When we were first given this assignment, I was a bit shocked. The idea of writing 1500 words about an ad -a single picture- terrified me. However, now that I'm 2/3 done with the paper, I'm realizing it's not quite as difficult as I thought it would be. That, in combination with these blogs, are a good introduction to college writing. This essay is manageable enough to be the first major assignment, but is still definitely a college assignment. It has purpose and does not seem to be randomly chosen. The topic of the essay ties in with the class discussion material.
This class in and of itself is definitely not what I was expecting from my first college English class; this is a good thing. I was expecting this class to resemble my high school english classes, not realizing just how focused on writing it would be; I imagined another semester of perpetual reading. I'm glad someone realized you can write about more than books. It's much less time consuming to write about an ad than it is a 200 page book, even if it is more difficult. This is college; difficult is to be expected. At this level, writing becomes a fine art, like learning difficult pieces of music. Actual teachers are useless; the writing style hopefully has been developed by this point. Higher level writing isn't something that can really be taught; it must be developed. Teachers become mentors, providing tips on how to refine writing style and transition to college level writing. We need practice in order to utilize these tips, and these blogs as well as the rhetoric essay are excellent opportunities to practice.
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