Critiquing A Quote In An EWRT 211 Class

This English class was the best English class I have ever had. There were no tests, vocabulary quizzes, or in class essays, which made the class less stressful. Before this English class, I was afraid that I would not enjoy writing many essays or writing so many words in one paper. Afterwards, essays have become something that is not so much my favorite task in the world, but it has become more enjoyable to an extent. Professor Sullivan’s class has taught me to formally write a research paper, to analyze a book through responding to different quotes from the story or novel, to understand magical realism, and to understand my own passion for school and how much effort I will be willing to put out in years to come.

It’s hard to imagine that just ten short months ago I was sitting in a classroom building a spaghetti tower with no idea what a rhetorical analysis essay was or what the word anaphora meant. Now, just a couple of months later, I have read and analyzed six different novels, learned to write an argument, synthesis, and rhetorical analysis essay, expanded my lexicon of literary terms, and sat through a three hour AP exam. This class has not only given me the skills to master the AP exam, but it has also given me knowledge to succeed in future English courses and in life. Through this course, I have experienced unparalleled growth in my reading comprehension and writing abilities.

One would think that high school English teachers prepare you for college English courses. However, Maria P. Rey disagrees with this in many ways. Rey announces early on in her letter that she wants high school teachers, "... to re-evaluate not only the method of teaching but more importantly the substance of what is taught."(Rey 2009) I agree with Rey in that teachers should reconsider the content of what is taught to students because my college experience has confirmed it. In college writing, I soon learned that I was not prepared for what was expected of me. On the other hand, the method of the five paragraph essay gave me a formula to begin my writing, but Rey contends that this method could keep writers "at a very elementary level of writing."(Rey

With the anxiety flowing throughout my body, I knew the time was near of facing my English 1301 class. Being told that I needed to improve my writing during my grade school days, I knew that I didn’t feel at ease going into a college level English class. But, with this in mind I had to pull myself together to encounter the challenges that I will face. However, having the privilege of having an amazing professor I believe my writing skills improved, also I was able to find my confidence.

Many college students find themselves struggling, while trying to write papers in their English classes. This book was written to help you though these struggles. They say/I say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein is a book that was designed to help students be better writers. I think that this book is absolutely a huge help to anyone in need of becoming a much more confident and better writer. This book has helped me learn how to write more structured sentences and how to form them in ways that sound better and are also more grammatically correct than before. I have learned how to properly demonstrate and use many writing techniques such as making quotations, playing the believing game, how to write strong summaries, how to plant a “naysayer”, and incorporate “so what?” and “who cares?” into my writing. This book can be extremely helpful to anyone in need of assistance or for people interested in

The challenging component this semester was the transition from high school English reading and writing level to college level. It is mainly because High school writing did not have many expectations from students, its main focus was on the ideal five-paragraph essays. As compared to college, writing is mainly geared and focused on one’s ability to thoroughly answer the assigned prompt. Initially, I was not sure if I was capable of handling a fast-paced course, however, I quickly adjusted to the change and I am glad that I chose to stay. In English 10, I have learned many valuable elements that I can incorporate into my everyday writing. I have included my writing from project 2 a rhetorical analysis on, “Black Lives Matter”, which effectively demonstrates my growth as a reader, thinker, and writer.

From an early age I have been passionate about reading. Like seriously, when I was five years old I was upset that I didn’t get the newest Little Mermaid book for Christmas. However, I have never had an interest in writing. Unfortunately, as I plan to go to graduate school to obtain my Ph.D, I really cannot avoid it. Over the years, my lack of enthusiasm about writing has caused me to view most English classes as a chore, something I needed to do in order to advance to what I really wanted to do with my life. With the risk of sounding like a suck-up, this is one of the first English classes I have valued because I have felt like I improved some aspect of my writing in each essay.

