Assignment 26- Jasir Rahman- Efficiency and Reflection

I'm gonna start off with the evaluation of the effectiveness of coursework and then I'll move on to final thoughts regarding the class in general.

Let's start off on positives.  I think practicing tests as they were going to be taken was effective.  In the past, with other standardized tests, I've found that "practicing like you play" is great practice and leads to success.  I had no problem with this course being geared towards the AP test, especially in our shortened 2nd semester.  The path to mastering the AP test provided a lot of personal insight (which I'll discuss later) but I also think that it changed the way I looked at pieces of writing for the better.  I found that my evaluation of nuances within pieces of writing, my own synthesis of ideas, and the speed at which I write improved throughout the course.  I think our group evaluation and scoring of writing pieces, while long, was necessary to get a perspective on what the AP graders will see, and as a result, my writing style changed, I think for the better.  I think Socratic Seminars to an extent produced a similar result, although not as effectively.  

Now for the stuff that I personally think may have detracted from the efficiency of the course.  I think the Visual Literacy assignments, while enjoyable, are not integrated seamlessly into the course.  I do, however, acknowledge that they are to be done on our own time, meaning that they don't take away from class in their creation.  I think the extent to which they "take away" from the general instruction of the course is very limited, and they make us utilize skills such as public speaking that will be more important for us in the future.  The emphasis on no-no words was essentially dropped during semester 2, and I don't necessarily think the amount of no-no words matters all that much.  It is about their integration into an essay.  I remember scoring consistently high on essays where I used a plethora of no-no words, however, I got my point across.  I understand that the aim is to put a spotlight on those words because they can end up hindering the expression of the author, but I don't think that placing a set cap of 20 no-no words is the way to do it.  Is it the easiest way?  Probably.  But I think the understanding that a limited vocabulary can reduce the efficiency with which one gets their message across kind of gets lost in the counting of words.  My final grievance is with the use of the textbook during our first semester.  While I do think that understanding the various structures of argumentation such as Toulmin's will help with forming well-warranted arguments, I think the emphasis on rhetorical devices takes away from the bigger picture.  The best analysis essays I read were not those that limited themselves to strict evaluations of those instances in which an author used diction, imagery, syntax, or the various appeals, but those that evaluated general ideas.  The idea-driven thesis is king.  However, time after time I read essays that were very limited in their commentary and evaluation of the text because they limited what they could talk about.  I think a lot of people get stuck on these ideas because it's what they go over in class, so they feel like they can only discuss those aspects of writing.  But there is so much more to unpack.  I think an emphasis on the idea-driven thesis (that admittedly, you advised using during the AP test) earlier on would reap much more developed essays that look at ideas because it is within developing those ideas that effective writers such as those that we look at end up using those rhetorical devices.  You can look at each element presented within the essay, and evaluate its effectiveness by using those rhetorical devices as evidence, thus reaping a much more effective essay.  I (especially in this last year) have come to appreciate good storytelling and well-formed argumentation.  I hope it didn't come off as my trying to tell you how to write a good analysis essay (because I ought to defer to your experience), but in my limited experience, I think those that looked at ideas had much more developed essays.  Watch me write all that about how to write an analysis essay and not pass the AP test...

Well, that was ranty... speaking of ranty!  ME!  IN YOUR CLASS! 

To all of my classmates and to you Mr. Logsdon, my bad on talking so much during discussions.  As I said I appreciate good storytelling and tightly written narratives and arguments, and I love to look at well-realized essays and those that are not so developed and look at what they did right and wrong.  I just rambled because I had a lot on my mind, and I tried to get it under control a little bit, but I think it was to no avail (feel free to prove me wrong on that).  Thanks for putting up with that during my time in your class.  Overall, it was a fun time I'm gonna miss it next year.  The class content and my own interactions within the class gave me a lot to think about.