a much better writer. I have also learned to stay on topic and get to my point even if that means your response would only be one paragraph.
I also learned a lot about paragraph responses. When Mr. Fielder started to introduce things such as Ethos and Pathos to us, I had no idea what he was talking about. After looking at some writing examples I understood what these were. Ethos is like playing with the readers emotions. You could say something like children are being hacked to death with machetes; it would make them sad, and really grab their attention. Pathos is when you compare something that has happened to another idea that might happen in the reader’s daily life. Without both of these it is hard to make the reader interested and want to read more. Also, I learned how to give a good support that actually helps prove your thesis statement, and to stay on topic with your support and not fade off into something else.
Margin noting is definitely one thing that helped me out a lot. Just looking at a piece of paper with words that you may not even understand is very hard to read. Sometimes I would just give up and not read it at all, but once I was told about margin noting it became easier. We read some pretty challenging articles throughout the semester and doing margin notes and QCVIS made a big difference. I would write down questions, important things, or even interesting facts that I would come across. Then, later on when you had to go back and look at the paper to write an essay on. You would have those key parts to go back and look at. This made the article a whole lot easier to write as well.
The first day of school essay was our first assignment of the year. Reading that paper and one of our previous papers now have showed me really how much I have learned. I remember the day I got that paper back and it had a circled D on it. I reread the paper and realized how many mistakes I actually made. Commas, and other punctuation marks as well as spelling. I learned a lot from that paper. Mostly to reread my papers before I turn them in and how to actually write a paper that makes sense. It also taught me how to write creatively and use myself in the story. I also learned how to use dialogue and create emotions just by things I say and other around me. Overall, this semester was great and I learned a lot of new things that I know I will continue to get better and better at!