Can't Believe it's Over!
As I finish this summer semester, I am filled with a rush of different emotions. Feelings of relief, accomplishment, anxiety, and sadness are just a few of the emotions that I have been dealing with. I have a huge feeling of accomplishment to finish the Multi-genre project and the CD 315 summer class, but I also have feelings of anxiety and sadness. The ending of this class only means one thing; that summer is officially over. The end of the summer session is where my feelings of sadness and anxiety are coming from. It’s so hard to believe that this class and summer is over!!! There are only a few more days until we begin the busy fall season. I am not going to stress about the busy fall semester yet. All I am going to do for the next week or so is allow myself to relax and have fun. The fall semester will begin early enough so there is no reason for me to worry about it. (Even though worrying is a created art in my family and in me!) For the next week, I will do nothing but fun stuff. I’m not sure what I will do, but I know I can think of something!! I advise everyone else to do the same as me. Relax and have fun that is.

Outcomes
As I mentioned earlier, I have a huge feeling of accomplishment by completing this project and class. I am really proud of everything that I have created in my weblog. I worked really hard to create every piece and to make them as realistic as I could. And if I do say so myself, I think that most of the pieces sound like they were actually written by the characters that I created. This is one of the most difficult projects that I have ever had to create, probable the most difficult. But, I did it! I wasn’t always sure about what the MRP was or what it was suppose to accomplish, but I understand completely now. Through the completion of this assignment, I have learned a great deal. I have learned more about Central Auditory Processing Disorders, computers, and, most importantly, I have gained a deeper appreciation for the people that I will be helping in the future. I know that the pieces that we created were fictional, but the situations and feelings within them are very real to some people. I have always been a very sympathic person, but this assignment has given me a since of the real lives that people with disorders endure. Not only have I gained empathy, but I have also gained strength. One of the things that I have been terrified about is that my emotions will get in the way of my job as an SLP in the future. I have been scared to death that I would carry my sympathic emotions into the clinic with me. I can’t be sure that this project will help me in clinic, but it has helped me realize that even though people have problems, they still have good lives. We are just working to make their lives a little easier and better. I can’t begin to explain how much that I have learned about the computer within this short, summer semester. Upon my entrance into this class, I knew nothing about computers. NOTHING! Now, I am able to do much more on the computer than I realized possible. The most important thing that I learned in this semester is that eventually assignments will come together. Honestly, I was really confused about the MRP until the very last minute. I don’t think that I fully understood it until about last week. If I had another chance to complete these assignments I know I could do a much better job, but I think I did really well considering this type of project was completely new to me. Another thing that I am really proud of is that I took this class in the summer. The decision to take this class in the summer was a difficult one, but I am so glad that I took it now. I can’t imagine taking this class in the fall. My decision to take this class in the summer makes me feel like one of the smartest people around!

Advice for future CD-315 patrons
1. Try your best to understand the project as much as you can before you begin or choose your essential question.
2. Never type anything onto your blog! Trust me, this will save you time, energy, and frustration.
3. Don’t procrastinate anything. There is too much to do for you to start procrastinating assignments.
4. Trust your work. Peer reviews can be intimidating, but remember that if you worked hard on a genre, it will show.
5. Try not to get overwhelmed with the assignment lists. They look long and difficult, but once you get started, you will realize that they look worse than they are.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!! If you are having difficulty or have a question, more than likely someone else will encounter the same problems at some point in the semester.
7. Don’t worry! I promise, it will all come together!

