Today I presented my final oral presentation for the school year. Completing it and hearing what everyone had to say made me want to write about it in my blog. Hearing about what everyone had to say was very good but also a little sad. The people in my UNIV class were all very kind and nobody treated anybody in a bad way. I am going to miss this class a lot moving forward.
From the beginning of the school year to now, I have grown so much. I have grown as a person and in my reading and writing skills. At the start of the year, I was very sheltered and did not want to get out of my shell. Throughout the year, I challenged myself to speak more in class and to meet other people. I was able to do this mostly with the people I sat with and through peer review. Everyone in my UNIV class was comfortable with each other which made it easier to speak and get out of my shell. All of the readings, blogs, conversation logs have allowed me to grow in my reading and writing skills. They were a small part that led to such big improvements in my papers and essays. Another thing in the school year that allowed me to improve in my reading and writing skills was the novel ‘The City & The City.’ This novel and all of the work and paper we did really had me think and read critically. The novel itself was already difficult for me to understand. Reflecting back, I know that UNIV has allowed me to understand it by reading it critically, this meant re reading, taking notes, and looking up words I did not know. Also, the multimodal project and source play allowed me to be critical in my work. I have never written a play before or written a paper about a creative piece that I created. I had to analyze my sources critically and use everything I have learned.
Throughout the school year, there were also things that I struggle with. The number 1 thing I struggled with throughout the entire year would be my sources. This included finding and citing my sources. I found it difficult with sources because I just could not identify what made sources good or if they were good for what I am working on. I know I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to sources. Also, something I struggled with throughout the year was procrastination. I was used to saving assignments and papers last minute but UNIV made me understand to get things done in a timely manner. I still procrastinate a lot but not as much as I used to.