Eng 111-63Review of Class
11/30/09
Reflections about English 111 Course
This semester at Tidewater Community College (TCC) I attended an evening English 111 class that was taught by Paul Gasparo. The class for the most part was interesting and even fun at points, but that is not why I am recommending it. I am recommending this course because the information is useful and the instructor and resources were helpful and for the most part well coordinated. If the work is done on time and turned in correctly a student will not only have an excellent chance of passing this course; they will learn many important things about writing and formatting papers at a college level.
Paul Gasparo, the professor I had for my course, is someone I think many people could get along well with because he a sense of humor and a sympathetic, balanced attitude toward his students. He is fresh out of school himself and under thirty from what the class could gather. Throughout the semester he related some experiences from his school days that were for the most part amusing and some of them were extremely inspiring. Paul is an adjunct professor. There were a few nights when he appeared to be tired, underfed, or under prepared, but what adjunct professor isn’t one or all three of these at some point in time. On the nights when he was tired, he could still lecture coherently. Having a sympathetic professor, such as Gasparo, can be encouraging but it is not necessary. The students got out of the class what they put in, which is true in almost every learning situation.
The students that attended this night class all seemed to have full plates in and out of school. Many of the students worked more than twenty hours a week on top of attending school. There were a few single parents that seemed to have a hard time staying up with the pace of the assignments but I think that they made it through the course. I believe that the majority of the people who stayed through the whole semester had a very good chance of passing the course especially with the help provided by the course materials and texts we had.
Our main text for the course was The Little, Brown Essential Handbook 6th ed. by Jane E. Aaron. I enjoyed every reading that the we were assigned. Other materials in the course were readings selected by Gasparo, which were posted on Blackboard or handed out in class. Some of these readings were great, others not so much. All were informative and Gasparo had a point he was trying to get across in all of them.
One group of readings was centered on Bruce Springsteen. We watched a documentary about the production of the album Born to Run and Springsteen’s writing process. We also read his lyrics, which I did not care for at all. It seemed to me that the points Gasparo was trying to make from observations of the lyrics were sublimated or possibly invalidated by the effect that the profanity in the lyrics had on certain students in the class. If you are a Springsteen fan this is the course for you. If the reader is similar to me and has heard his name seldomly in the conversation of their peers, they could be bored out of their mind on the nights these readings are discussed in class. There was something to be learned from these materials because they let the audience inside a writing process that produced a product which was successful. However, I think there are other widely appealing authors that could be examined by the class that are more nuetral in the moral quality of their content.
Another Group of materials used in the course were TCC Writing Center handouts. All of these handouts were necessary and helpful. There were a few large assignments towards the latter part of the semester that the writing center handouts helped me to understand. A few important ones were about MLA formatting, MLA citations, and other good writing skills like outlining and structuring a research paper properly. All of the assignments had handouts that were applicable to them and that explained them in coordination with Gasparo’s lectures.
There were ten major assignments during our 16 week course as well as some extra credit opportunities. All of the assignments could be handled by someone fresh out of high school or someone who is returning to school after being out of an academic environment for a while. This course states that computer literacy is required. I agree that this is an absolute necessity for this course. Some of the assignments would be unnecessarily time consuming if a student were not comfortable with the technological aspects that are involved.
One assignment that I particularly enjoyed was the large research argument paper at the end of the semester. I learned so much throughout the process of planning, researching, and writing it. This is one assignment that work can be started on early and I highly recommend doing so. A couple of the other assignments fed into this one so doing them in order and on time is a must for the full benefit to be had out of this section of the course.
I really enjoyed this course and I know that I will use everything that I have learned in it. I haven’t taken many classes at TCC yet, since this is my first semester, so my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. I recommend this course for its informative content and because Gasparo is a capable instructor who is willing to assist his students to succeed.
Paul Gasparo, the professor I had for my course, is someone I think many people could get along well with because he a sense of humor and a sympathetic, balanced attitude toward his students. He is fresh out of school himself and under thirty from what the class could gather. Throughout the semester he related some experiences from his school days that were for the most part amusing and some of them were extremely inspiring. Paul is an adjunct professor. There were a few nights when he appeared to be tired, underfed, or under prepared, but what adjunct professor isn’t one or all three of these at some point in time. On the nights when he was tired, he could still lecture coherently. Having a sympathetic professor, such as Gasparo, can be encouraging but it is not necessary. The students got out of the class what they put in, which is true in almost every learning situation.
The students that attended this night class all seemed to have full plates in and out of school. Many of the students worked more than twenty hours a week on top of attending school. There were a few single parents that seemed to have a hard time staying up with the pace of the assignments but I think that they made it through the course. I believe that the majority of the people who stayed through the whole semester had a very good chance of passing the course especially with the help provided by the course materials and texts we had.
Our main text for the course was The Little, Brown Essential Handbook 6th ed. by Jane E. Aaron. I enjoyed every reading that the we were assigned. Other materials in the course were readings selected by Gasparo, which were posted on Blackboard or handed out in class. Some of these readings were great, others not so much. All were informative and Gasparo had a point he was trying to get across in all of them.
One group of readings was centered on Bruce Springsteen. We watched a documentary about the production of the album Born to Run and Springsteen’s writing process. We also read his lyrics, which I did not care for at all. It seemed to me that the points Gasparo was trying to make from observations of the lyrics were sublimated or possibly invalidated by the effect that the profanity in the lyrics had on certain students in the class. If you are a Springsteen fan this is the course for you. If the reader is similar to me and has heard his name seldomly in the conversation of their peers, they could be bored out of their mind on the nights these readings are discussed in class. There was something to be learned from these materials because they let the audience inside a writing process that produced a product which was successful. However, I think there are other widely appealing authors that could be examined by the class that are more nuetral in the moral quality of their content.
Another Group of materials used in the course were TCC Writing Center handouts. All of these handouts were necessary and helpful. There were a few large assignments towards the latter part of the semester that the writing center handouts helped me to understand. A few important ones were about MLA formatting, MLA citations, and other good writing skills like outlining and structuring a research paper properly. All of the assignments had handouts that were applicable to them and that explained them in coordination with Gasparo’s lectures.
There were ten major assignments during our 16 week course as well as some extra credit opportunities. All of the assignments could be handled by someone fresh out of high school or someone who is returning to school after being out of an academic environment for a while. This course states that computer literacy is required. I agree that this is an absolute necessity for this course. Some of the assignments would be unnecessarily time consuming if a student were not comfortable with the technological aspects that are involved.
One assignment that I particularly enjoyed was the large research argument paper at the end of the semester. I learned so much throughout the process of planning, researching, and writing it. This is one assignment that work can be started on early and I highly recommend doing so. A couple of the other assignments fed into this one so doing them in order and on time is a must for the full benefit to be had out of this section of the course.
I really enjoyed this course and I know that I will use everything that I have learned in it. I haven’t taken many classes at TCC yet, since this is my first semester, so my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. I recommend this course for its informative content and because Gasparo is a capable instructor who is willing to assist his students to succeed.
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