I am so glad that we only have one more week of class. I can’t believe that we have already finished 9 weeks. It’s even harder to believe that the fall semester is just a few weeks away. Where did the summer go? I really don’t have that much to report this week. I haven’t really done much of anything. I took my two finals for Anatomy this week. The tests were on Tuesday and Wednesday, so the first part of my week was consumed with studying. It didn’t do much good though, because I ended up getting a B in the class. I had to get a low A on the final to keep my A in the class and I guess I was unable to do that because she emailed my B to me on Thursday. I really hate that I got a B, but I’m glad that I have finally completed the class. I spent the end of my week recuperating from all the studying. And, as usual, I also worked all weekend. I didn’t go anywhere or do anything fun this weekend, but I rented a really good movie. “A Walk to Remember” is the name of the movie that I rented. It’s the movie with Mandy Moore in it and it was wonderful. I was really surprised that the movie was as good as it was because she’s a singer, not an actress. I really recommend it to anyone. It was one of the best movies that I have seen in a really long time. I cried from the middle of the movie until the end, without stopping. I think that is why I thought it was so wonderful because I love a movie that gives you a good cry. My boyfriend thinks that I crazy for liking sad movies, but I think it’s a girl thing.

Besides all that, I also did a little bit of CD homework. “Little bit” is the operative term in the sentence, because that’s all I did. I did all of the required assignments but I really needed to do much more than I did. I had intended to do a lot of revisions this week, but I didn’t get around to it. Now, I wish I had started on the revisions because I have a lot of work to do to complete the MRP at the end of next week. This week I conducted some peer reviews of Lekei, Mary, and Emily’s work from last week, wrote and published (or will publish) my reflection section, and organized my blog site.

This week the peer revisions were a little different than they have been in the past. Most of the information that I was reviewing was personal information so I didn’t have much to say to help improve their work. I thought that because the information was personal they would include and exclude all the information that they wanted in the sections and it would be useless for me to tell them to put something into their section that they didn’t want to include. But it was still nice to look at read their work.

The next thing that I did for CD this week was the reflection section. This was a little bit more difficult to complete. It has been a really long time since I have done a reflection section to an assignment so I was a little rusty about what to include in the content, process and premise section. I tried to find a “What is Reflection?” posting on the weblog, but I couldn’t find one so I decided to wing it. I tried to include everything that I usually do but I’m not sure if I did or not. I usually do really well on the reflection sections of assignments, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember how I usually do the reflections. I think that I included everything that I needed and I wrote everything that came to my mind, so, hopefully, I did ok.

Next, I organized my weblog. This was a very tedious job. It took me forever to get all the codes punched in correctly. Completing this section is my favorite thing that I have learned during this semester. It may not be the most useful, considering that I learned a lot about things that are directly connected to being an SLP, but it’s the funniest. I feel so smart and important when I punch a code in and a link pops up. I don’t know why I get so excited, but I do. I think it’s because I never knew anything at all about computers before I took this class. Now, I know how easy it is to make links, and blogs. I even know how to chat on-line. I know it sounds pathetic, but I’ve never done that before this class. I really feel much more confident on the computer now. I know that we haven’t went over half of the things that you are capable of on the computer, but now I think that I can do anything that I feel necessary. At least, when it comes to weblinks, blogs, and even webpages. I know we haven’t done a webpage, but how hard could it be? I think that as long as I had a little set of codes in front of me, I could create one, and as soon as I get a chance I’m going to try. The only problem that I have is where to get the codes, but I’m sure you can search the Internet and get a whole list of HTML codes. I know that it is a very simple task to type in a code from a sheet of paper, but I really feel awesome because of this newfound knowledge. I didn’t know about this sheet of codes before taking this class. I have heard about HTML but I didn’t know that I would be able to utilize this code if I saw a sheet of paper about it. This has been a long, trying semester, but I am really glad that I took the class. I have really gained a lot of knowledge in this class. I just wonder what’s in store for me in the fall. There is a lot of work involved in this class; I don’t know how everyone is going to be able to handle this class in the fall semester. I’m really, really glad that I decided to take it in the summer.

I am very close to completing my MRP, but I’ve got a lot of work to do before it’s ready to turn in next week. Revisions to individual pieces are all that I have to do, but that will take a long time. I’m going to quit writing this weekly journal so that I will have time to get it all finished.

I hope you have a wonderful trip this week!!

