This week was a very stressful one in terms of schoolwork. The weather has still held out, being pretty moderate on campus. Because of this, I have been motivated to handle many tasks around campus and visit the library often. The most time consuming project that I have approached this week has been the CLS interview project. I looked up all of my professor's office hours so I could visit them for interviews. I handled all of my interviews and and took down as much of my professor's answers as I could in order to revert back to the information and integrate it into the three page summary. I learned a lot from these interviews. At first I was annoyed I had to travel all over campus to talk to my teachers. However, after handling the task, I realized the reasoning behind the project. I had not realized how smart my professors actually were until I talked to them one on one. I am an English major so I take ETS115 and WRT205, both are very writing intensive courses. Because of this, my professors are very articulate and wonderful thinkers. From asking them questions such as "what is the most important part of an essay?" and "what are the life advantages of being a good writer?" I learned a lot about a teacher's point of view on the world and their classes. They told me that writing is so important because if you can put your ideas down on paper, you can more easily reiterate them in words during conversation. My teachers explained to me that essays are not supposed to summarize the text or topic that you are studying. They are meant to argue a certain point of view about the subject. It is important to be very opinionated. However, the more opinionated you get, the more facts you need to back up your reasoning. Without backup, an argument holds no weight. My teachers also told me that a good essay starts with the introduction and thesis. If you do not present the beginning of an essay well, you will lose the reader. Therefore, if your body paragraphs are great, they will be less convincing if they are not opened up well in the introduction. After taking down all of this crucial information, I compiled it into the summary, and then worked on marking up the syllabi. Marking the syllabi was also a very useful task because it made me aware of what my teachers expect of me in their classes. I was updated on due dates I had not realized before, and protocol my teachers enforce. This project really opened my eyes to how teachers think and operate. Sometimes it is hard to get a read on teachers just from attending class. Speaking to them personally and developing a personal relationship gave me a new perspective on academic performance.

Week 2 Journal-Eric Cirangle