Reflection on English 111

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Phillip Sanders
ENG 11-63
Reflection on English 111
11-29-2009

Though challenging at times, English 111 is a very necessary class. I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, as well as developed many new techniques to improve my writing. At times I felt as though my instructor was too tough because were assigned multiple assignments week after week. When it is all said and done, the class is what you make it. As a freshman, I now have a better understanding of what college will be like thanks to this class.
Some assignments were annoying and felt pointless at the times they were assigned. Now looking back I see that they did serve their purpose. At first glance it appeared as though we were just constantly given busy work, and were not really being taught. I realize now that I was stuck on the traditional teaching methods I was raised on. The instructor was by no means easy, he made sure that we were without a doubt prepared for what’s ahead of us in college.
The number one thing I disliked about this was that so much of your success required extension online use. I would be ok with submitting my assignments online, but having to constantly check e-mail for new assignments and new announcements became a pain in the ass. I don’t think it is fair for me to sign up for a class intended for in class instruction and have to still go home and spend half of my week online. I feel like I may as well have taken an online, or hybrid class being as that is what they are offered for. This is not being said out of spite either, it just really created a problem for me. The due dates were constantly posted, in some cases only a day or two before the due date, so if you did not hop online and catch it on time you get a zero. I do not see the fairness in that. To future students: If you don’t want to spend three hours a week in class followed by three hours a week online do not take this course because I assure you it will become a headache at some point in your semester.
What I did like about this class was that the instructor didn’t treat in class time like a pure writing class, but he used videos (some informative, and suck plain pointless), audios, and other methods of teaching as well which helped to keep the class from getting too boring. Nobody wants to write for three hours straight, and I believe he recognized that and taught us writing tools in other ways.
All in all Paul Gasparo is a great instructor who utilizes many unique teaching methods to keep the class interesting. Personally I’d prefer a bit more of the conventional methods over the extensive online style. Taking this class will aid in your preparation for future college classes, as well as your career. You will need a lot of time to devote to work outside of class. If you work fall time, or a lot of part time hours, I wouldn’t recommend taking this class; for you will most likely find yourself overwhelmed by the constant work thrown at you with no breaks in between. I believe if I’am not mistaken we had a new writing assignment every week(sometimes more than and, as well as multiple reading assignments online. On another note, If you do take this class be sure to invest in plenty of printer paper and ink cartridges, because you will be printing a minimum of ten pages a week. To each his own; if you like constant utilization of the internet and find the methods three suits your interests, then don’t let me discourage you. You will love this class. For the rest of us with jobs and busy schedules who prefer to spend more of our three hours spent in class on work instead of scrambling at home, then I urge you to take this to consideration. Things will be thrown online with no warning (often in an unorganized fashion), and will be expected to be turned in on time. So bring your laptop to work, don’t forget your Blackberrys, and good luck in English 111. Like I said , if you can get past my problem with the online methods, Paul is a great teacher and you will definitely learn a lot from him.

Diagnostic Essay Revised

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Phillip Sanders
ENG 111 – 63
Diagnostic Essay Revised
December 1, 2009

Have you ever regret the moment you stepped foot onto a new job? Maybe you were motivated by good pay, or maybe you were fooled by the front put on by management as to appear friendly. Well I’m guilty of both, and even until this day I wish I’d never stepped foot through those doors. Dealing with the work environment was a job in itself; from the filthy, dusty, warehouse floors, to the strong smell of the chocolate powder which filled hundreds of bins. On top of that not only was the work tedious, but the work was constant with very limited breaks. I was prepared to deal with those minor issues, but the management was extremely rude and overly demanding. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect to get paid for nothing; I’m a hard worker, to a reasonable extent, but this job seemed as though it was destined to be my worst job experience ever.

When I heard I would be working in a chocolate factory it never occurred to me that the strong smell of raw chocolate would bleed through every wall in the building. Bin after bin of the powdered chocolate was all over the building, so there was no escaping it. While being transferred, chocolate would often fall all over the floor leaving trails in every hall. I’m sure you can guess who ended up cleaning it up. I think one of the worst jobs I was given was to clean the ovens. There were chunks of chocolate build up from lack of cleaning. Scraping and chipping chunk after chunk quickly became tedious, and I was overwhelmed with frustration. I’m not a neat freak, but I’d be lying if I said that the factory’s lack of cleanliness didn’t play a vital role in my opinion towards the job.