What a day!! I have just had the craziest experience ever. As you probable know by know, I work at a gas station. Two of the days that I work each week is Sat. and Sun. I work the early shift and go in at 4:00 am. This morning, as I was driving to work, my car started acting like it was going to quit. I was just about out of gas!! Thankfully, I made it to work because if my car was stopped in the middle of the road at 4:00 in the morning I would be scared to death!! I barely made it to the store that I work at. After I got to work, I went along with my day, doing all the things that I do every Sunday morning: cooking breakfast, cleaning, washing dishes, waiting on customers, etc. When the 2nd shift girl came in at 2:00 to relieve me, I told her all about my early morning fiasco. I jokingly told her that I hoped that I could get my car going long enough to get to the pumps. At least, I thought I was joking!! When I went out to leave, I couldn’t get my car started!! My car was completely dry of gas and it wasn’t going to go anywhere. How ironic!!! I work at a gas station and I spent my entire morning at one and couldn’t get home cause I was out of gas. We don’t have any gasoline jugs at work, so I had to walk back and forth through the parking lot with a 20oz. Aquafina bottle to get enough gas in my car for it to start!! Crazy, crazy, crazy. I didn’t let this silly little situation ruin my day. It was a tad bit embarrassing and it really shows my stupidity, but it is too crazy to get all aggravated. (It was even more embarrassing when my boyfriend’s dad pulled up to get gas as I was filling my water bottle up! He thinks I’m a total ditz!)

Other than my situation today, I have had a pretty good week. I didn’t do much of anything! I completed my CD requirements for the week, but that was it. I had intentions of continuing revising my genres, but I just didn’t get around to. I had two anatomy tests that took up most of my week. That class is so time consuming. I don’t think it would be that bad in the fall or spring semester, but I’m glad that I’m getting it over with now. I’ve dreaded it so badly that I put it off as long as I could, but since this is senior year, I thought I should go ahead and take it in the summer. I have one more busy week with the anatomy class, and then I’m finished. Thank god!! We have our finals on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was really hoping for an A in anatomy, but I’m not sure if I’m going to pull that off or not. Right now, I have a very high B, but we had a test on Thursday that I feel really good about, so I’m not sure what I have going into the finals. I either have a really high B or a low A. If I do well on the finals, I will pull an A, but I think it is going to be really hard. I’m afraid that the finals will pull be lower than the grade that I have now. That wouldn’t be good at all!! Enough about Anatomy!

This week I revised Lekei, Emily, and Mary’s latest genres and I created my Preface, Acknowledgements, and about the author section of my own genre. As far as time goes, this week was that bad at all. I spent way less time completing the assignments for this week than I did for any other week in this CD semester. I should have utilized the free time to revise genres, start wring reflections, or my pull together article, but I didn’t. Instead, I used my CD free time to study longer for my Anatomy class. I still have a lot of things that I need to do to improve my MRP. I know exactly what needs to be done; I just haven’t done any of it. I have another version of my newsletter genre finished, but I haven’t added it into my blog yet. All I have to do is put it up on the web, and I haven’t. That is what you call lazy! I have plans to do all my revisions by the end of the week. I really hope that I stick to this because if I don’t, I’m going to be really busy during the last week of class. I also have to complete my assignment to tie all the genres together. Again, I know exactly what I’m going to do; I just haven’t done it yet. For my pull together assignment, I am going to do a webliography from Megan’s, a fictional child with CAPD, point of view. I think that Megan’s webliography will be a really good way to tie everything together. I also need to look into my essential question situation. I am going to look at my assignments and see if I could change a genre to incorporate my question a little better. This is the major concern that I have had throughout this project. I have had major issues with the MRP. My issues involved my understanding of the MRP concept. I knew what the MRP was and how to do individual assignments, but I was confused about putting it all together. By the time that I figured it out, I had already completed most of my genres. Therefore, I am in serious need of fixing my entire MRP project. I don’t think that I will need a lot of changes, just a few minor ones. I really hope to be successful in completing this task!!

