This semester, I’m most looking forward to improving my writing overall. I actually took a class very similar to this last year at Binghamton University, and the biggest problem I had was with procrastination. I look forward to being able to manage my time better and write more cohesive essays, as my essays are usually a jumble of my thoughts due to me doing them at the last second. I hope to walk out of this class a much better writer, as I’m not a very good one right now.
An obstacle I can foresee in doing well is not being able to speak to the Professor in person as well as the writing center, because even though it is online, it isn’t the same for me. Another obstacle I foresee is my ADHD, as it especially gives me problems in English when starting an essay. This was another major problem in my writing class last year, as it would take me an entire day of overthinking to simply finish the first paragraph of an essay.
As an instructor, it would be really helpful to me and probably my peers as well if you (Professor Gordon) could help us with managing our time effectively, as well as diversifying our vocabulary when writing. I have trouble with using different words in writing (such as synonyms), as is probably easy to tell from this blog post. I can imagine that a lot of my peers have issues similar to this.
I plan on continuing to do my best on these blog posts to help my writing, and once we get our official prompt for our first major essay, I plan to divvy my time up over the month so I can create a well written essay. I will continue to do everything on the weekly schedule in between classes and reply to others’ blog posts.
Thank you for your time.
Seth Santiago
I agree with what you said in your first paragraph, concerning procrastination. I’m sure many students like ourselves also struggle with heavy procrastination problems, that are only exacerbated through online classes. While the immense freedom at home is satisfying, it can be dangerous if we don’t keep ourselves in check.
I can definitely relate with the struggles of trying to do well in class with a mental disorder. I also have a friend with ADHD, and he also struggles with starting out an essay. Like Lorenzo said, it’s also really tempting to distract yourself because of online classes. What I do is put do not disturb on all of my social media (discord, facebook, ETC) so I can’t get tempted with any messages that might pop up. I wouldn’t respond to those messages in a real classroom, so I disable notifications during class zoom calls as well. It’s important to separate personal stuff and class duties when you’re doing distance learning. Hopefully this will help you out.
Hi Seth,
I actually don’t see a problem with your vocabularly in this post, but I will be glad to point out repetitions when they pop up over the course of our work together. I have broken down the essays into smaller, hopefully more manageable assignments leading up to the final due dates to help everyone manage the natural tendancy to procrastinate (which I share).
In terms of speaking to me and the writing center staff, I too feel that online is not quite as good as in-person, but I am committed to doing all I can to make our communication as clear as possible. What I need from you is to let me know, either after class in the zoom room, or by email, if you need some additional help on a particular concept or assignment.