As this semester comes to a close, I have become to realize how much I’ve grown as a writer. After taking this class, I have noticed that I have gained more and more of a voice in my writing. When faced with having to write about subjective topics, I have learned how to voice my opinions in papers in order to make them more effective. My writing has greatly evolved because of this class. Not only has it shown me I have to work on sentence variety, but it has also allowed me to work on word choice which is something I have always struggled with throughout my high school career. Struggling with how to put things into words as exactly how I see them has been a struggle for me throughout this course. Despite how much I’ve grown as writer, I have

At 11:15 on Monday, August 17, 2015, my first official college class, English 1101, began. In general, I had no idea what college classes would be like let alone how college English would be. Even though this class taught me a great deal in one semester, it took a large amount of time and effort to make the adjustment from high school. The simplistic writing style of high school was put to rest the moment the first college English class began. As a result, I learned quickly that college writing is complex and less systematic than high school writing. Five paragraph essays with three strict body paragraphs were no longer the norm for writing. Even though my professor helped guide my writing, I was no longer coddled through the whole writing

Okay, the time had come. I must sign up for a University Writing Program (UWP) class at the University of California, Davis, a requirement I greatly feared. I pushed back signing up for the class until my last a final quarter as a student because I thought to myself, “I am a horrible writer!” Being able to put my thoughts into words onto paper purposed a struggle. Therefore, I organized my classes where I would be able to dedicate a lot of time to my UWP class because I knew I would need it.

Since the beginning of English 1100, I have created trends in my writing. My approach to writing, point of view, and writing styles are similar in all of my papers. I have taken the skills I learned from my previous experiences of writing and improved them in this class. My liberal ideas that have been embedded in my writing since high school are shown and reflected in multiple projects that I’ve completed. Many of my grammatical errors began to stick out and I have since learned how to correct them. English 1100 has helped me to correct grammatical errors that I had never noticed before and has ultimately allowed me to discover why I write a particular way. I have improved my writing habits through this class and have been able to enhance my skills to the best of my ability.

These quotes sum up my experience in this class. This class has helped me improve my writing. It has given me some confidence in my writing. Through this class I have also learned many methods to use to further improve my writing. Prior to this class, I never enjoyed the required reading. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Terrorist’s Son. I have begun to look for other books and stories to read and to gain knowledge from.

As the semester comes to a close, it is always interesting to look back and reflect on the events and opportunities my English class has given me throughout my first semester as a whole. At the beginning of this semester it was evident that I was feeling uncomfortable due to the adjustment that I was going through as a student moving to college. It was very difficult expressing myself through my writing since I was nervous about good impressions and my good grade. While this class was one of the most difficult courses that I have taken this far, it has become quite evident to me that I have grown a substantial amount as a writer and as a person; Especially, when it came to explaining my ideas, writing academic essays, and making arguments.

I am a science major and I have always minimized English Language courses because I thought I was already very good at writing. I did not think I would ever really need to use what I would acquire from such a course. When I came to Montgomery College and I was going to take the course English 101, my expectations were that I would have no difficulty scoring good grades in the course and I would learn nothing really helpful from it. This is because in high school, I put very little effort into my English class, but I had impressive scores in writing. I began to understand that I am not as good as I thought I was at writing when I started taking english courses in college. During my previous English course, English 102, I was able to improve certain aspects of my writing which I am glad for. For instance I am confident that my essay structures are well built. But some things in writing remained a challenge for me. I am glad that I am taking an English course that would permit me to work on things I thought I was already good at like awareness in writing essays and proper use of grammar and punctuation

In high school my view of writing was drastically influenced by my freshman year English teacher, Mr. Kelly. A tall, athletic man with short hair and a mean gaze. I liked to tell my parents and friends that he hated students, but realistically that was not entirely true. Mr. Kelly was a harsh, strict old-fashion style teacher who controlled his classes like a military officer controlled his troops. As Mr. Kelly stepped foot in the classroom, the room went utterly silent. As Mr. Kelly said good morning, my classmates and I responded in unison “good morning Mr. Kelly.” Just the thought of Mr. Kelly’s class could destroy any positive mood I was in. Additionally, writing essays for Mr. Kelly’s class was just as painful as sitting through one of his lectures. The essay topics were obscure and dull, and his grading was cruel and unforgiving. Although I went to an all-boys catholic school, Mr. Kelly was one of a kind, my other teachers were nowhere near as strict as him. However, my interest and enjoyment of writing did not increase as my time in high school progressed. For the next three years of high school, I did not enjoy writing a single essay. All of the topics were too academic and uninteresting for me to even reach a minimal level of enjoyment from writing them. Therefore,