As I mentioned earlier, I revised some of my peers’ genres this week. I went to the class page and clicked on my group’s name and checked out the genres that were recently added to their blogs. After looking at their genres, I clicked on the add comment hyperlink and typed my ideas into the text box. Then, I saved my comments onto their blogs. It wasn’t so simple for the PowerPoint genres. Emily and Mary had PowerPoint projects that were posted to their blogs this week. All I had to do to view their PowerPoint genres was save their work to a disk, unhook and rehook wires to change computers, pull up their work off the disk, switch computers again, then place my comments onto their blog. As usual, viewing my groups’ genre assignments really help to generate my own ideas. I really love to see how everyone completes their genres. I also enjoy seeing their fictional characters come to life. Again, sometimes the reviews are difficult because you cannot give the information in a personal manner, but I don’t think that anyone has been offended due to review comments. I know that I haven’t been. I really look forward to see how everyone ends up pulling their stories together. I think that viewing everyone’s end product will be really interesting to see.

Another thing that I did for CD this week is my preface, acknowledgements, and about the author assignments for the MRP. The content of these assignments were very straightforward, so they were not that difficult to complete. All I had to do for each of these assignments was include some personal information in a narrative format. Some of the previous assignments in this class were helpful for completing this assignment. The web evaluation assignments were particularly helpful for understanding what each area of this assignment was for. All three of this week’s assignments, preface, acknowledgements, and about the author, are to inform the reader about the information that they are viewing. They are used so that the viewers will be able to evaluate the information contained in my site. The viewers of my blog and MRP need to be familiar with my background to see if I am qualified to assist them with questions that they might have. These assignments also provide the viewer with information about why the information is there and any assistance that was provided to the author of the MRP. All of these assignments help give the viewer a better understanding of the author and material that they are looking at. I was very brief and to the point in the content that I included in these assignments. (At least, I tried to be. Sometimes, I just go on and on without realizing it.) I thought it would be best to be brief so that the viewers could quickly review my information to decide if they are interesting in my MRP. I figured that if someone was trying to evaluate my MRP that they would want to briefly look at the information about the author and their creditenials and quickly move onto the more substantial material.

I am still learning about the Internet and myself as the semester comes to an end. I am constantly using methods that I learned in this class when I am just surfing the net for fun. I really look more deeply at the type of information included when I visit a new web page. For example, I was looking on the Internet for people who reupholster couches for my mom the other day. I kept evaluating the different sites that I found to attempt to make sure that I was on a site that belonged to a professional, rather than one that belonged to a crook. When it comes to giving money on the Internet, (Which we haven’t yet.), I don’t think that the Internet assessments are extremely effective, but it gives me a place to start (At least I can weed some people out.). I am really excited to see how much this class helps save me time for future assignments. One thing that I am recently learning about myself is something that I mentioned earlier. I have a tendency to ramble on and on when I am writing. This is an area that I really need to work on. I definitely haven’t stopped because I feel like I have rambled in this journal, but it is something that I am going to try to keep an eye on. I don’t know why and when I got into this habit, but I have done it for a really long time. I guess that my writing really reflects certain parts of my personality because I do the same thing when I talk. I think that my rambling is one reason that I was constantly amazed by Mary’s reflections last semester. They were always short and sweet…and to the point. I kept wondering how she could reflect the same thoughts and ideas that I was having, but without 2/3 of the words that were included in mine. I think that I get this rambling from the quantity over quality idea. I know that it is always better to have quality, but I seem to insist on the quantity. I am not going to write anymore because I am doing it again. See, I really need to work on condensing my thoughts into shorter sentences and paragraphs!!!

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, I didn’t go to Kings Island last Monday. I decided that it would be best to stay home and study for Anatomy. Maybe, I will get to do something really fun sometime after next week, when Anatomy is over. Yeah!