End of Year Reflection This year in English class I have grown tremendously as a reader and writer. I have learn to think critically and analyze literature and I have also learned how to identify figurative language while reading and incorporate that into my writing. My work from the fall like the Pearl essay is very different from my writing in the spring, like the Tom Robinson editorial. The Pearl essay is very repetitive, while the Tom Robinson editorial is very direct and gets to the point quickly. The Tom Robinson Editorial was written as if the reader had not read the book, To Kill a Mockingbird before. My Pearl essay, on the other hand mentioned characters the you would not know if you had not read the book. My writing had improved over the course of …show more content…
This is because in this piece I used imagery to create an image of a factory. I worked very hard on this piece and I tried to include figurative language whenever possible. The piece that I am least proud of is the WALL-E Analytical Essay. I am least proud of this piece as because I did not get a great grade on it and I also did not put enough effort into elaborating my examples. While I am not proud of this piece, I have learned from my mistake and I will try to include as much detail as possible in the future. I am proud with most of my writing that I have done this year, and I feel that I have learned a great deal about the writing process this year. The piece that I wish I could do over this year is the Pearl Essay. This is because it was one of the first essay’s that I wrote this year. I was not a very advanced writer at the time, and I did not write the essay as if the reader had never read The Pearl. I wish I could do this essay over and include more background information about the story, and I would introduce each of the characters, not just the two main characters. While I did get a good score on the essay, I was not very proud of my
We were asked to write an essay that utilized literary elements to support a central idea of the text. However, while completing this assignment, I reflected on the major strides in writing I had made since the beginning of the year. In the first body paragraph of the first writing assignment of the year I use three lengthy quotes in addition to convoluted sentences such as, “Even though Jem had disobeyed Atticus, Atticus understood that what Jem did was mature and thought-out, and Atticus respected Jem’s actions.” Conversely, in the final task for The House on Mango Street, I was able to demonstrate control in my writing. I had learned to reduce the wordiness of my writing and also that complex ideas stated in simplest terms were the most enjoyable for the reader. When explaining a quote by Mamacita, I was able to be brief but poignant showing great improvement since the first essay. Within the writing assignment, I explain that Mamacita’s lack of ability to express herself is “... represented by the metaphor of the skinny thread in the form of Spanish that acts as her only road to ‘that country.’ However that thread is being torn by ‘the man’ and his belief that English is Mamacita’s present and future while Spanish is her past.” I was able to express the complex idea of the Spanish language being a part of Mamacita and not just a language, using a minimal amount of
After analyzing many of my written works, I highlighted my writing weaknesses along with notable strengths. Evident in my earlier works, my vocabulary was more basic and was not as powerful unlike my more recent essays. Seeking to improve, I started utilizing words I learned during the year
After taking Honors Written and Oral Communication freshman year I have changed as a communicator. I have grown in many areas as a writer and speaker; however, I have also have skills that need improvement. From the Fahrenheit 451 essay to the six-word memoir, my writing capabilities and experience has changed. I have sincerely grown in certain areas whereas I have also fell short in other areas.
When I wrote my literacy history paper I made the decision of using my rhetorical strategies. I primarily used embodiment throughout my writing and I was able to express how I felt as child all the way through my education. I was able to describe my difficulties and my growth into an adulthood. As I revised my paper and I was getting ready to write my final draft it came to me how much my writing has change throughout
My writing is like getting to the center of a tootsie-pop, it takes a good amount of licks but once you’re there it's the best. The reason I say it’s like trying to get to the center of a tootsie-pop is because throughout this class I have noticed my writing progressively getting better with each essay I write. With every lick I get closer and closer to the center of the tootsie-pop, as with every paper I get closer and closer to the best part of my writing. From the one pager we wrote as our first paper, to the comparison contrast paper we wrote as the last paper of this semester, as I look back at them it doesn’t look like the same writer two totally different authors and one is the tootsie in the center of the tootsie-pop.
My “best” piece is my rhetorical analysis written about a high school senior’s controversial yearbook picture. I feel that this essay in particular is the best one I wrote because it demonstrates both my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. This essay was one of the more difficult ones to write. At the beginning of the semester we focused on primarily on personal writing, “showing not telling” and the use of colorful language. For this essay, however, we focused on the academic knowledge, logic and criticism aspects of writing. Admittedly so, I disliked writing this essay. Writing this essay was a new experience for me because I had never focused on the negative aspects of someone else’s work. Re-reading my essay multiple times after receiving feedback from you made me question myself.
