Reflections of an Adolescent Near Fifty Year Old Male
In January of this year I came to the College of Coastal Georgia with as I have said before, a bit of apprehension. Added to this was one of my classes that I faced, English Composition. I remembered hearing about this type of boring class before. I was going to have to sit and write papers, get up in front of people and speak and do all kinds of things that I really disliked. This first day in class I felt a little bit of relief as it was a small class. My next worry would be the teacher, oh crap this is college, it’s not teacher you moron, its Doctor or Professor. Ok, my next worry would be my Doctor or Professor, surely, they were going to be a very formal person with little to no sense of humor. Well after meting the Professor. Doctor McGinnis, I was happy to find I was wrong there as well. Hey maybe this class would not be so bad. Then Dr. McGinnis laid out the plan for the semester, very jovially, I’ll admit going over the projects we would be expected to complete. Yeah, got to admit I was not feeling her enthusiasm on the subject. I really considered dropping out. I had not idea what I was doing here, I’m a 47-year-old man that barely made it out of high school. Had I lost my mind coming to this college with these kids like I belonged there? Luckily for me, I have this one trait, I hate to lose and I damn sure hate to quit. So, I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a go.
The first project, Rhetoric and Its effect on me, was up first. On this one I had to learn two things, one – what the devil was Rhetoric and two – using the pie method. I really thought I had bombed this. But day by day we worked on our skills, a piece at a time. During this we had our first peer review, this Dr. McGinnis was making a habit out of dragging me away, possibly sometimes kicking and screaming, from my comfort zone. But I completed the peer review and on doing so found out that my peers are great people. Then it came time for Project 2- and my first reaction was…”a what cast?1?” But as with project one we worked on it day by day. Without realizing it I had become more comfortable with Rhetoric, college and my peers. I was also forced, yes, the horror I was forced, to become somewhat comfortable with getting up in front of people and talking. Project 3 came along, and I remember wondering “How are we going to find offensive stuff in commercials?” Well thank you Carl Jr’s, if not for your commercials, wow. Of course, in seeing the different commercials that my peers picked, and the ones Dr. McGinnis introduced us to, I learned to evaluate the commercials in a way that I had not thought of before. But all through this not only was I learning, but I was growing. Growing to be comfortable around people and growing through the learning. To the point that when project four came up, the re-mix (I always want to say that like the old Max Headroom..the re…remix, no?, nobody remembers?) Anyway, with this project I found something happening that had not happened with he others. I was looking forward to this project, I didn’t want Dr. McGinnis to test me, I was going to test me. And I have to say that I felt good about my work. In fact, the only thing I did not like in my experience this semester was the closing of the school. I really enjoyed two classes this semester. Dr. Bleil’s American Identities because I love history and I enjoyed his teaching and “eventually” Dr. McGinnis’s English Composition because she was able to teach in such a way that the mountains became speed bumps. I don’t know how long my educational career will be, but I can say that Dr. McGinnis has given me several tools to help it become a success. Thank You.