English Class Reflection

First off, I want to thank you for making this year and my first honors English experience fun for me! Though this year was challenging for me, it has also been extremely knowledgeable. From my freshman year to sophomore year, I can definitely notice the difference in my writing and reading. I can definitely see how much I have grown, and I am sure you could see these improvements too. Last year, I was in regular English and jumping from regular to honors was a huge step for me, which at first, I was not fully comfortable with. But as I got to know this year’s class and of course you, Mrs. Walker, I felt like I belonged here, in an honors English class. Throughout this year, I have learnt and improved at my skills of properly annotating texts, writing a proper claim, analyzing author’s style, and also analyzing rhetorical situations.

As the semester was coming to a beginning I honestly thought I was ready for this course. I say this because senior year high school I took an advanced placement English class. I also, say I was ready to start this course because I have had practice with English and writing essays during my summer before beginning Fall year. I would get good grades on my essays both my AP English class and my Summer English class. So with that being said I thought I was going to do good in this course. As I began this course and saw that we were only going to be doing three essays and a portfolio for the whole year, I thought I was so ready for the semester. I thought this class was going to be one of my easiest class. As assignments were coming up I thought

Throughout the English 111 class, my writing ability has grown to meet all of the course outcomes. In this class I was required to analyze fictional texts and make complex claims that matter in an academic contexts and revise them in order to make grammatical sense. For the 1.0 sequence I focused on Night, by Elie Wiesel and Sarah’s Key, written by Tatiana de Rosnay. Short papers 1.1 and 1.2, focused on each book respectively while major paper 1.3 allowed me to back my claim with both of the texts allowing for a larger exchange of ideas. Within the 2.0 sequence I focused mainly on the Poisonwood Bible, penned by Barbra Kingsolver. The short paper I have chosen to focus on for this sequence was 2.2; in which I had to write a letter to a character

Before I enrolled in English 101 my ability to write specific types of papers (argumentative, rhetoric, narrative, etc) were mediocre at best. However, from reading The Norton Field Guide to Writing and They Say, I Say I gained a deeper understanding on how to better argue a point or write a narrative with a clear theme. Moreover, from my time of being in English 101 I have improved tremendously in the given areas: Rhetoric, Technology, Research, and Collaboration.

I have several expectations for success in English 101, from my teacher, from my classmates, and from myself. In this course I expect my teacher, Mrs. Carroll, to demonstrate how to properly compose interviews, essays, and research papers. I also hope to learn how to write the papers in the correct formats. Additionally, I expect my classmates to be courteous, to avoid being disruptive, and to be respectful. Furthermore, I expect myself to strive for greatness, to never give up, and to improve daily. I expect many different things from many individuals, but I realize that is the only way to be successful in life and in English 101.

As a writer, I am quite sure of myself. I feel that English 101 was a large step in improving and building my skills. Writing is a particular strength of mine, although I struggle when it comes to open-ended prompts. While I can effectively construct an argument, I would consider myself still inexperienced with the writing process. Throughout high school, there were few writing assignments and what I did write was formulaic and lacking substance; giving original ideas or organizing beyond the five paragraph essay is still fresh to me. My teachers would tell us students what to write during a “class discussion” of the literature and afterwards send us to work. Writing outside the basic five-paragraph essay was taboo; each attempt had been met

Throughout my academic carrer, I have had a history of struggling with English classes. I was excited to take English 101 because I believed it would most effectively teach me the basics of successful writing and communication. In high school, I developed mediocre writing skills and struggled with reading comprehension so I knew these topics would pose a problem in any English class I take. Despite the fact that I was in AP Language in high school, I learned very little and did not improve my writing and communication skills as much as I would have liked. In English 101 , I would like to change that and enhance my time management skills, grammar skills, and overall writing ability.

