English Reflection

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.

As the Fall 2017 term comes to end, I look back on what I have accomplished in this class. English 102 – Composition II was one of the most challenging and toughest class I have taken at UW-Stout, but feel as though it has helped me to improve my writing skills. Even before the semester started the feeling of anxiety had taken over, as writing has never been my strongest skill, but stayed positive and confident I would be successful. Much to my surprise, my instructor, Michael Critchfield quickly addressed that this class would not be easy and amazingly changed my views of writing throughout the entire semester.

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.

Throughout this year I have learned and accomplished many things in regards to my overall writing. English 112 has taught me many useful skills including different ways to organize and structure my writing, new methods to incorporate critical thinking into my pieces, and even how to better my writing with sentence varieties. The most improved area of my writing after this course is the creation and development of the opening thesis statement.

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.

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

What have I learned in English 102? When I began this class, I had not taken a formal English class in over thirty years. I understood sentence structure and essay writing to a point. To elaborate my understanding was based on story telling rather than research and factual commentary. Of course, rhetorical review and research was foreign to me. I had a loose understanding but had never practiced or been in a position to apply these skills. Or at least that is what I thought. Since beginning this course, I have found it both challenging and enlightening. I feel that my skills have developed over the last few weeks and a greater understanding of what it takes to identify and understand complicated subjects has progressed. Not just that I can read difficult scholarly text, but that I can focus on what they are trying to say, their argument, and then develop my own counter argument in support of or against the authors statements. It is more than just saying I concur or I do not agree with you. It is stating how my point of view differs and supporting my statements logically and directly with facts, not just conjecture. Within the following paragraphs I will discuss, in more detail, the specific areas where I feel I have matured and how I intend to apply this new-found knowledge to my future writing as well as reading materials to assess their value.

Coming into this University, I knew that my writing skills were not poor, however I needed more guidance on how to be a more successful writer. My last english class in high school was advanced writing class, so I thought that my skills acquired through that class would help me a lot through this class. I will say I credit my background knowledge for some of my success on my papers, but the English 101 course itself has helped me strengthen my skills. I picked the specific papers in my portfolio because they represent my writing style. I always wrote by what the book said, like a machine. My english teacher this year told me I needed to work on being comfortable with not always following the book. After I learned to do that, I had some trouble

English has always scared me a little because I have never been super confident in my writing abilities, however this year I am looking optimistic. By the end of this english course, my goal is to be more confident in my writing abilities. Also, I hope to not only become a better reader, but to comprehend what read. Sometimes when I read, I will not fully grasp what the author is trying to say, or I will not understand what the moral of the story is, so I would love to work on comprehension skills this year. Another area that needs improvement is knowing where to put commas. I realize that commas are placed to continue a sentence without having it turn into a run on, however I will usually place commas in the wrong spot, or I will not add them

What I learned from this semester in English 101-102 class was to have an open mind and be creative. My papers had to have mean something to me and had to move like the rivers of Babylon. My papers had to keep the reader entertain and have resources that backed up my information. We had to use instruction that made our papers easier to understand. English 101-102 help me become a better academic writer because I learn how to make inquiries, seeking and valuing complexity, seeing writing as a conversation, and understanding writing as a process.

When I was a young student, my first English professor taught me the alphabet. After one year, he taught me to put those letters together to make words, sentences, and finally paragraphs in essays. During the high school I learn to write short paragraphs, with ought putting in the correct structure .When I moved in America I stared the course of English as a Second Language and I finished with success last year. My professor advise me that when I starts the English 101 my writing it will be more fulfil and more structural. He has right as when I arrived in English 101, I realized there was more to do not just writing words on paper.

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.

From my academic history, there is a course that I would like to explain. I took English 12 over summer 2017 as an online course, but I did not complete the credit and got a 29% in the class. I am now taking Advanced English 12 during the school year.