Final Exam Questionnaire - Todd Redman

 

Treks & Texts

Williams, Fall 2023

Todd Redman

Final Exam: Self-Assessment

 

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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).

 

9. 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)!