English Comp II Reflection

Before starting English 1102 I was so excited because I knew who class I wanted to take; but, his class was full. I was a very sad cookie. Then my friend Josh told me her knew a professor that was better than the one I wanted and that I would love her class. I’m glad I trusted Josh and took this class. In my English 1102 class I evolved as a writer, experienced a lot of new things, made a few mistakes, and learned from them.

The first few years of college student’s lives are not necessarily the most enjoyable time, having to take the basic core classes. Unless someone is planning on getting their degree in something that involves the basic core classes like; Math, Psychology, any Humanities, or English. English has not been my strong suit and I know that I still have work that needs to be done to make me a better writer, but I believe that I was able to meet and achieve the goals and requirements of this Composition two class.

Starting this year, I thought English 102 was just going to be another general education requirement I needed to have in order to graduate. English has never been my favorite subject, so I guess it is safe to say that I was not super excited about this class. However, this class turned out to be different then I thought. It turned out to be more useful then I originally thought. English 102 was both helpful and fairly simple because of what what I learned, the effort I put in and how prepared I was.

English 111 was the first class English class that I have taken since my senior year of high school in 2004. When I first signed up for the class I figured it was going to be a bit difficult with reading assignments, I was not expecting to be writing 3 to 5 papers every other week which I found to be hard at first.

English Comp 1 was an eye opening experience. The course was emotionally and physically draining, but I strongly believe it prepared me for Comp 2. Learning and improving are a few of the rewards I received through hard work and dedication during the course. Throughout English comp 1, I discovered my biggest weakness. I improved some of my various difficulties, and I achieved a rewarding high point.

English 101 might seem like an easy course to take for some students. For other students such as myself, English 101 was one of the classes I feared and procrastinated on taking. Coming from an ESL background, English was the class I have always struggled with the most. I’ve always excelled in science/ mathematics courses. I prefer the correct answers to be facts and universal. Creativity is not my forte. The process of putting my thoughts down on paper in an organized manner, with correct punctuation, and citing works used, seemed like a complicated, tedious task before taking English 101 this summer.

The beginning of my junior year seems like it was such a long time ago. This may be because of how much I have grown since the start of the year. When I began AP English, my writing skills needed improvement. For instance, I often used incorrect grammar and struggled with staying on topic. In just one semester, my writing has improved immensely. The more than I write, the more I learn about how to craft a good paper. I have worked on improving my grammar, using rhetoric, addressing my subject, and many more elements of writing. In addition to improving my writing, I have gained many skills to become a better student. I have learned about effective study techniques and time-management skills that allow me to be the most successful. Since I always try my best, I know that over time I will continue to grow in my studies. This year I have gained countless skills that will help me succeed in English in the future.

During this semester, the realization of my past was that I have often skimmed through parts of the writing process to get the job done. Not being an avid reader often hindered my writing abilities. This class most definitely made me realize that the entire writing process is important and having peer reviews also helped significantly and certainly made a difference in the result of my work. Taking the time to read, brainstorm my thoughts, write an outline, rough draft after rough draft, reading constructive criticism of others helped in the revisions of my papers’ reaching the best possible outcome. When selecting English 102, I knew I would be challenged, but to what extent I was unsure. If like past English courses that were taken learning to write essays would be the goal. Once realizing that my work would be shared with others, providing informed information

      Now, two months into the semester, I realize that though the work may not be challenging, this course acts as a calm refresher to the past two years of struggle that I faced in English.

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

My junior year was the first time I had enrolled in an Advanced Placement (AP) English course. Going into this course, I was expecting to read a lot of books and write a multitude of papers (which we did). What I was not expecting, although, was to learn how to read faster, write effectively, defend

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

My experience into English 111 not only left me anxious, it became a self-revelation. My learning capabilities were challenged because writing did not come natural and the possibility of becoming a prominent writer were going to take a lot of time, effort and hard work. In spite of not knowing what to expect, I entered into this new semester pumped up carrying an “I can do this” attitude and feeling confident.

I have always found that it is far better to be controversial than boring; thus, my English 204 class would promote debates about societies most heated issues. Predominately, a lot of students enter college adhered to the values instilled by their parents. I find this to be rather toxic because it suppresses one’s individuality. My lectures would be a physical release from society’s grasp and would allow students to truly explore themselves. I think an important aspect of education is the ability to establish a clear position after researching both sides. Therefore, for one of the assignments, I would pick a controversial topic like abortion, religion, or politics—and have the students write a brief response establishing their position. Then,

This first semester at the University of Akron has flown by. I learned many new writing concepts that helped me become a better writer. English composition was a required class that I had to take in order to get my degree. Although this class was required I still wanted to take this class to become more knowledgeable about writing. Coming into English Composition I was worried about all of the papers and the workload that I would have to complete. I knew that I was going to have to write a lot more than I previously had in highschool, but I was unsure of just how much. The works that I decided to include in my portfolio comprise of my Literacy Narrative, Image Analysis Paper, and essay titled Mayas Hardships based on Maya’s experiences in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I selected these works because I felt that they are the ones that require the most improvement to them. The papers i've chosen show how far I’ve came In English Composition.