At times I wondered if I were the only one who found this job unbearable. Was I just lazy? Or was this job really as much of a nightmare as it seemed? You would have to be a robot to not be sore by the end of the day. For example: I was instructed to package bags of chocolate candy a specific way as they were dispensed from a machine. Mind you the machine was dispensing the candy so fast that by the time I was finished taping a box, packs of candy were piled up the size of a mountain when I turned back around. The funny thing is that this was the easy task though; so you can imagine why this job was no fun at all.
There was an instance where I was told by a manager to wash trays. In the midst of doing as I was told I was approached by the owner with, “you need to be doing more than washing fucking trays all day!” As you can imagine, I carelessly lost it at that point. That turned out to not be the best move as I was then placed on janitorial duties. While being pushed beyond my limit I remained humble, though there was no reward. The nonsense went on all through the week uninterrupted. It became evident that good days were nonexistent, causing me to hate the job more each day.

Despite all of the negatives, I could’ve hung around had management not been so obnoxious. They were constantly complaining, breathing down my neck, and rushing me. Though they knew how physically demanding the job was, they still always expected more production. I also hated that I was told to do work outside of my job description whenever they decided to pick on me. The most frustrating thing was that no matter how hard I worked, my breaks were always cut short. Though I was hardly pleased with management, I realized that jerks are going to be jerks, and I would never win that battle.

I conclude by saying that this job was in all aspects a dreadful work experience. The work conditions were unbearable, the assignments were unnecessarily painful, and the management was as bad as it gets. What could I do? Doug Firebaugh said “Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.” With all I had been through, I’m able to say with confidence that this job would’ve never done that.

Diagnostic Essay

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Phillip Sanders
ENG 111 – 63
Diagnostic Essay: Option 2
August 26, 2009

Have you ever felt deep regret from the moment you stepped foot onto a new job? I have,
and until this day it still ranks as the worst job I’ve ever had. Dealing with the work environment was a job in itself; from the filthy, dusty, warehouse floors, to the strong smell of
the chocolate powder which filled hundreds of bins. On top of that not only was the work tedious,
but the work was constant with very limited breaks. Money had to be made so I was prepared
to deal with those minor issues, but the management was extremely rude, and overly
demanding. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect to get paid for nothing; I’m a hard worker to a
reasonable extent, but this job seemed as though it was destined to be my worst job experience
ever.

When I heard I would be working in a chocolate factory it never occurred to me that the
strong smell of raw chocolate would bleed through every wall in the building. Bin after bin of the
powdered chocolate was all over the building so there was no escaping it. While being
transferred, chocolate would often fall all over the floor leaving trails in every hall; which I had to
clean up sometimes by the way. Worst of all, when I cleaned the ovens I noticed chunks of
chocolate build up from lack of cleaning. You can imagine what that must have looked like. All in
all I’d say the factory’s lack of cleanliness played a vital role in my opinion towards the job.

Working this job could’ve nearly been a good representation of slavery. My tasks were a
pure nightmare. For example: I was instructed to package bags of chocolate candy a specific way
as they were dispensed from a machine. This machine was dispensing the candy so fast that by
the time I was finished taping a box, candy was piled up the size of a mountain when I turned
back around. The funny thing is that this was the easy task; so you can imagine why this job as
no fun at all. Day after day I was instructed to do things more and more insane; pushing me to
hate the job more each day.

Despite all of the negatives, I could’ve hung around had management not been so
obnoxious. They were constantly complaining, breathing down my neck, and rushing me.
Though they knew how physically demanding the job was, they still always expected more
production. I was told to do janitorial work outside of my job description whenever they decided
to pick on me. The most frustrating thing was that no matter how hard I worked, my reaks were always cut short. Eventually I realized a jerk is going to be a jerk; and accepted the
fact that I would never win that battle.

All in all this was an unforgettably dreadful work experience. Work conditions were
unbearable; assignments were unnecessarily painful, and the management was as bad as it gets.
When told by a manager to wash trays, I was approached by the owner with, “you need to be
doing more than washing fucking trays all day!” As you can imagine, I carelessly lost it at that
point. With all I had been through, my mind was already set on the fact that this was worst job ever.