The first Tuesday of the school year, I walked out of the first RCL class lecture so confused. The entirety of my high school English experience was nothing like what I experienced in my first class session. On top of that, Professor Fonash kept talking about this mysterious entity that was the civic, of which I had no comprehension.
My confusion with the civic continued for about the next three to four weeks as I attempted to do the best I could to pretend I knew what I was suppose to be writing blog posts about. Luckily, over time I started to grasp the meaning as I began to formulate my civic artifact speech.
Ideas and events started to make connections in my head as I began to get an understanding of what the civic actually meant. Suddenly, I started to notice civic aspects in my everyday life as I flipped through the news or even walked down the busy sidewalks on my way to class. It took a while, but I soon became comfortable with civicly minded ideas.
Currently, I feel like my semester of RCL has been one of my most beneficial classes as it not only developed my communication skills, but it also helped me start thinking on a deeper level brought on by the civic. I now find myself looking beyond the obvious and asking myself the more difficult questions of “why?”.
The civc artifact, paradigm shift, and history of a public controversy assignments have all helped me in order to better understand what it means to be civic. Civic can sometimes be found in some of the most odd of places, but the importance is noticing the relevance. This semester has altered my understanding of the civic and has given me a new appreciation that I will take into next semester and the rest of my life.
I really enjoyed this post, as we can all relate to the confusion at the beginning of the year. As we continued throughout the semester, we all have truly grew immensely and by the end, we even recognize the civic in our everyday lives. Great job with your post this semester, and I hope have an awesome break!
Tyler,
This post was a great summary of the class this semester! I too had no clue as to what the civic was at the beginning of the semester, so each Tuesday and Thursday were a struggle and a wake-up call! It was awesome to see what the expectation for an English class changed to when we entered college. Have a wonderful holiday break!
–Elissa Hill
Your post really made me contemplate the journey that I have undergone this semester. Like you, I was especially confused about what exactly “the civic” meant and how it applied to my career as a Penn State student. However, slowly and surely, with each new project, reading, and discussion, I began to grasp the meaning behind this once mysterious word. I really related to your post and it was a smooth read! Have a great break.