My English Composition Class

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

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.

A writer can influence a reader in many ways using many different strategies. They may be influenced with emotion, logic, and experience. A main way of influencing your reader is to support your claims thoroughly. At the beginning of the semester, and through part of the semester, I would come up with a good main point, but I would lack Good supporting detail to my claims. After being in this class, I realize more that I need to come up with good supporting evidence to back up my claims.

This English Composition II class has educated me so much on how to write better, write in different formats, schedule my time better, and how to improve my writing. Learning more about all of these categories will help me in the future when I need to write other essays for future college classes that I will have. I am very happy that I took this class when I did, because of it I am more prepared for college this fall. I just hope my future professors are as funny and kind as Mr. Stout has been towards

I learned that you are not only writing for your own benefit, your writing for your classmates, teachers and peers as well. It helps you gain common knowledge that you may not have known otherwise, as well as teaching us research skills that we will need later in life due to the rise is technology use. I have learned that research is a part of life and you will need it throughout college. Writing has helped me understand things I was unable to comprehend before, and gives me a feeling of capability. As Frederick Douglas, an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman, once wrote, “Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write” (McQuade and Atwan). At the beginning of the semester, I would have never guessed that I would finish this course on a positive note; however, I finished, and it was not as difficult as I thought it would

This course was comprised of many learning activities; each was designed to help me achieve the course learning outcomes. I have taken two college English classes in the past; however, it has been several years since my last college class. I have some experience in writing and this class definitely helped me get back into writing. I often have trouble brainstorming and capturing the subject I need to write about. This class definitely helped me overcome the challenges I faced in writing and being able to effectively express my ideas in a clear and concise manner. Not to mention, it definitely helped build my writing foundation through a step by step approach to each assignment. Therefore, this class bolstered my writing and communication skills.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

When I think of writing I think of peace and pressure all in one. I love writing when it's just me writing to myself releasing my frustration on to paper. I might write poems, letters, or just dairy entries but it's my peace filled moment. I start to think of writing as pressure when I thinking about writing anything anyone be sides myself will read. I have always pushed myself to do well in my writing courses yet I tend to fall short do to simple mistakes. I start to over think or over look simple things that make great impacts on my grades.

Being that it is a day before quarter one ends, my biggest challenges so far have been keeping my grades at a proficient level consistently. When it comes to my academics the struggle these past few months was in my Pre-AP English class. Every other week or so we would take reading check quizzes to make sure we were reading our books and that we understood any confusion we might have faced. My social life is a whole other story, to make it short we are  middle school students going through everything WE could possibly think of that has nothing to do with real life problems; also change happens and it takes time getting used to. I am handling my self the best way I know how when it comes to me… well let’s just say I’m a handful in a positive

Let's be honest, I'm not the best writer. I have had to write paper after paper for about 12 weeks. Writing isn’t my strong suit and I don't think it will ever be a strong suit of mine. During the 12 weeks of composition class, I have seen improvement in my writing. Many people don’t like writing but writing skills are needed in life. I'm a junior in high school and if I want to get scholarships for college, I'm going to need to write essays. Whether I become a plumber or a CEO I need writing skills.

The assignments in this class have shown me that I’m a better writer than I initially thought. The assignments have where I have improved, areas where I still need to improve, and how skills developed here can transfer into other courses.

In this class, I have learned many new skills to improve my writing, and I have also learned new grammar rules. In regards to my writing, I have learned the importance of freewriting when beginning to write a paper. Additionally, I now know to allow ample time for revising and editing because I can look at my work critically for mistakes and make necessary changes. Furthermore, I have learned about grammar rules such as pronoun-antecedent agreement. This rule is something that I know subconsciously, but being made aware of it has allowed me to find mistakes I make more often.

In college, we get asked to write enough papers to fill a book, and all those papers start off as drafts where they must be edited and corrected before turning them in as the final draft. This process is particularly interesting to see how one can improve their work. Analyzing a paper to see the ways in which information is portrayed and relayed to the reader is vital to the writing process. In this paper, I will be examining a previous assignment from a former English course. To analyze the paper thoroughly, I will be looking at the rhetoric used within and its effectiveness, along with the mistakes that lie within the paper. I will critique my work and suggest ways to correct errors, or applaud attributes within that were well done.

The last four months I had been enrolled in a Composition II course which I have learned to write a strong argumentative research essay. The content’s in this folder are three examples of revised essays that I had wrote throughout the semester. I will share with you all of my reflections and insights of each essay and what I have learned in the whole process.

I have learned and improved many skills during my time in GSW 1110. Before I took this class I was very unconfident in my academic writing abilities; however, I have greatly improved them during this last semester. I have learned how to gather and organize credible information; write to audiences with opposing viewpoints; identify the audience I am writing to and cater my writing toward them; draft texts using personalized strategies; use grammar, punctuation, and mechanics to make my writing more interesting; and think critically to synthesize multiple points of view. I believe the skills I have learned and refined will allow me to move on to further college writing classes, as well as help me for the rest of my life at work and in the community.