Hey Y'all!

So I don't really know what to write about this week because we didn't have class. In fact, I'm not even sure if this post is necessary because we are supposed to write about we we learned in class. Since we did not have class, I'm assuming that I can post about anything.......

Do y'all know what I have been doing all weekend? Absolutely nothing. I should be doing homework and studying for my 3 tests this week, but I have decided to put it al off as long as I can. I have filled my time with countless hours of Netflix and HBO Go. My new fixation is a show called The League because it cracks me up. Also this weekend, I have wanted to watch musicals so I put on Rent and Les Mis, and to satisfy my sappy, romantic side, Sabrina starring Harrison Ford came to the rescue. Oh, Harrison. You are one classy man.

One productive thing I did do this weekend was study for my bowling test. On our review sheet, I was so upset with the wording of something I read. THE GRAMMAR WAS TERRIBLE!
"Mark: Making either a spare nor strike in a frame.

Open Frame: A frame having neither a spare or strike."

These compliments were completely off, and the sentences weren't parallel. It drove me crazy trying to read and understand these two definitions. The person who wrote this needs to take MCOM 320.

For the week with no class, I wrote about whatever I wanted to and still ended up writing about grammar. What has this class done to me?!

Hey Y'all!

This is my evaluation for our team presentation. Unfortunately, for the groups last Tuesday, the sound didn't record, so Im evaluating based on Professor Middleton's comments and what I can see. So if this boring, I apologize beforehand.

List two things I did well
Individually, from what I can tell, I had great energy and I kept smiling. This drew the audience in and made me appealing to listen to and look at.

List one thing I can work on
I speak super fast and I play with my fingers when I get nervous. I need to slow it down and relax! My nerves definitely get to me.

List one thing my group did well
Because my team was very well prepared, we had smooth transitions through each person presenting, as well as through each slide.

List one thing my group can work on
We all spoke very fast. We didn't have a lot of time at all and we had a ton of information to get through. Also sometimes we looked at the slides rather than the audience so that lost connection between us and our listeners.

Hey y'all!

So my presentation went well!! This isn't my "presentation" post, but I do want to reflect on what I learned on Tuesday about presenting in general.
While watching other presentations, I really noticed how often people use filler words. The word "um" is a killer word. It is distracting and takes away from the quality of the message you are trying to give to your audience. Also, one thing I noticed, was word pronunciation. The most important thing before presenting is knowing your material and how things are pronounced. Mispronouncing a word that is not hard to say diminishes your credibility. The last thing that I took away being a "no" of presentations was reading off slides on a screen. I find it so important that a presenter is prepared with their detail. If you don't even know the material you are talking about, what were to happen if you had technical difficulties and you were left with no slides? KNOW YOUR MATERIAL! Professor Middleton shared a story about that, and it really left an impression on me. When you present, you almost should feel like you are talking with the audience rather than talking at them.
Some good things I liked about the presentations were the way people flowed. All three groups presented differently but all seemed to work on how they organized the flow of things. I liked that a lot. Secondly, I really liked how one group got the audience involved. It caught my attention and made me listen more intently to what they were saying.
My whole take-away from Tuesday was preparedness. Being prepared is key, and it really does make the difference.

Hey y'all!

One thing I love most about any teacher is humor. Professor Middleton really hits it on the nose when it comes to this. I am never bored in her class!! Even when I stop to text or do something else, I get distracted by HER! She is so entertaining to listen to and she alway tells us things that can be applied to our future.

I especially enjoyed her performances of the different things someone can do while they are presenting. Was I the only one that caught the comment about men keeping their hands out of their pockets??? I laughed so hard!! People tend to do weird things during speeches and presentations that we don't even catch ourselves doing. I say the phrase "in fact". My brother has told me over and over again to stop, so I have tried to get out of the habit. During speeches, I tend to sway. This week when I have to give my class presentation, I am going to focus on not doing anything that would distract the audience from what I am actually telling them about. People do NOT need another reason to stare at me because I'm already beautiful! All joking aside, I am going to try really hard to have better presentation skills by pronouncing my syllables and consonants and staying engaging to my class and not distracting them with useless filler words and/or movements.

Hey y'all!

There are three things in this world I despise: lizards, colored toilets, and grammar. Grammar doesn't come easy unless you memorize your rules, or you're a genius. But to be fair, words just aren't my thing. I say words like "y'all" and "boughten", and I didn't even know "boughten" wasn't a word until I was a senior in high school. You learn something new everyday....

In class this week, we had a grammar review. The TA's are great because I really learned a lot from their grammar knowledge. We took a pretest in preparation for the real test this weekend. To my surprise, I actually didn't do that bad! With some studying and practice, I should do quite well!

One thing I am really good at is figuring out what kind of sentences are simple, complex, compound, or compound-complex. I take pride in the fact I do well at recognizing those. Identifying these kind of sentences is all about knowing the difference between clauses and phrases. Is that a dependent clause or independent? Is that even a clause or is it a phrase? If you get that down, you are going to ace this section of the test! Know your sentence types, so you can avoid creating run-on sentences in business letters or proposals in the future.

I don't know about y'all, but I haven't taken the grammar test yet. I'm saving myself from agony until Monday morning. I am going to use my skills of knowing my sentence types to my advantage. But that alone will not get me the grade I want or need, so I am going to practice, practice, practice. While everyone is at their Super Bowl parties, I will be sitting on the couch practicing my grammar, rocking my Texans jersey. Good luck to everyone who hasn't taken the exam yet! Hopefully studying and going to class will be enough to prepare for this grammar test!