Featured videos: language, literacy, writing

Reading Together

Perusall logoWe’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together. Link here to Perusall. Instructions for joining on the Assignments page.

Calendar: link here

<—❤️ (p.s. extra cute cat photos at end of post)

<—❤️ (p.s. extra cute cat photos at end of post)

(Bear with me on this long rant but I really wanted to explain how I came to my idea and the thought that went into it. If you don’t wanna read it, feel free to skip to the second paragraph where my project idea is explained.)

I have a love/hate relationship with open-ended projects like this. The freedom to organize and execute it how I want is something that I absolutely love since I can go in any direction that I want. I have always been artistically driven so the ability to explore a new art avenue while fulfilling a project for a grade is a win-win for me. But because it is open-ended I become my own worst enemy. Too many ideas and pathways creep into my head and I can’t decide which one I want to do. It is a constant battle trying to sift through all of them to find what works best for me, for the project, and for the time I have. I just become really really frustrated with myself and school and life. I did this with this project too. I didn’t write a blog post last week because I couldn’t think of anything and when I read the posts that people had posted with some pretty good concrete ideas I just got even more frustrated with myself that I wasn’t coming up with anything as good. Like what the heck brain when did you stop working? It isn’t even time for break. Sooooo I gave up. For the entirety of this week, I put off addressing or even thinking about this project. I instead concentrated on essays and projects for my other classes. It was around this time that I found out that getting into a Master’s program was going to have to happen for me. I had never before considered getting a Master’s and didn’t really see myself as the type that could but with my future career goals, it’s just a thing that needs to happen. Once I ran out of work for my other classes (and still procrastinating on this classes project), I turned my attention to amassing a list of all the colleges that had Master’s programs that I wanted to get into and delving into all the requirements and procedures to apply. A lot of things were the same to get into the different Master programs like prerequisites and application deadlines and the short application essay prompts. And reading through all the prompt options I got thinking, how can such a detailed questioned be answered in 2 pages or less?! The ridiculousness of the feat! To answer it thoroughly while giving the reader a sense of who you are, what you have gone through, and how that has shaped you as a person as you walk through life while doing it in such a short two pages. To quote some internet slang: “I can’t even”

So my project is doing a multimodal take on answering a typical short application essay prompt. My plan is pretty rough around the edges but I was going to choose a prompt and somehow show my thought process and what life experiences went into answering the prompt along with how I went about choosing what to keep and omit and all that jazz of creating a piece of traditional writing (for a pretty common experience/process we all go through getting into college) but in a multimodal format. I am not quite sure how I am going to show all that but I am kind of leaning towards one of those fast forwarded videos where so much work is squashed down into two minutes or less. Maybe to have a point of interaction with the class I could hand out the prompt and my answer and once they read it maybe just ask a general question of how much time do they think I put into the piece then once I get some answers show the video? I don’t know haha I’m tired…

Anyway here are three prompts that I was considering answering:

  1. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.  How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
  2. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  3. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

 

CUTE CAT PHOTOS INCOMING!!!!

Well this time of the semester is always really stressful for me and I would like to say I handle it with grace and dignity but I don’t. At all. Ever. And it’s been especially difficult being away from my cat. So I am adding some extra cat photos at the end of my post for me and you because one it was fun collecting all of them and also because the world just needs more pictures of my cat. Hopefully, this will help someone who is stressing. Enjoy✌

 

 

 

2 Replies to “<—❤️ (p.s. extra cute cat photos at end of post)”

  1. Hey Ashley! Your post is the exact definition of how I feel about now at this time of the semester. I think you kind of help yourself with this idea of yours. It’s like knocking two birds with one stone. I can see that the frustration you feel about looking into the masters program helped you develop this idea for the project, and in a way, this project will help you seek answers for you masters program questions. So it’s great, really. And I also love the pictures of your cat. I know I always go back to the pics of my cat from the ones my mom sends me. She’s the same breed as yours :) You’ll get though this nightmare of a semester. You have before, so you’ll for sure succeed again!

  2. I can’t tell you how much your ideas resonated with me, especially this: “…I would like to say I handle it with grace and dignity but I don’t. At all. Ever.” Amen sista. I’m starting to call this month “no filter April” cause I can’t seem to find any grace under pressure.

    I love the idea of taking these grad school prompts and making them multimodal. So smart. And, really glad you’ve decided to apply to grad school. You will thrive in a grad program I have no doubt.

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