After reading through the class syllabus a few times, I get the impression that AP English will be a significant departure from my previous english classes, especially in workload and our power to determine our essay and discussion. Prior to this class, I have taken honors English 9, 10, and 11, with Derry, Armstrong, and Brewer, respectively. Though the specific focus of each class varied, all three, English 9 and 10 particularly, followed a similar pattern of reading, guided analysis and discussion, essay writing, and assessment. Almost all of this was very structured, such that I felt that our essays were pretty formulaic. Additionally, much of the class discussion seemed superficial in places, often discussion time was cut very short,

The toilsome component this semester was transitioning from being a high school level writer to a college-level writer. However, English 10 has by far been my best experience in writing. By taking this course I have retrieved many helpful elements, that will help me become a successful writer throughout college. In high school, essays often gave me stress and anxiety, however, when taking English 10, I was able to learn to enjoy the process of writing purposefully and mindfully. Even though, I have taken advanced placement English courses in high school and have taken a practice run of college level English over the summer with Professor Brenda Venezia, I was still able to retrieve a lot more from this course. To showcase my progress in

Throughout this semester in English 101, I have made a significant improvement on multiple things, including how to be an exceptional writer and thinker. English has always been one of my most favored subjects to study because to me it instructs students how to be intelligent, how to become a more creative and critical thinker, and be able to develop ethical values and imagination. You can express yourself more efficiently in English than you can in any other subject. This class has truly made me a more confident writer and helped me express myself in different ways through the different types of papers I wrote. By writing different types of papers I have improved multiple areas of my writing. I have grown as a student in diverse areas such

There was a 17-page long form book analysis assigned in my AP English class a couple of years back and we were given about two months of time to read a 400-500 page book from some approved list and turn in the paper. One of those assignments where the teacher drills the fact into your brain that this is not an assignment to start at the last minute. Me, being the studious person I am, didn't even choose a book to start reading until the final week before the project was due. There were two nights left before I had to turn the report when I had finally sat down and started reading the book. Read the first half of the book the first night, finished the book after classes were done the day before the report was due. At this point, it was maybe

English Composition 1 is a course that requires time and dedication to succeed. Before I took this class, I believed English 101 would be a course I would be able to breeze right through. However, as I began to receive essays back, I realized I needed to work harder to achieve the grades I desired. During this semester, the goal of this class has been to improve structure, style of writing, and overall performance. The curriculum included essays and discussion topics from varying informative subjects. Furthermore, with the aid of this class, I had the opportunity to enhance my writing skills.

Upon arriving to this class, I was introduced to an unprecedented level of freedom. This was the first time in a long time, that I had the honest chance of writing the way I wanted to. During each peer edit it was apparent that people wanted to see me more in my writing, to see the person behind the mask. With each paper I revealed more of myself in my writing, delving more into my past and personality. However, I believe I truly took a risk with the research unit. We were given the chance to write a research paper on whatever we wanted. I decided not to go the safe route and wrote about something I always loved but hid: Sonic fangames. I grew up playing Sonic fangames and watched the community grow and develop. Writing about something I was passionate about would have never happened during high school. While we were told we could write freely the environment in the classroom stated otherwise.

When I enrolled in this on-line English 101 summer course, I was a bit hesitant and nervous, as I wasn’t sure what to expect. I prefer the physical element of a classroom setting with other students, which provides the visual, hands on environment, allowing me to focus strictly on the subject. The on-line class was the only option available; therefore, I decided to give it a go. I was concerned as this was my first on-line class and I wasn’t familiar with the process.

Over the course of this semester, I have found myself becoming more and more appreciative of the English language. I admit that English class is neither my strongest nor my favorite subject, so when presented with the option of earning honors credit within my class, I took it on as a challenge and, halfway into the year, am very glad I did. Each assignment has forced me to evaluate the purpose of literature on a much higher level, a level which I likely would not have attained absent of the assignments. As we approach the end of the first semester, I continue to maintain an average of an A+ (99.95%) for the semester excluding the midterm exam; this grade is well above the B (82.50%) average required in order to earn the English 10 Honors distinction. Both throughout my work towards the honors credit as well as within the course itself, I have not yet failed to complete and subsequently turn in an assignment within the given time frame; no paper has been drafted under the influence of procrastination, for I always set aside sufficient time dedicated to working on said paper. In addition to academic punctuality, I have maintained an A (93.50%) average regarding the three (two graded) essays I have written for my English class, evidence of my demonstration of the “insightful literature analysis and connections” criterion of the honors distinction. Quizlet has proved to be immensely useful in my study of the assigned SAT vocabulary, which I have reviewed several times