Peer Review Recap, Part 2

For our second Peer Review, we took a look at each other’s Ancient Style and Youtube video essays.

What I really liked about this peer review was the star system that Professor Krause required us to use. The reason I liked this system so much was because it gave me a guideline of things that I should be paying attention to. When we did our first peer review, I had a pretty good idea of the things that I should be looking for, but I didn’t have a clear description and I was worried that maybe I missed some things that could’ve really helped my partners. However, with the star system, I felt very confident looking for the things that I needed to find, and I hope that I did a good job critiquing their work. My partners did an excellent job leaving my feedback, and I feel like I can put together a much better paper because of it.

As an outside reader, I let my mom take a look at my essay. I asked her what things really made sense to her in my video, and what things could I do a better job explaining. She read my essay, and sent me her feedback via email. This is what she said:

Clearly describes different elements of literacy used in the commercial.  Makes you examine more closely how messages are to be perceived. I liked the commercial you chose, but you could have talked more about it in your essay.

I think maybe because she is my mom she was being a little lenient, but she did make a few of the same points that some of my classmates did so clearly those things I need to work on. It was nice to have an outsider reader take a look at my essay, because it really showed me how well I was explaining the material. If she would’ve read it, and then said something like, “I had no idea what you were talking about,” I would’ve felt pretty bad because that means that I am not explaining myself enough and my essay isn’t clear. She did ask a lot of questions about ornaments and tropes, and things that you wouldn’t expect someone who isn’t an English Major to completely understand, but that’s to be expected.

Blog Post 6: Considering Some Youtube Commercials

The first video i’m considering is one of the new Old Spice commercials. I thought this commercial used hyperboles, metaphors and many literary devices and it was also pretty funny!

I’m also considering this bud light commercial as well. What I liked about this video as it gives animals human-like qualities and it also uses cliche and different literary devices.

There are a few others that I am considering also. However, I think these two would be pretty cool to write a paper about!

Blog Post 5: Ancient Style

What I found most interesting about the ancient style reading was how punctuation has changed throughout time. Some of the information about the tropes I already knew about, but when I read I was reading it throughout the article, it seemed like it was new information. One of the things the article talked about was personification, which I had some experience with in the past, but I absorbed a lot of new information. A lot of the terms in the article I already knew, but I didn’t know where they came from. For example, I learned that climax is the greek word for ladder. Overall, I took in a lot of new information that will prove useful in the future for me as an English major. I found the reading a little bit difficult, but after a few glances, it was very informative.

Peer Review Recap, Part 1

The peer review process was very helpful for me and I got some really good advice. My partners showed me that I really needed to talk more about my project and my new technology, and I also got a lot of good advice about the things I didn’t do so well in my paper. The only part that I didn’t really like about the peer review process was that some of the people in my group did not post their essay’s on time, and a few of my partners did not leave feedback. I was afraid that because I didn’t have a paper to grade for these people, that maybe that would bring down my peer reviewing marks. After going back and reading my paper again (after the advice from my partners), I think that they did a really good job covering what I could do better. Tracey really went through and found a lot of things that I could improve (I really appreciated that, Tracey), and it made it easier for me to go back and pick out some things that I could have done better with. I did my best finding things that the people in my group could improve on, and I hope that I helped them write a better paper.

Blog Post Four: My Writing Technology

For my writing technology, I chose to use popcorn as a new way to write. I was debating between a whole bunch of leafs and popcorn, but I eventually chose to use popcorn because bringing leafs into the house would make a huge mess and it is just a terrible idea. My cat made this project almost impossible (I eventually had to lock him in another room), but after 2 bags of popcorn and the shunning of my pet, I think I successfully created a new writing technology. I hope everyone likes it!

Blog Post Three: My Writing Technologies

A writing technology is the way in which a person can communicate the written word. These technologies have evolved throughout time, and started even before the alphabet was created. People in the past have used stone and chisels, and something as simple as that has developed over time into all of the technologies we now have today. We use pencils, pens, paint, and so many different ways to communicate the written word. All of these ways to communicate we tend to take for granted now that we have the internet, e-mail, instant messaging programs, facebook, and other electronic technologies, but they are just as useful and just as important.

On a daily basis, I use the internet as my primary way to communicate with my friends, peers, professors, and family. I also use text messaging as a way to communicate to these people, and I think that is quickly becoming my most useful writing technology. Although there are some people that think that verbal communication is the efficient way of communication, like Socrates, I think that these other technologies have become just as important, if not more important. They allow us to communicate with people we cannot see on a daily basis, and they keep us in contact with people we would otherwise lose touch with. When I was younger, the only way I could talk to my family that didn’t live nearby was to either call them (which cost so much money on the phone bill) or to send them a letter in the mail. I would become discouraged as a child because it would take so long to receive a reply. Text messaging and internet messaging, in my opinion, has quickly taken the place of pens, pencils, and the other technologies we once used. Even though I use pens, pencils, paint, and other simple things like that, text messaging and internet messaging have made my interpersonal communications so much more convenient. I tend to avoid hand-writing things as much as possible because I can get things done so much faster now that all of these technologies are at my finger tips.

Blog Post Two: What is Style?

There are different writing styles that writers use to address a specific audience of readers. A style is something that will help you express yourself while you’re writing. Every writer has a different style, which reflects their personality and their voice. I also know that there are different types of styles for writing based on what you’re writing about or who you’re writing to. For example, your style will be different in a letter written to a friend as compared to a letter to a government official, or a person of higher authority. Your style could also change depending on what your purpose for writing is. If you’re writing a professional memo, there are different guidelines that you have to follow in writing a memo. There are many different scenarios in which you have to change your style of writing.

Blog Post One: Getting Started

Hello, my name is Matthew Koester and I am a student at Eastern Michigan University. I have created this blog to keep track of my assignments for my Writing, Style, and Technology class and to use this site as a portfolio for my work. I plan to graduate Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Language, Literature, and Writing, and I would like to eventually become a high school english teacher. This is the first time I’ve created a blog for myself, but it seems self-explanatory and it seems like it will be a fantastic way to experience my first online class at Eastern Michigan University.

Random Things About Me

I am 22 years old, and this is my fourth year in college (second at EMU).

I graduated from Henry Ford Community College with an Associates in Arts.  

I love sports. The Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Pistons are the two professional teams I cheer for.   

I attended Romulus High School in Romulus, MI.I look forward to using wordpress.com this semester and experiencing english class in an entirely different setting.