The Home Stretch...

Community Check-In #3!

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HELLO! I hope you all are doing well and feeling great! Today is our final community check-in, so let's get down to business. . .

The Semester Rewind:

We are in the home strech of the semester - there are only 2 weeks left! This semester has been a busy whirlwind of events. In regards to this class, we have built such a great community and foundation throughout this semester. Ms. B has done a great job of making us feel welcomed, appreciated, and comfortable all year long. We are always encouraged to share our ideas and our class has become a safe space for all opinions. This has helped me reach my learning goals and encouraged me to participate in class because there hasn't been any pressure to have the "right" answers. Also, I think this contributes to our community in this course because everyone feels like they are allowed to share their ideas and learn new perspectives. There has been a positive environment that has been created in this course, and although we are not physically together, it has become a community nonetheless. Furthermore, I think starting class with an activity like media monday or journaling builds our community because we get to learn more about one another on a different level other than academics. This class is full of unique people - Swifties, music lovers, bookworms, and more!

From the first day, I felt welcome in this class! Ms. B is such a kind, empathetic professor. This is something that is important to me because it can be hard to create connections with your professors in college, especially when there are 100+ students in one lecture. Since our class was smaller and on Zoom, it was easy to feel heard. I tried to participate and share my thoughts when I thought necessary, and other days I would take on more of a listener role. In the past, it was a struggle for me to feel 100% engaged in online courses becauase they are more detached than in-person ones, but I tried my best and learned a lot about my personal learning style! Also, I learned a lot about how prominent feminist rhetoric is in our society. I was intrigued to take this class because I previously took Women in Literature, which is a course that has a feminist focus like this one. I am so glad that I decided to follow through with this because not only have I learned so much but I was lucky enough to have a great teacher and intelligent classmates this semester! Furthermore, this class has helped me expand my ePortfolio which is something I wanted to continue for academic and professional purposes.

The assignments we have had this semester have been very enjoyable, as well. I like how they have allowed us to have creative freedom while also being relevant to what we have learned. The assignments were non-traditional and it is something I appreciated very much. Creativity is an aspect of learning that is often forgotten in academic writing. I have written numerous academic papers in my college career, but this class allowed me to try new things and learn how to put our topics into real life situations.

All in all, I have enjoyed every minute of this class. Feminist Rhetoric is found all throughout our society, and this course has showed us that in all of the class examples we have seen. Through Ms. B, we have created a great environment and community that is welcoming and comfortable for all ideas, opinions, and classmates! I would take this course all over again if I could!

This semester has been great! Thank you for reading and keeping up with me!

Abigail Merzel