Author: chadams0508

The other day we had our first in-class recall quiz covering chapters 1-3. The questions were all created by the students, which I thought was an amazing idea. By allowing the class to create the quiz questions, it forced us to look through the chapters, thus helping us retain the information even more. I also underestimated the quiz a bit because I was assuming that everyone would create very easy questions, but was sadly mistaken. The questions were quite insightful and made me think. I did not get a perfect score, but hopefully these blogs will help make those points up.

The topic our group chose for our in-class research assigment was the post 9/11 GI Bill. This bill isn’t neccessarily in jeapordy of being removed, but it it still a concern for many users due to some of the rules surrounding it. When Wanda brought up this topic as an option, I was all for it considering I served in the Air Force for eight years and is currently using the bill. I currently have no problems with the current bill because it covers my tuition, books, and cost of living. If you’re having problems paying for school, maybe you should consider this option?

After taking a few English and speech classes, one thing that stood out the most was speaking to the audience. Whenever you deliver a message, whether it’s through email or face to face, knowing who you are speaking to is one of the most important aspects. If you know your audience, you can manipulate your message to sound more appealing to them. Many times, myself included, students write papers or make speeches, without regard to who they are delivering the message to. Knowing your audience is just as important as the content of your paper. It doesn’t matter what you are saying to the audience if the audience doesn’t undertand the tone, meaning, or pathos of the message.

What is success? Is it how much money you have, cars you drive, or houses you own? Or maybe it’s your accomplishments throughout life? For whatever reason it is, we all have our own definition or perspective on what success is. I believe success is not defined by someone’s assets or how many things they could buy. Success is when you feel good about the things you are doing in life because you know it is making a difference in someone’s life, the economy, or the environment. I could be the poorest man in the world, but still be succesful at the same time. Many people strive for “success,” but know that their are many forms of success and that it can be achieved by all.

Something that I found interesting in chapter 2 was the power of you versus we. I never realized how effective and different a message could sound to the reciever by simply using you instead of we. I believe the reason for this is because people like to feel included. When I hear a message that speaks to me, i’m more engaged with message and are more likely to respond or react to it. If I hear we, I might think the message is just some vague message sent to everyone. The lesson i’m taking away from this is if I want to capture the receiver or audiences attention, make them feel included and using the word you is just one good way to accomplish that.

During the first day of class, we were split into groups of four and were tasked with building a tower using a strip of tape, spaghetti sticks, and a marshmallow. The purpose of the activity was to see how well we could communicate with each other. I thought this activity was helpful and insightful because it was the first day of class and no one knew each other yet. It was interesting to see how well each group would do considering the circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed the activity because even though we didn’t know each other within our group, we were able to communicate effectively enough to pull off the win!