RLJ 2/10/12

In this afternoon's lecture we had to learn about essays, which we were warned would be quite boring and may be quite stressful, but I didn't find it too stressful at all. Yes, it is very hard to make essays exciting, but what was said today makes sense to me, and most of it was stuff I already knew from my previous course, as we had to write a few essays on the first year of my old college course (I wrote an essay about Dory from Finding Nemo on my last course, and had to describe in the essay what made her such a likeable character).

We reflected on different styles of writing, and what they involve, including essays, case studies (or, as I wrote in my notes, "cake studies"), evaluations and the RLJs, and discussed how essays are a lot less personal and tend to be written in the 3rd person, the opposite applies for the other styles of writing.

In the middle of the lesson we had to split into teams for this quick quiz which we needed to identify the artists of different artworks that they have created. I was teamed up with a very friendly woman who has got a teenage daughter who's going on a school trip to Barcelona, but couldn't really remember her name. We got on very well, which is good, because I still don't know what to think of the other first years on my New Media course yet, and if I'd consider them as friends.

After break, I shared some Haribo Goldbears with the class, and Neil then went on to teach us about referencing, something I have done before with essays as well as other projects that involve researching, but is quite difficult to get used to, knowing from my previous experiences, but Neil did try to make it as clear as he could. Jane, my support, also mentioned that there is a Harvard Referencing guide in our student planners.

After the lesson I spoke with Jane, until my bus came, and reflected on the lesson and how I was coping and how I feel I was coping. Jane seems to think I’m getting on a lot better with the New Media students than I think I am, and that she thinks I’m doing very well in the lessons she supports me in. We also briefly spoke about how difficult I found it last week, as well as her son had managed to sell his motorbike for £300! Also, between us, we couldn’t remember the names of any of the art or photography students, but we will try to next week.