Course Goals

My goals for Honors English (aside from getting an A) is more than the normal improving my grammar and spelling. These are some major areas that I wish to improve, but I see that more as a result of the class, not necessarily a goal. My two major goals for this course are becoming better at communicating and conveying what I am thinking to others and to become better at expressing myself through writing. These are both very important skills for me to have if I am to become a mechanical engineer as I plan.
Possessing the ability to convey your thoughts and ideas in an understandable manner is critical in engineering. If no one knows what it is you are trying to say, how are they going to manufacture the part you have designed, how are they going to understand your idea on a project solution, or how are they going to ever be able to do anything without understanding your intentions? If you cannot convey your ideas to others, then your ideas are lost, and therefore useless. In this class we will be doing a lot of writing where you are trying to get your reader to see things from your perspective. Although it is not exactly like trying to get a build team to understand your design for a machine, the basic principle is the same, making others see things the way you see them.
I have always had a slight artistic side. I enjoy expressing myself through various forms of visual art, mostly sketching and sculpture. Writing is another form of self expression. For class we are required to write blogs. That is the ultimate medium for self expression through writing. In a blog you can just post whatever it is you feel without worrying about it being critiqued and graded based on content. The other project in class that I can express myself, or at least my views on an issue is our communities assignment. This is going to prove to be a bit more of a challenge, since I cannot just blatantly say what I think, but have to infer it from the things I write. This should be good practice at letting my views on a topic show through my writing.