#TumblrReflection

[techlover9847]

Thank you, Valparai Mountain Terrain, for the memories

[theauthorsnetwork]

Happy December: A Year of Growth and Learning

Hey Tumblr fam,Happy December! 🎉 As I celebrate my 1-year journey today, I reflect on the growth and lessons this year has brought. From triumphs to challenges, each moment shaped me into who I am now. Here's to embracing the journey, appreciating the highs, and learning from the lows. Cheers to another year of self-discovery and resilience. 🌟

[dylanhoffmasterauthor]

"Lost in the labyrinth of my mind, where emotions echo and words intertwine. 🌌✨

[aguilarga-blog]

Tumblr Reflection

Where to start... Honestly I thought this class was going to be just like the first part of RWS, in the first post that we had to do for this class i said that i was thinking that this class would be a little harder than the first one and sure it was harder because we only meet once a week and i think that makes every class harder. i think that since we had to use mixed media for our tumblr posts (gifs, pictures) helped us to better explain ourselves and what we were thinking at that point, before this class i knew that for example in presentations you could use pictures or videos but in this class i learned that they really really help the author to express a message and it also helps the audience.

the posts that i think are the best ones

https://aguilarga.tumblr.com/post/156232721814/intro

this is the very first one that we had to do and i choose this one because honestly I dont look really shy but I really am, i think that after doing intros for a class everyone is more open and more calm.

https://aguilarga.tumblr.com/post/157878914944/rr-week-7

the second one comes from week 7, I really liked this one because since i was a kid i liked to summarize, i always liked to get a highlighter and to get the most important stuff about a reading, the chapters that we read also helped us with the lit review. 

https://aguilarga.tumblr.com/post/159506742214/week-12-reading-response 

this is the 3 post that i think is one of the bests i had this semester and is about week 12, it talks about multi modalities and how authors use the different types of graphs and videos and pictures to get a message across

My experience using tumblr, Im going to be honest, at the beginning i thought it was going to be super hard to understand it but we had like a mini class and i felt like i learned a lot about it and it really helped me to understand how to use it. I would prefer using tumblr for reading responses because we can use gifs or pictures and in blackboard you cant, thats why i think tumblr is more beneficial than blackboard. I dont know if you can do it on blackboard but i like how in tumblr you can see what your classmates think and you can respond to what they are saying and thats what i like about tumblr too. 

i wouldnt change anything about the tumblr experience honestly, i really enjoyed it after using it for a while 

[astridjaneeth-blog]

Tumblr Reflection

At the beginning of the semester, I would struggle a lot with the tumblr posts. This is because my thoughts about writing and rhetoric were very different and limited. I used to believe that rhetoric and writing was just school and professional material only. I would want to make my work on pen and paper and as traditional as it could. This class helped me a lot because since it is hybrid and we were required to do a tumblr post, it helped opened my mind and expanded my knowledge. Now, I don’t struggle like I used to when making these posts and my thoughts have changed. I learned that rhetoric is not so traditional anymore. Its not only about pen and paper, professional and as simple as it seems. Writing is about different modes, genres, and purposes.

Talking about multimodal, I also learned so much about how it can affect writing. Personally, I really enjoyed learning about multimodalities because I thought it was so much fun to write with different elements included rather than just plain text. I believe that using multimodal text makes your argument more interesting and that can help back up your text. This method definitely changed my perception about rhetoric and writing because as said before, I used to think that writing had to be a certain way and learning that you can mix text and videos or pictures, helped me realize that it doesn’t. It also helped me understand that this helps you target a specific audience. For example, using certain pictures or videos can target a younger age rather than just giving them pages of just words.

https://astridjaneeth.tumblr.com/post/157594077546/reading-response-week-6

One reading response that I consider to be one of my "top" work, would be week 6. This is because other than writing, reading is very important in rhetoric. I feel like when you read a lot, it helps your writing and makes your speech more fluent. I liked that week’s reading in particular because I really like reading in my free time. I feel this post was well-developed and explained with depth.

https://astridjaneeth.tumblr.com/post/157878957181/reading-response-week-7

Another reading response that I like would be week 7. That week’s main ideas included summarizing and synthesis. In my major, Criminal Justice is important to write stuff down. The reading caught my attention because I learn better when I write things down and when I summarize them. I like this response because feel like the readings are well explained.

https://astridjaneeth.tumblr.com/post/159768925511/reading-response-week-13

Lastly, the third post I wanted to include would be week 13. This s because the article talked about multimodal text and how it is beneficial. Although I thought I knew what multimodalities were, this article helped me understand furthermore what it consisted of. I think this is a good reading response because I felt more secure with my tumblr posts as to when I first started.