The final weeks of my first semester in college are coming to an end. My Columbus State english class has written a total of three projects, and a total of four papers. There are a lot of grammatical issues that, at the beginning of the year, I had issues on. However, I have improved on these errors drastically, and have become a better writer because of it. Even though I am still working on many aspects of my writing, I do believe that I have become a better writer. I believe that my biggest issues while writing are run on sentences, making a strong thesis statement, and having quotes stand alone at the beginning of a paragraph.
As I looked over my old writing, one noticeable difference popped out. Something you always emphasize is the importance of being specific. I realize now that this was something I struggled with at the beginning of English class. I examined my essays about True Diary and Mango Street, and came to understand, how much had changed. In “Junior’s Battle For Hope” I discussed huge themes of the book rather than choosing a focus. I had a paragraph about the alcoholism on the reservation and how it affected Junior, as well as a paragraph on Junior’s identity. Each of these could have a whole essay written about them, and I wasn’t able to do the subjects justice in such a short analysis. The next essay I wrote was “Sally, Control, and Female Perspective”
My writing essays represent a timeline of improvement , from my first essay to my last essay I’ve noticed my growth as a writer. It was not until later on the semester that I realized that I lacked substantial academic vocabulary and had ongoing run on sentences, grammatical errors. My word choice was really repetitive with the constant use certain words. I have progressed where I have expanded my ability to use clear description and make my technical information clear. For example when writing essay 2 and 3 having to insert figures helped me portray my argument much more clearly. When addressing the figures in my writing they had become much more clear. Considering our class revolved around technological developments of the future it was very
It is pleasing to see my literary skills improve over the year. The stark contrast between my first essay about Speak and my last essay on To Kill a Mockingbird is excellent. Here are the areas where my last essay was superior to my first. I improved in organization and clarity. In the final essay, I was able to make an introduction that grabbed the reader's attention and provided context for the essay as well as a conclusion that left an impression on the reader in addition to an elegant and logical overall organization. Another area I improved in was command of paragraph structure. I wrote four paragraphs that effectively included all of the elements of a point, introduction, quote and a two-part analysis to create one unified point. I provided
The literary analysis was my second favorite essay to write, it also shows off my skills at
My writing skills which I have worked on over the few months I have been in English 102 have changed quite a bit in my opinion. There are many things which I have improved upon that were amongst my weaker writing skills when the year began. On the opposite side of that point, there are also many things which I still need to improve upon if I want to truly elevate my writing to a level that I will be confident in. Finally, I have gained new skills outside of writing from this class, particularly the activities which we did in class at various points throughout the year. These things all cumulate together to give me an appreciation of English courses which I did not previously have.
I believe that my approach to writing has changed over the course of the semester. My confidence in my writing has grown, as well as my knowledge in sentence structure, grammar, and word choice. At the beginning of the year, I doubted my writing abilities, but at this point, I feel as though I can handle large, intricate papers. I did not expect my writing to change drastically, but I did expect the small, technical details in my papers to improve, and I think they did. Overall, I have grown about as much as I expected to as a writer, and it has been very beneficial.
After looking at my writing assignments I think that my writing style has not changed much since the beginning of the semester. I use the same format as I did in the beginning to write my Literary Responses as well as the Homework assignments. Although the style and formatting of my papers did not change much, I think my analysis of the works have improved. I am able to describe the artworks better, and I have an easier time reading the Literary Response passages and interpreting it to my writing. In the beginning I struggled with writing these essays, but as the course went on it become easier for me to write them. These assignments really help’s with writing the essays on the exams, I am able to describe works more thoroughly and I can get my thoughts on paper
Over the course of the semester, there has been numerous amount of areas where I believe I have improved in comparison to high school. What has helped me in my writing is the writing class and the in-class writing workshop. The writing class that is located in the Kremen education building has helped me with my writing greatly because in the writing center the person in charge teach us lenses and we apply those lenses to the writing, draft, or reading that someone brings in. The in-class writing workshop has helped me because other students get to read my writing. This is helpful because I get feedback from many students and they let me know what needs to be fixed. A new tool I have been using is They Say I Say. The book is very helpful because of the information and examples it provides such as the templates. I have been applying the templates into my essays and I have seen a significant difference.