Looking Back and Moving Forward
Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I'm saddened by the end of this semester more than I've ever been sad about school coming to a close before. I'll be happy to see certain classes go (sorry, Teaching Lit/Evaluating Writing), but of the five classes I enrolled in this semester, WRT has by far been the best experiences I've ever had at Rowan.
Not only has Professor Mangini been incredibly motivating all semester long, he makes showing up to class downright fun. I've had other teachers in my 1,893 years at college ask the class how their day has gone, or how their weekend was, but no one really cares like Mangini. He's invests himself into his classes from the moment they start until the moment they end, where by the starting and end points I don't mean merely the class meeting hours. He's involved the length of the entire semester, from January whatever until well into May, every day, whenever anyone seems to need him. It has to be a tough task putting that much of yourself into your class, but it pays off with one of the most rewarding classroom experiences I've ever had in my twenty-four years in this world.
But enough about singing his praises, and enough getting sappy that I'm not gonna hear his hilarious stories to kick off the start of every class. I simply knew I would be remiss if I didn't comment on that one integral part of the experience. Without Professor Mangini at the head of the classroom, I'm not sure how I would've taken to these assignments. Some of them, like the multimodal wedding, were sort of out there, removing us from our comfort level and helping build a sense of community within the class. But because the teacher was so into what he was doing, because he believed in it, and did the research and put the time in to show us he cared, everything worked perfectly.
On to Writing, Research and Technology: the narrative.
Not only has Professor Mangini been incredibly motivating all semester long, he makes showing up to class downright fun. I've had other teachers in my 1,893 years at college ask the class how their day has gone, or how their weekend was, but no one really cares like Mangini. He's invests himself into his classes from the moment they start until the moment they end, where by the starting and end points I don't mean merely the class meeting hours. He's involved the length of the entire semester, from January whatever until well into May, every day, whenever anyone seems to need him. It has to be a tough task putting that much of yourself into your class, but it pays off with one of the most rewarding classroom experiences I've ever had in my twenty-four years in this world.
But enough about singing his praises, and enough getting sappy that I'm not gonna hear his hilarious stories to kick off the start of every class. I simply knew I would be remiss if I didn't comment on that one integral part of the experience. Without Professor Mangini at the head of the classroom, I'm not sure how I would've taken to these assignments. Some of them, like the multimodal wedding, were sort of out there, removing us from our comfort level and helping build a sense of community within the class. But because the teacher was so into what he was doing, because he believed in it, and did the research and put the time in to show us he cared, everything worked perfectly.
On to Writing, Research and Technology: the narrative.
[. . . I don't know why it looks like i'm in a bad kung fu movie, but you get the idea.
Foiled again by technology!]
Foiled again by technology!]