I really enjoyed this tumblr post activity. Although at first I was intimidated by it, I managed to work with it and it turned out to be very easy and really fun. I think that it was a goof idea to use tumblr instead of blackboard because technology just keeps growing and being able to adapt to it is important. Also, as mentioned above, writing is not always professional and traditional, and using blackboard would have made it like that. Using tumblr instead, helped us adapt to technology and learn the concept better. I don’t think I would change anything about this experience, it was fun choosing gifs and replying to classmates.

[gustavorodriguez89blog-blog]

Tumblr Reflection

At the start of the semester I was told that this class would practically be the same as RWS 1301 but with the use of Tumblr by classmates and I immediately hated it. I couldn't believe that i would waste an entire semester on pretty much the same class and therefore I huffed and buffed to class each week for the first month. My thinking of this class began to change when I saw that although much of RWS 1301 was implemented, this class went farther into what it takes to be an effective written. The Genre analysis and Literature Review really tested me in a way I felt no other assignments had before. My writing therefore improved and my skills regarding effective analysis skyrocketed. Now that this class is coming to an end I am left wondering, how much more is there for me to learn? I was so naive in thinking I knew it all at the start of the semester that I know feel like I am still a novice. Implementing data is an area that improved the most for myself, I never really took into account how much work effective data analysis took and I now have a deeper resect for journalist and writers. My GIF below shows a pretty good image of myself trying to write a Literature review and genre analysis, to say it kicked my butt would be an understatement as it did a lot more than just that.

The use of Tumblr allowed me to get comfortable with the use of multimodality and mixed media. At the start of the semester I had no idea what Tumblr even was or why people use it. Th use of videos, GIFS, pictures, and more really allowed me to express myself in a way that words couldn't. I feel like the use of multi media allows me to really grasp that emotional feel that words sometimes cant. This became very useful when explaining certain things week in and week out. During the semester I learned that that an effective student is not only required to master the traditional writing but also the technological advances this new age has, I believe this to be true now more than ever. With so much technological media and advances its important to be fluent in all these areas as more and more people now a days get their news and entertainment online rather than a traditional print. With the use of multi media I am also able to attract more audiences, especially the younger generation that rely on new advances and online communication. I couldn't be more satisfied with the use of Tumblr this semester, it allowed me to grasp an understanding of another social media tool as well as communication between my classmates this semester. The bottom GIF shows my reaction to Tumblr from the start of the semester to the end and how my emotions towards it changed. 

The following posts are my personal favorites from the semester:

Week 12 Framing Arguments

http://gustavorodriguez89blog.tumblr.com/post/152839399329/week-12-reading-response

Week 12 centered on framing arguments and this caught my attention more than any other chapter in the book. This chapter allowed me to understand the importance of arguments which included that its not always about wining the argument, something that I didn't know.This chapter helped me understand the literature review and helped me write my paper. I can honestly say this chapter was the most influential for me this entire semester. At the time of this post the presidential debates were also going on and I loved having the opportunity to call out Donald Trump on his hypocrisy. Being able to use SNL skits regarding the presidential debates was an added bonus. Sadly after the election I felt stuck in depression for the next week but thats a story for some other time. 

Week 7 Summaries and Research

http://gustavorodriguez89blog.tumblr.com/post/151272538889/week-7-reading-response

Week 7 reading response was one that I felt I did an exceptionally good job as it  incorporated 3 different readings. That week was one leading up to the Lit review and the chapter going over effective summaries really helped me out a ton. With so many sources to use on the Lit review it was important to implement them effectively and this became a lot harder than I expected. Thankfully this week 7 gave me a good understanding of how to properly do it and it also gave me the resources I needed that were available to me here at UTEP. This post also had plenty of classmates responding to it so it made me feel they really gravitated to what I was saying and made me really proud of my work that week.

Lit Review Topic Proposal

http://gustavorodriguez89blog.tumblr.com/post/150619397289/lr-topic-proposal

The post regarding the lit review proposal is now one of my favorites because it makes me realize how naive I was going into this project. I was told this was the biggest assignment of the semester and I brushed it off feeling pretty confident in my abilities as a writer, I quickly realized how hard it would be. Not only did I change my 3 questions over and over and over again but analysis data and putting it all together became a task that not only took a lot of time but also a lot of hard work. Looking back at this post makes me chuckle now as I cant believe how I viewed it before even starting it. Regardless of this fact I loved my proposal, its one I've been talking about since last semester in RWS 1301 and its one that is very personal to me. Being able to speak about this to my peers and other outside of class is something I have enjoyed doing and I hope to continue this in order to raise awareness.

