B27: Letter to Future Students


Dear English student,
            I am here to give you an idea about what to expect in Sean Conaway’s English class. It is completely possible to get an A in his class as long as you do the work. You should expect a blog post after almost every meeting, which does get annoying but you just have to do the work. I am not a person that likes writing but I honestly enjoyed this class. Looking back on it, it wasn’t too much work and the time spent in class is almost always put towards improving the substance of your casual blog posts through analyzing the readings as a class and the other activities helped with the three major essay assignments. Expect to write a lot, but know that at least it will be something you have interest in writing about and if you don’t like one of the readings, all you have to do is talk about what parts of it made you not like it. The essays are long but through in-class activities Sean Conaway helps break up the writing and keep you on track giving you a whole week between the draft due date and the final due date. Also, in-class peer review activities help you polish and organize your essay over the course of that week before Sean Conaway collects the final version for grading.
            One tip for success is to not get behind on blog posts. It is okay if you don’t post it in time for class every once in awhile or if you just do the reading and will finish the writing post later on. But, if you just completely put off the blog posts they begin to add up and although they are manageable to complete, each is about 300 words and writing three or more in a row in order to catch up is not fun. Therefore, don’t forget to do the blog posts or put them off; they aren’t bad if you do them as they are assigned. Another tip is to be open to trying something new. A lot of the exercises were about just getting something on the page and keeping your pencil moving. I liked these activities because they helped me be more free and have more fun in writing.
            All three essays were pretty engaging once you found a good topic. For the inquiry essay you had to try something new either by experimenting or exploring something new. I liked being forced to do something new for three weeks because it allowed me to learn more about the opportunities and clubs that Virginia Tech has to offer as well as how to stay happy and healthy on campus by trying to adjust what was not working with my current habits. The Pecha Kucha presentation did not go as well for me as I had expected, but I thought it was a great experience. Throughout college, students are expected to build their presentation skills so having this extra practice was beneficial and again we each got to teach and present to each other on a topic we were personally interested in, which made the presentations fun to do and watch.
            Overall, the class was very manageable and one of my easier classes based on the amount of coursework and time I had to dedicate. I thought the class was engaging and fun despite English being one of my least favorite subjects. Sean Conaway’s class is easy-going and fun. You are lucky to have him for English and I hope you enjoy him and his class as much as I did.

Best of Luck,
Evelyn Jens

Class of 2021

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