Time goes by and suddenly I am a third-year student, I feel like it was just yesterday being a freshman. I have heard so many rumors about how hard and tiring third-year BJM can be, but there’s one specific professor that I heard his name from time to time, Mr. Bruce. Every time I complain about having too much homework, my senior would always say “Oh girl, wait until you meet Mr. Bruce” with a little grinch on her face. The senior talks about the strict rules in Mr. Bruce's class which kind of freaked me out. So I wonder what it would be like when it’s my turn to experience the third year of BJM and would Mr. Bruce be like what people said.
The time has come and now I am a third-year student. I remember the first class of JM310 taught by professor Bruce, I was shocked by the sign at the door which said: “No perfume allow.” I have heard about this rule from mouth to mouth but I thought it wasn't that big of a deal and thought that it was fake and made up by the senior. Guess what! I no longer wear perfume to JM310 cause those rules really exist. On that first day, I ran to the bathroom and rub my arm so hard trying to get all the perfume out of my body, walking back to the door with my red arm from all the rubbing. I froze in front of the door because I was so afraid to go in by myself, luckily, my friend walk by and she said: “ I’m nervous too, Let’s go in together.” As soon as we walk into the room Mr. Bruce was standing at the front desk, he separated us into a different group. Well, at least I got to be in the same group with my close friends so it was a relief and makes me feel less nervous. Mr. Bruce started the class by introducing the class rules to us. I have never seen so many rules before and all the rules seem to be very strict. I feel like I was sitting in a high school classroom once again. The main rules of Mr.Bruce’s class were Punctuality and Plagiarism. Mr. Bruce will deduct our score or mark as absent if we come to class late or turn in the assign late even if it’s just for 1 second late. Plagiarism is prohibited in this class. If Mr.Bruce finds out that we plagiarize, he will immediately give us an F for his course. I remember reading an article about Plagiarism as our first assignment. The article “German reporter stripped of CNN 'Journalist of the Year' awards for fabricating stories” from NBC news.com, makes me realize how important and serious it is not to plagiarize. It can ruin your life and career, especially if I really turn out to be a reporter in the future.
JM310 Editorial and Article writing class didn’t just teach me to become normal journalism but this class taught me how to become qualified journalism in the future. Every week Mr.Bruce Avasadanond, the instructor of the class, provided us with rich knowledge and many useful class activities to help us have a better understanding of the lesson. During the first half of the term, I learned how to write a good editorial by following the Washington Post structure. I learn to summarize my thoughts and choose only the important points and rank the most and least important ideas as I have to keep it short when it comes to writing. The debate class activities also help me understand how I have to provide both sides information in the editorial, to make the editorial more reliable and without bias. For the second half of the term when we have to do feature writing which we have to write up to 3,000 words, we also get to learn about the investigative journalist. Which the observation activity has helped me to understand investigative journalists better, this activity includes observing strangers and reporting about it. Moreover, we also learn about ethical theory as a qualified journalist should know about. Ethic is essential when it comes to reporting the news. I feel like I have a better understanding of ethical theory because Mr.Bruce made use and apply them in several assignments. My favorite ethical is justice as fairness (Rawls) as I believe that everyone in society should be treated equally even though we might have different power, wealth and status.
Rumor has it, there are loads of homework in this class. Looking back on those days, when I went home and sleep on my mom’s lap crying about the loaded works I was carrying. I was so shocked by the amount of homework I received and was so afraid that I might not get it all done in time as we only get 1 week to do it. But homework is not going to finish itself and crying doesn’t really help with anything so I guess the only choice I have is to keep on fighting. However, these homework has improved my academic skills, including reading, writing, note-taking, interviewing, listening and presentation skills. The skill that I find the most useful gaining from this class is grammatical. Mr. Bruce introduced us to a very useful book called “Blue Grammar book.” It provided great detail on how to use grammar correctly and lots of great exercises for you to practice on. So if you’re looking for a great grammar book, this is the one you should look for. Another favorite assignment of mine is watching the videos from TED-ED Grammar lessons as it is such a fun and creative way of learning grammar. The Comma story by Terisa Folaron is my favorite video as I often get confused about how to use commas and conjunctions. This video helps me remember how to use them correctly, we also got to read a lot of great pieces of writing. My favorite one is “The murderers next door” which is about finding who is the murderer, I really like the way the author uses “We” and “I” to tell the story which makes the reader feel like they are investing with them. Furthermore, conducting the interview and doing all the group work has taught me socializing skills and how to face problems. Through the snowball technique, I get to meet new people and exchange each other knowledge. I have gained more confidence in presenting all the work in front of the class every single week.
After I have been in this class for four months I have changed into a different person as all the class assignments made me become a more responsible and tougher person. I feel like I have gained more knowledge and more mature. Group work makes me care more about other people and adjust myself to be able to work with others. Even though I hated all the homework I still love this class as I have so many great moments in this class. Mr. Bruce is also a very kind person all he wanted from us is to prepare us for the real world and push us to show and do our best. He even throws a Christmas party for us at the end of the class and offers extra credit for those who needed and didn’t perform well on their exams. I’m not going to lie, but this is the toughest class I have ever experienced but you know what “If you can get through this class there's nothing you can’t do.”
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