What did you learn this semester? And everything you did RIGHT!
Holy crap, y'all worked your butt off this semester! Like seriously. You should be proud of everything you accomplished because you were faced with challenge after challenge and made it on the other side stronger writers and critical thinkers.
At the end of the semester, it can be very easy to look back over the semester and ruminate on the things you wish you had changed: deadlines you wish you had met, revisions you could have made, all the procrastination.
Don't do that. The semester is almost over. No time to second guess. You have to push through, cross the finish line, and then take a much needed break. I would prefer for you to look back on what you accomplished this semester.
For your final online lecture, I wanted to give you a quick breakdown of what you did RIGHT.
You said "Thank you". Some of you said it to me, but more importantly, you said it to each each other. Often, and publicly on Twitter. Gratitude is one of the ways to create a positive working environment.
You made arrangements to study together. I didn't do that, you did. You created small groups where people with a common goal (this class) could come together so you wouldn't be so lost. I commend those who organized those meet ups, but also anyone who was brave enough to attend.
You maneuvered Twitter, bringing the platform back to its roots: When Twitter began many years ago, it was a relatively small space for people to get together to have short conversations. They pitched jokes, posted songs they liked, reviewed movies, and made observations. The adage was "Facebook makes you despise your friends while Twitter makes strangers your friends." Twitter has changed since then. People talk less and yell more. Our class Twitter account has engaged in more interesting conversations this year than my regular account. Reading your Tweets has been a lot of fun. Also, some of you have run into each other on campus and recognized each other from your profile photo pictures. You made digital friends which turned into IRL friends.
You advocated for yourselves. You were not intimidated by the prospect of sticking up for your work. Being in college means looking out for yourself now, and you have done that well. Also, in the Peer Review evaluations, you showed how seriously you take your work, and how you expect others to do the same.
You worked well in groups. Many of you commented that you would love to work with your teammates again. Well, you can. You have developed a professional relationship. Get their contact info so you can keep in touch after the class is over. Ask them to help you with future projects in other classes.
You took accountability for yourselves. Sometimes we drop the ball. That happens. You accepted your missteps and learned to recover from them. Then you applied what you learned to make sure it did not happen again.
You learned to communicate professionally. Emails included salutations, complete sentences and farewells. Your emails were professional and cordial.
You communicated in a supportive way. When your fellow students were freaking out on Twitter about all the work they had to do, you sent them encouraging messages. When they asked for feedback, you provided it. When they had questions, you answered them.
You didn't complain. At least not publicly. I appreciate that you used our public space to talk about ideas instead of displeasure. You didn't whine. You should give yourself a hand for that.
You were attentive in conferences. While video conferences were bumpy at first, you took notes, asked thoughtful questions, and accepted the feedback which was given to you.
You repeatedly engaged with the materials. You talked about genre, subgenres, informative, persuasive, pathos. You learned our key terms and used them.
Take a moment and recognize all you have accomplished before all your other classes overwhelm you with Finals.
Because it is the end of the semester, you're likely feeling that overwhelming urge the run out of Tallahassee waving your arms over your head while also wishing to staple yourself to a hammock on Landis Green because you never ever want to leave FSU. You might be freaking out over finals while also hoping to God you can just fall into a deep sleep and wake up when the finals are over, and hopefully your animated sleeping body took the final for you. Because of all these emotions, you might find it hard to have perspective on what you learned in this class.
Luckily, I am here to remind you.
You learned how to be creators instead of consumers.
Me, you, and everyone else in the world consumes content. And right now, many people don’t like the content which they are consuming. Facebook hacks, fake news, lack of diversity in Hollywood, lack of diversity in publishing: these are issues which you are aware of and as college students have the ability to change.
Use what you learned in this class to write your story in a way that no one can look away from it and make it easy for people to find. Reject the garbage people are handing to you.
"I refuse to strengthen [the ways of the past] by repeating them” – Helene Cixous.
