Advice to Spring 08 classes

Hello, to all incoming English 304 students. The English 304 class is centered around a client based project. The client based project is designed to help smaller businesses around the area update their business in the ever changing world of business. The class provides the business with new ways to get its product or name out to more people or in a more effective way. The particular project that we were part of was creating a new website for the Habitat Humanities in Anderson.

The English 304 class is going to be a good experience for you and you should be thankful that you were lucky enough to get the best professor possible. Angie was the nicest and most helpful professor that I have had during my time here at Clemson. She was truly dedicated to do everything in her power to help her students succeed. Anyway, to succeed in this class you just simply need to be disciplined and get your assignments done on time. That really is about all there is to the class, but it helps to be creative and have some knowledge of computers and design.

The only thing that may cause some problems will be communication among your group. You will be required to work in a group and then also being working as a class to complete the project. In order to complete this good communication will be essential. If you are able to do this I think you will thoroughly enjoy the class and I know you will enjoy having Angie as a professor.

Free Topic

This week I would like to take the opportunity to talk about the upcoming exam week. Exam week is always a time that will test your time management skills to the limit. You have so much work to get done and only a small time frame to do so. When I think about it, though, the one positive thing you can take out of it is that you are almost done and that Christmas Break is almost here. So if you are feeling down about your exams just keep your eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

Another challenge that I have to deal is the fact that my 21st Birthday is on the first Saturday of exams. I know that it is going to be extremely hard to focus on my exam that I have on Saturday night due to the fact that it will be my 21st Birthday, which I will only get to experience once in my lifetime. I will hopefully have the focus to complete my neccessary work and then be able to enjoy my birthday after my exam on Saturday. Well, with all that being said, I look forward to the Christmas Break and The End of finals week.

Blog Topic Due Nov. 11

One of the good examples of the dual coding theory is the TV commercials advertising Apple's new i-phone. I feel like these comercials do a realy good job of combining the pleasing visual aspects with interesting music in order to cover both of the aspects of how we process information.

I also think a good example of using the dual coding thoery is the hp commercials. In the particular commercials that I am refering to they have someone talking or narrating the commercial, while using only the persons hands to provide visuals. These commercials do a good job of connecting both of the visual and language aspects so that our brain can process and store the information.

Group Work Reflection

When ever you are working in a group there are always challenges that must be handled in order for the group to be successful. Our initial group was unable to get on the same page because of some communication problems and because of this the group was dismantled. This was a prime example of some problems that you will face when performing group work.

However, with all that behind us the new group that was formed has been able to keep communication open and has been much more successful. I believe that because of the initial experience our group fully understood what had to be done and what we needed to do in order to keep the group moving in a positive manner.

The new group after we all got on the same page flowed and worked well together. Everybody brings something different to the group and we were all able to contribute in a positive way. The tasks were assigned and everybody completed their particular portions of the project on time. It was a big help to have people that excelled in different things because it made our group more diverse and gave us more ideas.

Overall it has been good getting the experience to work as a group, and I feel our group worked well together.

Free Blog

I already had my interview and reflected on it in last weeks blog. So, for this week I will take the opportunity to discuss a topic that has been debated in the NFL. If you keep up with the NFL you realize that the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts are the only 2 teams still undefeated in the NFL. They are scheduled to meet each other next week. All of the analists have been debating the matchup and whether or not the team that wins this matchup will be able to go undefeated. There has only been one team in NFL history to accomplish an perfect season and that was the 72 Dolphins. I personaly am pulling for the Indianapolis Colts to win this matchup, however I do not believe there will be an undefeated team this season in the NFL. This is such a hard thing to accomplish, as you can see from history, because there are just so many things that are against you. I believe that late in a season, once the team has clinched the playoffs and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, that they will start to rest their starters. Anyway this is just something I have been thinging about all week so thought I would put it out there.

Interview Reflection

I really enjoyed the chance to do a mock interview. I felt that it gave me some valuable experience on how to handle the interviewing process when I graduate and start interviewing for real jobs.

I also think I learned a few things from the mock interviews. I learned how to correctly format my resume and cover letter. I already knew the basics for writing resumes and cover letters, but there were a few things with the arranging and formating that I needed to do differently.

I already knew how to dress properly for interviews, and to bring a copy of your resume and cover letter. I also knew some potential questions that may be asked during an interview. I really do not recall anything that I would do differently besides maybe preparing a little more on some of the potential questions. I also may have looked some more into the company history and what they would have to offer. This would have allowed me to have more questions and learn more about the company

Presentations Week

This week we gave our presentations. I gave my presentation on one of my favorite and one of the greatest bands of all time, the Beatles. One presentation that caught my eye was Sal's presentation on masonry.

I thought that Sal's topic was interesting and I feel like the Powerpoint was well designed. I really enjoyed seeing the pictures of some of his work and felt like he did good job of explaining the topic. I found it hard to stay focused on some of the topics, but Sal's presentation keep my attention throughout the whole presentation.