Reflective Post

Well, this semester has finally come to an end and even though I was a little bit skeptical of taking this class, it turned out not to be as bad as I thought it would. In the beginning, for me the most challenging aspect of this class was grasping the concept of rhetoric. I've never been that much of a critical thinker and honestly, I'm still not. I have just acquired some useful rhetorical skills in this class. The other most challenging aspect of the class was the concept of ideological criticism because I still don't understand it and I'm sure I never will :) What I found most useful was pentadic and generic criticism. I really love movies and these two concepts really helped me to view my favorite films from a rhetorical point of view, which is also knowledge I can incorporate in my life beyond this class. I watch films and music videos a little bit differently now and I can appreciate that because I like it when I learn things in school that I can actually use once I'm done with the class. My favorite part of the class was the people I got to meet, my friends that I shared this rhetorical experience with, and also the professor. She really did help me understand the material and was very patient. I liked how we had a choice in what we wanted to write about in our papers, and the way we wanted to write them. I also enjoyed the relaxed structure of the class. Finally, there is actually a personal issue that I am going through right now that I won't talk about; however there is a way that I can look at it through a rhetorical perspective. That will help me gain some insight on the situation from both points of view, but I still know where I stand in the situation.