Treks & Texts
Williams, Fall 2023
Todd Redman
Final Exam: Self-Assessment
- How are you different
today than you were in August?
From August to Today, I have
discovered a new way of communicating. I
used to speak and write in a roundabout, ‘fluff’ sort of way. Through practicing interviews for positions
and internships, and creating intentional writing in all of my classes, I have
made my communication and writing more concise and effective. I’ve also found that this concise mindset has
transcended into my thought processes, where I stop putting extra fluff and too
many ideas and instead concentrate on the main points for what I want to think
about. This new skill helps me become a
more effective student and individual.
- In the third-person voice,
and as objectively as possible, describe yourself as a student this
semester. What were your strengths
and weaknesses? Describe the
quality of your work.
Todd Redman has been an excellent
student this semester. It was not easy
for him to keep up with essay writing and other responses and readings between
four writing-intensive courses. However,
patience and dedication were helpful virtues that Todd exemplified this
semester. Working ahead, attending every
single one of his classes when possible, and keeping a fine record of all
current and upcoming assignments were all ways Todd prepared for the academic
semester. While these strengths are
impressive, Todd has a weakness in procrastination. Even though he managed to get all his work in
on time, sometimes he would wait until the day of to complete an assignment,
simply because he didn’t feel the pressure to do it sooner. However, understanding how much time an assignment
needs to be completed was important for Todd to schedule in the necessary time to
be successful, despite procrastination.
Todd therefore has been an excellent student this semester, with of
course some room for improvement.
- How well, and in what ways,
does your academic performance represent you?
My desire to learn and perform
well is reflected in my academic performance.
I’ve always been an eager student who wanted to get something out of his
college education. However, academic performance
only goes so far to represent a person.
My classes such as Treks and Texts and Argumentation and Debate have
given me new perspectives on the world and on my own identity and actions. A mark in a gradebook cannot truly tell what
a student got out of a class. Due to
insightful and meaningful classes such as the aforementioned, I feel more
mindful and collected as a person.
- How has our class—Treks
& Texts—contributed to, or affected, your semester?
Treks and Texts has given me cool
new experiences which not only change me as a person but give me permanent
memories. As I mentioned in my final
presentation, the Mary Oliver poems gave me new insight into how nature is
beautiful and even a spiritual place. I’m
starting to look at the world around me with this new lens, and it’s nice. For a while, I’ve been having difficulty
getting back into writing. When I was in
elementary school, I wanted to be an author, but as the years went on, it
become more of a hopeful dream, with my time consumed by other things. However, because I was compelled to do multiple
journals in this class, I have begun to remember how much I like writing, and
how much I miss the good old days where I used to write stories almost all the
time. I’m hoping that this end of
semester does not mark the end of my journaling, and I’ll continue to write
about my life through the rest of college.
- What gave you the most
satisfaction, or sense of fulfillment, this semester (in our class, in
another class, or outside of classes)?
I felt a sense of fulfillment when
I received my grades. It may seem
superficial, but an A does reflect high-quality work. I put plenty of thought and time into my
writing and other assignments, so I like to see a quantitative reflection of
how I did. I also felt a sense of
fulfillment from the new skills and perspectives I’d obtained this
semester. Among all of my classes, I learned
to be a better writer and a better person, and I feel fulfilled knowing that I
got not only good marks but something internal to take away from this semester.
- What shocked or surprised
you the most this semester (in our class, in another class, or outside of
classes)?
What shocked me the most this
semester is how quickly college is going for me. I just realized that I have only a year and a
semester left before college is gone, done for good! These are the key years that will be cherished
and missed in my adulthood. Questions
such as “have I done enough” or “am I ready to enter the workforce” spin in my
head. It’s shocking because it all came
so quickly, or at least it feels like it came fast.
- What frustrated or
irritated you the most this semester (in our class, in another class, or
outside of classes)?
What’s frustrated me the most this
semester is myself. I continue to procrastinate,
and not engage in personal stories or journals outside of class. I want to be on time and I want to create
more personal writings. However, due to
feeling tired and sometimes lack of motivation, I seem to not be as effective
as I want to be. It irritates me that I
have the potential to be better, but looking back through the semester, I don’t
see too much improvement in this regard.