Cixous is a French philosopher whose essay "The Laugh of the Medusa" encourages people (primarily women, but it can be applied to all humans) to not wait around for permission to tell their story.
Self-publishing is an act of resistance. Don’t wait around for others to write your story for you.
Use all the tools of self-publishing that you learned in this class to make others pay attention.
How to spot a good story
Even the best fantasy novels are based on elements of truth. George RR Martin researched medieval histories in order to craft the world of Westeros, and The Wall was inspired by the real-life military college The Citadel in South Carolina. He had to conduct a lot of research in order to create his fantasy world, and he was doing this back in the 80s before the Internet. He sat in libraries and read books.
Our class required that you use databases to find the most accurate information, but at the same time you had to assess the information to make sure it worked for your research question and also if it was making reasonable assessments. The research paper asked you to utilize all of your critical thinking skills.
Being a strong critical thinker will make you better consumers of content. You will be able to review the information presented to you and point out faulty research, logical fallacies, and manipulative tactics. Does it have ethos or is it laying on pathos to try to distract you?
When you move on to future classes not only will you know where to go to research your papers, but also you will know how to sift through the information to determine what is accurate and what is garbage.
How to be heard
For P3 you had to manage two social media accounts in order to reach your audience. Why? Even if you know your audience, they might not all engage with the same social media platforms. For a short time posting something on Facebook was the best way to reach people, however people are turning away from Facebook. With Twitter, not everyone enjoys the short text format, and also post-election many users found Twitter to be overwhelming with news, bickering, and trolls. And since the addition of Insta-stories and the most recent frustrating update, people are abandoning Snapchat. When you navigate multiple social media platforms, you are more likely to reach more people. You’ve learned not to put all your eggs in one basket. Also, you’ve learned that not all the same tactics work for all social media.
How to navigate digital spaces
By the time you upload your last post, you will have built:
A Wix page
two social media accounts
Two visual compositions (advertisements)
And you learned how to navigate Canvas, Google Hangout, Word templates, the FSU databases, and all the other tools our class utilized to make sure you received the information you needed to complete this course. We are an online course, which means you had to learn not only the content for this class, but also how to get to the content for this class. All of these skills can be added to a resume, but also you should be proud of what all you have accomplished beyond just completing the projects.
Time Management
As many of you noted in your reflections, these projects can’t be completed in one evening before the deadline, which is why each step was broken into parts. Even with the smaller steps, you still had to make time to complete the work. Good essays don’t magically appear after a Monster-fueled fever dream at 2am. Writing is research, planning, outlining, typing the words, and then revising, revising, and revising. You had to make time for that. And you learned how to do that while balancing your other classes and responsibilities.
Also, you had to make time for the class. Online classes push you to be self-motivated because you are not receiving multiple reminders about assignments, a physical space to ask questions, or the accountability of appearing in a classroom multiple times a week.
This is our last lecture. We don’t have a final. This is our goodbye. I’ve taken you as far as I can. I can only hope that I have raised your standards for what you consider good writing. You might not ever Tweet again, but -- if you must -- you know how. If you are put in charge of a public project or a philanthropy, you will know how to best promote it.
Some of you may wonder when you can delete these social media accounts. I ask that you wait until grades are posted and finalized. Students in the past have kept their accounts. Other students have left their accounts abandoned. I ask that you don't do that. But WAIT UNTIL GRADES ARE FINALIZED before taking an action.
Just because our class is over does not mean I disappear. I am a writer. I publish essays, short stories, as well as feminist and pop-culture analysis. I am also excellent at live-tweeting Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder, Killing Eve, and This is Us. I promote my narratives on Twitter, and Instagram. I won’t be able to talk about grades in these spaces, but often students will follow these accounts and I will follow back because I like to know how y’all are doing. I am launching an online narrative group for those who want to take their creative writing further. If you are interested in joining an online creative writing group -- all the creativity, none of the grades -- send me an email or Tweet me!
If you have course questions, you can email me, but know that once grades are officially posted after finals, I can’t make changes to them.
