Columnist Reflection

“Thanksgiving is a holiday which contains a solution to one of our greatest problems today: our eating” (Adler). Many would think that Americans struggle with eating because of lack of time or because food is too expensive, when in reality, they just don’t use ingredients to their fullest potential, wasting time and money. Thanksgiving seems to be the only day in the year that people eat correctly—by using leftovers. In the article “Thanksgiving Thrifts,” Adler effectively attempts to persuade her audience of the benefits of what she calls “sustainable cooking.”

I have been practicing on how to improve my writing over the past few weeks, which has taught me a great deal about writing. My teacher would like me to evaluate and explain my strengths and weaknesses in my own writing. This evaluation is in between my two essays. One on my own and another with my teacher's help. I have strengths and weakness in my introduction, body paragraphs ,and my conclusion.

English is a hard language to learn, for there are numerous elements of effective usage and writing. Many people, including me, struggle in writing because of a lack of knowledge. Since middle school, English was not a strong suit of mine. I struggled with the simplest of tasks often taking a considerably longer time to complete a task than the other students. Unmotivated teachers and a lack of interest resulted in remedial writing skills. To put it simply, I had little confidence in my writing and I dreaded taking the class because of the writing involved. In spite of my fears, I took the course and I was able to perfect and challenge my mediocre writing skills.

We are already midway through the first quarter of my last year as a high school student. I find it hard to completely grasp how quickly this year is passing and yet I feel like we've already accomplished so much.

I have many talents but I would have to say writing is not at the top of that list. I am not a terrible writer, actually I have been told I am pretty good. It is the fact that I am not confident in my writing abilities. When I am given a writing assignment it takes me awhile to fully know what I am writing about, I take forever to start a essay but once I get my ideas on paper it turns into a piece of cake. I guess it is because I have so many thoughts and opinions running rampant and I have a hard time taming them all. Because of this I can take longer on a a essay than needs be. When I took AP Literature last year I would always have trouble finishing my essays, they would start off well but towards the end, they would not make any since. Tell me to

Olympian, Kim Collins said, “Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.” This quote can also apply to students in school in many different ways. Students always want the best project or writing grade that they can possibly get. While that is a worthy goal it is not realistic because students are not perfect and they are still learning, and developing important skills. In my personal essays throughout the year I did strive for perfection, but I learned that I could not do it. I had to make slight improvements to better my writing for the next essay.

I have trouble writing because my writing seems to be a little “tongue-in-cheek” as my AP English teacher said. (I have a couple unfinished examples that I will attach). I tend to not know exactly what I am trying to say in my essays. It is not that I am a poor writer per se; I just have an issue focusing my writing. I enjoy writing; however, I become engrossed in the way I want to present my ideas. Perhaps it is that I do not know the audience to whom I am writing. I usually use proper grammar and mechanics but that is definitely not enough to write an exceptional essay. In this course, I feel strongly that I will develop these skills. Another concern I have with writing is when it is timed. I have never performed well in a timed writing assignment;

As a recent Egyptian immigrant to the United States, writing is the most difficult subject. In 7th grade, my writing process started to develop with the help of an amazing teacher. Ever since 7th grade I have been practicing wiring to be close to the high school writing slandered. I reached my goal last year when my act writing score is 6 point which places me in English 101. I doubted myself so, I took the Accuplacer test which also, placed me in English 101. I was scared when I saw the results that I’m going to fail this course. After taking this course, it made me more confident in writing and showed me my writing level which needs more practice. This class helped me improve my writing skills, by getting great feedback from my instructor

To effectively revise and edit my research paper, I read it carefully, as I played the reader`s role instead of that of a writer. In addition, I used a number of strategies to effectively revise and edit my research paper. First, I read my paper aloud as I listened for errors. After carefully listening, I was able to identify and correct errors in my writing, including grammar, incorrect sentence structure, incomplete ideas, and incorrect punctuation. While reading, I could stop and rectify the mistake at the point where I could note it. In addition, I read each sentence at a time so that I could digest the structure and identify any error. Prior to the reading, I noted down the common errors I usually commit while writing such as the omission

Looking back in this class, I have realized just how much my writing has improved since the beginning

What I learned while completing this project is that there is so many ways you can learn about different crafts. One, of the things that made me really look deeper into the words or phrases of a book was paying attention and re-reading the sentences of books, until i understood what the author was trying to describe weather igt was a time of day or a place. It was really interesting to see all the different ways authors have to incorporate crafts like the one I choose and the ones I got to see from my classmates when we presented our craft. It was very fascinating to find all this crafts that are possible, because now that I have the knowledge I am able to incorporate this into my own writing, and one day when I have a classroom of my own as

I have a grown as a reader in these past few months by looking through the four main lenses, Community and Society, Human Nature, Interpersonal Relationships, and Nature. I also learned to analyze narration as it is a beacon for what the author is trying to get to the reader. I will breakdown why I chose the pieces I chose in my final portfolio in this final reflection.

In Quarter 4, I wrote literary analysis, one hundred word sentence, a canterbury tale, division and classification paper, and research paper. For the literary analysis, though I was familiar with the style from previous high school english classes, I struggled with the paper. I found myself frustrated with the time limit as with more time, I feel I could have done a better job. However, considering the time limit, I am pleased with the amount of detail and support I was able to put into the paper. The literary analysis met my standards as it was the best of ability given the time restriction, and it was satisfying to know I could complete an entire analysis in an hour and a half. One hundred word sentence was completely new to me as I had never attempted something like this before. While it was frustrating at times figuring out how to add more detail in the same sentence, I greatly enjoyed the assignment. I liked being able to make a story as well as improving my grammar skills. In the end, the one hundred word sentence was extremely satisfying to complete and meet my standards as it was grammatically correct while still being interesting. Unlike the one hundred word sentence, the canterbury tale was extremely frustrating for me as I struggled to get the lines to rhyme while having enough syllables and flow well. While I love to write poetry, I much prefer free form so this was a learning curve for me. Having completed the tale, I am proud of my work since it

Learning about another country was something I was not use to before this class. In other classes we would study the history of America and only briefly discuss other countries. The same was true for literature, so studying British literature was something different. This class helped me to learn about how literature and history are linked together. The writings of a certain time period can show a direct reflection of the events of the time. This class also helped me develop as a writer. The many strategies I have learned this semester have helped me to become a better writer with more professional standards through the development of writing strategies, revising strategies, and research strategies.

I know that the Master of Science program at Columbia will fit my needs as a student and as a budding professional. Journalism and writing have not been lifelong loves of mine, and throughout high school I was a math and science student. I took an introductory journalism course as a senior in high school, and I quickly learned that journalism is more than writing about yourself and topics you like. Even with the light requirements of the class, I got my first taste of the process of writing a story.