Category: McCoy 101 Fall 2017

Throughout the semester, I found that it was a joy to think of ideas to write about on the blog post, and for the possibility of others to respond to those thoughts I had decided to publish. Or to connect ideas in ways I never thought possible. I had never written on a blog post before, and was a bit anxious and confused on how to pursue this new challenge in front of me.

Coming up with the ideas was never a challenge, but forcing myself to delve deeper into the idea that I had focused on, to ‘unpack’ every thought that came to mind in a succinct way that would be sufficient for the blog requirements. There was some initial fumbling in the beginning, but with some helpful tips and guidance from Dr. McCoy, I was able to see what needed to be expanded upon and more explained in future posts.

I found that blogging was a great way for me to reflect on the discussions that we had each week in class, for I would write down any major or minor topics we might have discussed and I would then choose one that I wanted to write more about from my point of view. It was a better reflection than having a real assignment of writing a paper on each book that we read, for there was no real pressure to get a say about everything in class, when I could expand on it more in a blog post.

Each blog post that I wrote out and published was usually re-written about four times to be more effective and be easily understood so there would be no confusion. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, the point is that I tried my very best to crank out my thoughts for all to see. Many would find it cumbersome and annoying to find that they have to crank out 10 blog posts within the semester, but it wasn’t that hard of a task for me to accomplish. I enjoyed this prolonged assignment very much, and will miss posting a blog every week about a topic in class that was stuck in my noggin.

 

Through our readings and discussion of Clay’s Ark (Butler, 1984) and Zone One (Whitehead, 2011) I have noticed a common theme that seems to resonate with the subject matter of our course: the struggle to persevere in the face of adversity. Continue reading “Progress in the Face of Adversity”

I was browsing the blog, reading everyone’s work and trying to decide what I should include in my final post to this forum. I stumbled upon Kyra’s post. Her and I share something in common, we both seem to have procrastinated this assignment like no other. Which is very much unlike me to do, but here I am. I wondered why I took so long to crank these posts out and reach the required amount but I do think Kyra’s reasoning of feeling a slight anxiety over other peer’s seeing my thoughts and opinions played a role in my procrastination. I was spending far too much time worrying about if my thoughts would sound profound enough to share on the internet. Once I bit the bullet and did it, however, my fears were dissolved.

Continue reading “Procrastination at its Finest”

I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day about her classes and her professors. She attends a community college in my hometown. She said that her professors are constantly cancelling classes and that they assign books and tell students to just view the Sparknotes if they don’t feel like reading. My jaw dropped as she said this. I can’t imagine a professor ever acting in that manner at Geneseo. I told her that that was awful and she shrugged and said, “Yeah, but I get all A’s, so who cares?” Continue reading “SUNY Geneseo as a Place of True Education”

During our final class meeting, Dr. McCoy mentioned the importance of technology in our final course statement. I tried to imagine how we would have accomplished the same goal without the use of technology and realized how difficult it would have been. Continue reading “Technology in the Classroom”

The class identified many problems with medical voluntourism in our final collaborative project. One specific problem was with companies advertising volunteer trips as a necessity for a resume. Continue reading “Commercialization of Voluntourism”

In honor of finals week and the semester nearly coming to a close, I found myself almost sad that this would be my last ever blog post. It’s crazy to think that I actually feel sad about being done with school work, but these blog posts truly changed me as a student and as a writer. Continue reading “Over and Out”

Our discussion of Zulus emphasized the importance of order, specifically approaching tasks with a “step-by-step” mentality.  After the completion of our collective course statement, I cannot overstate the importance of going step-by-step and focusing on the process, rather than focusing on the end goal. Continue reading “Steps to Success”

Though I wrote a sort of closing statement in my last blog post, there are still things lingering in my brain. It’s so bittersweet that this is my last post. I really enjoyed writing these, as it allowed me to use my voice. Most of my English courses require large amounts of extremely formal writing,  understandably so, but I crave every opportunity where my writing can be more personal… More me.  Continue reading “Humanity… Where Do We Go From Here?”

As my last blog post (can’t believe I am writing that) I would like to reflect on a topic that has been discussed many times throughout this semester, Medical Voluntourism. As part of our class collaboration for the Final Course Statement, we addressed the issue of medical voluntourism and unpacked solutions to this matter. Volunteers are attending these trips for the wrong reasons of hoping to mix medical experience with traveling to different exotic locations.  Continue reading “Solutions to Medical Voluntourism”