Using Tumblr was a unique experience and I learned over the semester to really enjoy it.While I do believe that it is added work instead of just simply submitting it on blackboard, Tumblr allowed me to express myself in ways that texts wouldn't, it also allowed me to use my personality and humor instead of making it dull and boring. This is probably my favorite thing about tumblr, college can be tedious and boring at times and having something like tumblr allows us students to enjoy what we are doing. Lets face it, who really enjoys writing about writing? not many of us. I believe tumblr allowed us to communicate with our classmates and in a way forced us to get to know one another. This was something really unique as I have classes where I only the names of the few students sitting next to me. Tumblr was a great way of deriving what we had read that week and read others responses to see their perspective on it as well, personally I loved the Tumblr experience and would not change anything about it.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Tumblr Reflection

To be completely honest when I heard we had to create a tumblr for this class I taught it was going to suck. I’m not big on writing on social media, I’m more of a share pictures on social media kind of person. Maintaining a tumblr for the class was actually not that bad specially since we could be as creative as we want with how we present our information or assignment. I enjoyed using the GIF’s because it brought some humor into the posts. Replying to classmates was fun at times too but at the beginning felt sort of awkward. I had a good laugh when I used a pimp my ride reference as a response and according to professor Villa it made a few people laugh as well. I feel like the use of tumblr kept the class from being boring like most other RWS classes. Social media keeps our generation interested better than just writing on the blackboard discussion. I had to use the blackboard discussion in my first RWS class and that got boring super-fast and I don’t think anybody enjoyed it. Being able to be creative and use images and GIFs made it feel like we weren’t doing an assignment for the most part as well as keeping the theme of it light hearted and not stressful. That being said it did take a fair amount of time to complete the tumblr assignments because of the reading we had to do. I wish more classes implemented this multimedia type of learning.

[karinagarcia0909-blog]

TUMBLR REFLECTION

When I first started this class I thought it was going to be the same as RWS 1301 but it was actually really different. I learned a lot more in this class then I ever did in 1301. I learned how to come up with clear and to the point ideas for any paper I will be writing. I learned how to write more clearly. when I first came into the class we were told that we were going to be keeping up with a tumblr post and at first I wasn't to sure about it but as it went on I was alright with it I enjoyed reading the other students posts and learning a little more about each of them. in the beginning of the semester I wasn't so sure on how to write a good paper but after all the key notes I learned from the book writing in transit I learned a lot more and it actually came in handy because I did alright in each of the major assignments.

This tumblr really helped out with my  multimodality and using mixed media they really helped me express how I was really feeling through out the readings. when ever I needed an extra way of expressing my thoughts I would use a really good gif to show the emotions. just like this one below shows how I feel writing this post on my reflections through out the semester.

 week 3 response: http://karinagarcia0909.tumblr.com/post/149985353024/week-3-reading-response this chapter gave us the modes of analysis that we are more then likely to encounter. this post and reading helped me out a lot through out my work making it one of the top posts.

week 7 response: http://karinagarcia0909.tumblr.com/post/151275848059/week-7-rr this post talked about chapter 5,6 and 3 on the handbook. I honestly think this one was a hard one but it helped me out a lot more then the others. it talked about correcting the common mistakes we make while writing and the myths we encounter in writing.

http://karinagarcia0909.tumblr.com/post/150989735159/this-weeks-assignment-was-to-read-chapter-3-and-4 this post also made it to the top three because the video and chapter 3 and 4 really helped me out as well. these helped me out a lot on creating the research questions for all the major assignment this semester. and it also gave me strategies for posing the questions. I really liked how it the chapter talked about maintaining significance.

 I really liked how we used tumblr instead of blackboard like other classes. with tumblr we were able to see the others post and that came out in handy sometimes. I really also liked reading what the other were coming up with. I feel like we were all able to connect more as a class then when we just turn the assignments on blackboard where we cant see any ones work.

I really wouldn't change anything about the tumblr post it was all pretty good. we connected as a class and it was way more fun then the normal blackboard.

 I give tumblr two thumbs up!

[techlover9847]

🌿 What Valparai Taught Me About Stillness

I went to Valparai thinking I needed a break. What I didn’t know was — I needed a reminder.

A reminder that silence isn’t emptiness. That slowness isn’t laziness. And that rest isn’t something to earn — it’s something to return to.

In the hills, time doesn’t rush. The mist moves how it wants. The wind doesn’t check the clock. And for a few days, neither did I.

I stayed at a quiet retreat tucked between the tea estates — Valparai Mount Terrain Resort — where every window opened into peace, and every morning felt like a soft reset.

I drank tea with both hands. I walked with no destination. I listened to birds instead of podcasts. I let fog roll past the balcony without reaching for my phone. And in all that quiet… I heard myself again.

Maybe we don’t always need answers. Maybe we just need space.

Valparai gave me that. And when I left, I wasn’t filled with excitement — I was filled with calm.

Which, in this world, might just be the rarest feeling of all.

📍 Find your own stillness Stay where the hills hold space for you: 👉 www.valparaimountterrain.com