BYU-Idaho Classes

Well, another semester down! It's so crazy I can't even begin. Every semester I go farther in credits, but stray from what I really want to do with my life academically. This semester has taught me so much. Se here are some insights, class by class.

Library Research 111

So this class was only half of the semester (or block class). We went into a computer lab and learned how to improve our research. I really loved this class. I know I'm such a nerd. One of the websites we used that helped me immensely with my other classes is called Ref Works. After registering, we add URLs where we find sources for say a paper. It compiles them, gives you all of the citing information and then YOU make a works cited page. It was amazing! Doing a works cited has never been easier. If you haven't tried it, do so...or your money back! Ha just kidding about the money, I just couldn't help but realize I was starting to sound like an infomercial. Anyways, moving on.

World Religion

This was probably one of my favorite classes I have taken. Ever. We learned all about other religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism (my favorite),Shinto, a couple of Christian religions, and many others. Since this was a block class as well, we had to hurry through each section. I loved it though. The reading could be a little tedious, but it was wonderful to see more about how other people worship. I have gained a greater appreciation for them and my testimony of my religion has grown on how much I love it. We had to do an end of the semester project about a religion and I decided to do one we didn't discuss in class, Peyotism. Interesting stuff.

Family Foundations

At first I really didn't like this class. It is all about the issues, advice, and council families face today. We had A LOT of reading from Latter-Day-Saint leaders. Some of the talks I was highlighting like crazy, others I had a hard time staying awake through. Some of the subjects included marriage (of course, it's BYU-I for crying out loud), Chasity and fidelity in marriage, parenting, covenants and ordinances, and homosexuality. Overall, my attitude the entire time was, "I'm not worried about my future 16 year old daughter right now, or having kids for that matter." However, as soon as the course ended and I came home, I have used many insights from the talks in church meetings. Crazy right?

Social Dance 180

This class I took for two reasons. One, because I always have enjoyed a little dance now and then, and two for a breather from all my project-oriented, crazy reading assignment classes. It was so enjoyable. We had a really fun class and the teacher was great! She taught the steps really well. They were all basic steps of course. We learned to Fox Trot, Swing, Waltz, and Cha Cha. So much fun! At the end of the semester we had to compete with other classes. I was actually pretty nervous. My dance partner and I ended up making it to the Semi Finals in Waltz! That same night we had to perform a choreographed piece that we had been working on with students from our class. My Waltz group was short one guy and so...my wonderful boyfriend Edward was my partner! I was so happy because he's really the only person I want to dance with, even if we both have two left feet. The performance was great, even though we were a tad fast on our counting. Such a fun class. I hope I can take 280 one day.

Piano Lessons

Once again I took piano lessons from Sister Bjornn. She is super hard, but I improve every semester. I did really well in practicing every day which I have struggled with in past semesters. We had a recital and my piece went fairly well. I was just so sick of it by the time I performed. Haven't played it since. However, this was my last semester of piano lessons. When I change to my humanities major, I have to stick to a strict class schedule so no more fun classes. My teacher was sad to hear it and offered private lessons. Very tempting but it was even more expensive than taking it through the school, now I have to motivate myself to go and play :/ not sure how that will go.

M104: Group Vocal Instruction

So I thought this class was a choir setting since it said "group", but it's all solo singing. I decided to stick to it. Not a bad class. I just didn't like my teacher too much. She was kind of a space case and had a hard time remembering where we were at. However, the private instruction every week was so nice. My voice improved immensely, even better then when I was in Swing Choir in high school! At the end of the semester we had to sing on stage in this huge concert hall. So scary! Then we had a classroom recital as well which wasn't near as frightening. I sang "On My Father's Wing's" and "Emma". We also learned two arrangements to "Abide With Me" and "Rock of Ages". Fun class, but glad it's over :)

E314 Advanced Research and Literary Analysis

This is seriously the hardest class I have ever taken. I always thought I was a decent writer until this class. The kind of writing we did was Grad School worthy. We had to write explicators (example)

COMM140 Mass Media and Society

This, by far, was my favorite class of the semester. At first I was a little frustrated because of all the projects we had to do, but I learned so much. It was all about the different kinds of media (newspapers, books, movies, television, etc.) and how they came to be and what the future lies is store for them. Such an interesting class! Before my teacher began the lecture he would show us two to four YouTube videos. Most were hilarious! Now for the projects. We had A LOT! First there were the three week projects. He gave us a list of options we could do for each section. As long as we met the standard requirements, we could present it in any way possible! Then there was the group project. My group members and I designed a Magazine and actually it turned out really well. Then we had to do end-of-the-year projects that we had to work on throughout the entire semester. Twenty- six Media Observations, a one hundred word essay about something we saw in our society that impacted the media or society, and thirteen Resource Files, an analysis of a one hour media consumption such as pod casts or newspaper articles per week. Needless to say it pushed me to be organized and I actually turned in most of my projects in early! The tests were difficult. They were essay tests. Meaning each question had to be a half a page to a page, hand written, explaining our answer. Oh and we had one hour to complete it. Though this type of testing was difficult, I have come to love it. I study the material more, I'm not guessing "A" or "D", and I remember what I learned. So if your teacher gives you an essay test, be grateful! 

So there's all my classes! I hope I didn't bore you :) Talk to you soon!