When I first was looking through the courses I was going to take this spring semester, I chose a regular English class. It was not until my friend introduced me to the idea of a hybrid class that I even considered taking one. I have never taken an online class before in general, but the idea of more independent work was what drew me in. I like the freedom I associate with a class that’s part online. On the one side, I feel I will have the flexibility that I want within my schedule when I get to work from home. On the other side, I like the fact that with a hybrid course there is also a typical classroom setting where I get to interact with other students as well – it’s not totally digital. What I feel constitutes “good participation” in a hybrid class would be a strong contribution to the online community that will be formed on our blog, whether that be through commenting on others’ posts with true interest or through putting care and effort into the posts an individual creates on their own.

I personally read a lot of different blogs and reviews on my own time, or other similar forms of casual writing online. Similar to the one we will create in class, I like the collective ideas and opinions that can be shared on such sites. Social media is a big promoter of this kind of writing, where new or interesting sites can be shared across all of the available platforms. I also like to read the news to keep up on current events, such as the NY Times or Yahoo News, but this is only every so often.

When reading for academic or analytical purposes, I like to read off of a hard copy. I feel I am able to absorb the content better when I can read a physical paper and annotate it. I like to highlight interesting parts of a paper so I can go back to it once I finish, and further review those key points. I also like to take little notes on the side of the paper if I want to shoot in a thought or opinion before I forget it. When I read for more casual purposes, I prefer to read online as to not waste paper and because it is often easier. I like the fact that when reading online, you also have access to a search engine if the piece has something you would like to further investigate in that moment. Like I mentioned before, the writing can also be shared across social media if someone believes it may be of interest to their friends or family.

My earliest memory of writing is in my diary as a young child. I have many journals and notebooks that I have kept over the years, filled with stories, real-life drama, thoughts, or drawings that I had going through my mind at the time. It’s cute to look back on and I am glad I recorded my innermost workings as a child. It’s a mini documentation of my life growing up. Every time I come across something I wrote in my childhood, I get overwhelmed by old memories and emotions, and I love it.

Something I did not expect that I found when I write online was that I feel less pressure to be perfect. When writing essays or hard copy assignments, I can tend to be obsessive with wording, formatting, and “flow”. But on blogs or other sorts, writing seems to come much easier to me. I couldn’t tell you why.

One instance where I felt proud of a piece I composed and shared online was a video I made for my club in high school. Although it is not a typical essay or report, I helped in writing the script, editing the video, and organizing the event and I felt a big sense of accomplishment when I finally posted the video to my clubs’ social media account. I loved being able to share my work with my friends and family.

I really enjoy writing when I do not feel my usual pressure to make it perfect. When I can just speak my mind and my thoughts run easily across the screen, it really makes me happy to write. I like expressing my feelings or thoughts on certain things I am passionate about and when other people get to see it, even better. I feel that I will get the same effect on our class blog, and I am excited to start it!