- List three things that you
would like me to remember about you.
Great question! Since you have numerous students over the
years, you don’t have all the memory space in the world to remember everything
about each of us (I know I wouldn’t if I was a professor).
Firstly, I would like you to
remember that I appreciated Mary Oliver.
Even as a writer, I never was the biggest fan of poetry. I like how in Owls and Other Fantasies, she
created short poems with detail and meaning, and I really had fun reading and analyzing
them. Thanks for introducing me to a
good author!
Secondly, I would like you to remember
our time driving to the Fort Worth Nature Center and back. I feel that we had some interesting and meaningful
conversations about nature and about school and about the evolving modern world. I enjoyed also seeing the sights such as that
one historical road and the Trinity river.
Finally, I want you to remember
that I had an enjoyable and memorable experience in Treks & Texts. Memorable is a key word here, because in the
future when I tell my kids about classes I took in college, this will be one of
the first that pop to my mind (but I won’t remember or be fond of Honors
Biology).
- List three things you
learned this semester.
Although this is partially aforementioned, three things I
have learned this semester is:
-
The importance of intentional writing.
-
The importance of being open to new things.
-
The ability to stay on top of classes a bit more with preparation
and organization.
The Treks & Texts Honors Pledge
(check the statements that most accurately reflect your work this semester)
I, _Todd Redman__,
being of sound mind and able body, do hereby solemnly swear that, as an
honorable Honors student:
___YES__ I have read all of the assigned readings
________ I have read 75% of the assigned readings
________I have read less than 75% of the assigned readings
___YES__ I always came fully prepared for class
________ I came prepared to class 75% of the time
________I came prepared to class less than 75% of the time
YES_____ During this semester I have improved my critical
and interpretive skills by reading
all of the assigned texts
________During the semester my critical and interpretative
skills stayed about the same
__YES I have written and posted all of the required blogs in
a timely fashion
________ I have written and posted all of the required blogs
but not necessarily in a timely manner
________ I have written and posted 75% of the required blogs,
and usually not in a timely manner
________ I have gained either critical self-awareness from
writing these blogs
_YES__More or less, I like blogging
________More or less, I hate blogging
_YES__ I have actively and frequently contributed to class
discussions
________ I have sometimes contributed to class discussions
________ I have not contributed a lot to class discussions,
but I listened attentively
__YES_ I have gained critical insight by participating in
these class discussions
________I sometimes did not pay attention to the class
discussions
_YES__ I have not allowed absences to interfere with the
completion of all required class work
_YES___ I continually put forth my best effort in completing
all of the writing assignments and
class activities
________ I mostly put forth my best effort in completing all
of the writing assignments and class
activities
________ I put forth my best effort in my presentations
_YES__ I mostly put forth my best effort in my presentations
__YES__ I demonstrated the same level of commitment, energy,
and engagement in this class as
I did
in my other classes
________ I put forth what I thought was enough effort to get
a decent grade
__YES__ I have gained a better understanding and
appreciation of environmental literature
__YES__ I have gained a much greater appreciation of, and
critical awareness of, the environment
__YES___ I am confident that I can generally discuss the both
the genre of environmental
literature and the serious issues affecting the environment
___YES__ I am confident that I will remember several of the
assigned readings and discussions
________ I might remember some of the readings and
discussions
__YES_ This course was worthwhile and contributed much to my
education
________ This course was sort of worthwhile and in some ways
contributed to my education
___YES___ As an honorable Honors student, I have honestly
assessed my academic performance
in checking the above boxes.
Circle one of the following qualifiers that best reflects
your overall work: In assessing my work in Treks and Texts this semester, I
declare that my academic performance was
1)
Superior!!!
2)
Excellent
3)
Good
4)
Not-So-Bad
5)
Mediocre
6)
Not-So-Good
7)
Should-Have-Been–Better
Signed: ____Todd
Redman_________
P.S.
Thank you for creating this class and carrying it out with
such passion. To quote what you said
once, I think it is good that we have a class that “gets students outside” in
such a technological age. I appreciated
the many experiences and readings I had in this class, and I have many memories
from class (and I can’t say that about all my classes)!
