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The Do’s and Don’ts of my Methods
English bores me.
In fact, I’m procrastinating by writing this article about my boredom of English by writing full sentences, isn’t that ironic?
I believe that the last I visited Pronouns and Adjectives was in 8th grade, with the first time learning it being 3rd grade, so the title isn’t too much of an exaggeration.
Anyway, I have both good and bad reasons to be procrastinating that I’ll share with you today.
Moving along
When I moved out from my Photoshop course and into InDesign, I was itching for some reading. So I picked up a few books by Cal Newport that have helped me immensely to keep up a habit as well as learn new techniques to write strategies on.
I knew that my next course after InDesign for my Graphic Design Associate’s degree (psst there’s ur subject) was Business and Technical Writing, which involves both writing and reading, a perfect time to soothe my itch!
Not only this, but I knew that writing business and technical-related documents was going to be helpful for future communications, like writing a resume or the etc.
Also, since I’ve been in college for 2 years (1 year for the 1st semester to get used to the curriculum, another year for 2nd semester that involved a lot more work than the 1st), now having gotten into my 3rd semester last June, I knew that I needed to finish quickly or else I would fall behind.
Anyway, no one wants to be in college forever, so my quicker pace has fueled me to go through my projects at a quick (but accurate, meaning I’m still an A/B student) pace.
Though I didn’t realize that I would be learning the ABC’s all over again.
The ABC’s like the Abstract, Body, and Conclusion, which I thought I had perfected in High School.
i know ill forget it
There’s a time for application and a time for taking notes, because not all things we learn in school will stick with us!
That’s how I feel when revisiting Pronouns and the blah. I may have gotten B’s when learning them in middle school, but there’s a reason for my…uh… 65% quiz score for learning them again (in Business and Technical writing), because I have no reason to remember them!
I’m not an English Teacher, nor a person who writes for a living — despite writing on Medium. Yet, I use Adjectives and Verbs everyday in writing without needing to pin-point every. single. mention of them.
As I explain in the following article…
I write to help me think and practice communicating. So what use is there in understanding every part in speech if after the past 5 years I haven’t needed to know them?
Now, this isn’t to say that I hate writing. I’ve learned to move past the connotations I’ve had about miserable English teachers and the struggle of understanding what a subject is, and learn that I don’t need to write perfectly to get my point across.
It ain’t my profession
I’m a Graphic Designer, not a copywriter.
Sure, I need to understand how to communicate, but that’s why I read classics and novels that helps me figure it out. Then, when I write on Medium I can still write good enough for others to enjoy reading.
Anyway, there are so many tools out there for grammar and punctuation.
For example, someone who doesn’t code but needs to for a short project can go to ChatGPT to copy/paste into their command. Yet, someone who codes for a living would need to understand how the code works in its entirety, otherwise why be a coder?
Same as writing, my profession is to communicate visually. Like a melody that tells its own story without words, even if there are a few lyrics that help to tell the meaning, we often listen for the melody — not just the words.
Don’t do what I do
I’m not cheating, nor am I going to ChatGPT for pronoun advice. I’m simply taking notes in Obsidian and using them for my exams, then looking at the right answers for my exams, taking notes on the section where the right answer is, and applying the answer for retaking the exam (I only get 1 retake).
As Annie McMurphy says in her book Extended Mind,
“We extend beyond our limits, not by revving our brains like a machine or bulking them up like a muscle — but by strewing our world with rich materials, and by weaving them into our thoughts.”
This is done by taking as many notes as possible, pondering and applying what’s important, and revisiting our notes when possible.
According to my college though (and probably wherever you went to school), you have to hustle hustle hustle and cram every bit of knowledge into your brain.
So don’t do what I do, don’t use “so” when beginning a sentence and take all the notes you can instead of studying the material, just study 10 hrs a day until you start getting it.
Takeaway
Since my focus is on Graphic Design, I’m not bothering as much with remembering all I can about Pronouns. Instead, I’m focusing on applying the points into the graded projects I’ll do in this course and working creatively on other projects when I get the spark to do so.
This way I can hopefully make it out of Business and Technical Writing sooner than later, and into my next course… Algebra!
And yes, I’m looking forward to math much more than I have in 8th grade, mostly because I’m studying coding and finding math super useful to apply in real-life applications.
If you’re out of school, great work on making it! 🎉
I hope to join you when I finish my 4th semester around January/February.