My Experience At My First Semester

I would describe myself as a very fast learner prior to coming to college here. I have been preparing for this step in my life ever since I was in school by participating in hard classes and being involved in my community. Keeping high A averages in my classes has given me the opportunity to become involved in national honor society and national art honor society but also granting me with the incredible trip to Blue Bonnet Girls State this past summer. I believe that involving myself in these three organizations gives me the extra drive a student needs to flourish as an aspiring student to UT Austin. I grew up in a good home as a child and my parents both pushed me to the best of my ability that thankfully got me accepted into this amazing university.

With the anxiety flowing throughout my body, I knew the time was near of facing my English 1301 class. Being told that I needed to improve my writing during my grade school days, I knew that I didn’t feel at ease going into a college level English class. But, with this in mind I had to pull myself together to encounter the challenges that I will face. However, having the privilege of having an amazing professor I believe my writing skills improved, also I was able to find my confidence.

During the first semester of English 1301, I have learned so much that before I hadn’t comprehended. This class has teached me to write what is my passion and explain my thoughts thoroughly. The classes I took before were mostly teaching the arts of writing essays in which the not much was learned. This class made an exception for me to challenge myself and try to succeed in becoming a better writer. I feel as I have learned more in these 16 weeks than have in the last two years of highschool english.

During my first semester at Touro College, I took a course on the History and Philosophy of Education and Special Education. Throughout this course, I was introduced to many philosophers and their theories, which helped me to develop a personal educational philosophy that I will implement into my own future classrooms. In our very first class session, we examined the word ‘education’. Education derives from two Latin roots, educare: to bring up, to train, to teach, and educere: to lead forth, to draw forth, to guide. In the world of education today, a child’s success in school is primarily dependant on his or her ability to pass standardized tests; this embodies the concept of educare. Knowledge is passed down from the teacher to the

At 11:15 on Monday, August 17, 2015, my first official college class, English 1101, began. In general, I had no idea what college classes would be like let alone how college English would be. Even though this class taught me a great deal in one semester, it took a large amount of time and effort to make the adjustment from high school. The simplistic writing style of high school was put to rest the moment the first college English class began. As a result, I learned quickly that college writing is complex and less systematic than high school writing. Five paragraph essays with three strict body paragraphs were no longer the norm for writing. Even though my professor helped guide my writing, I was no longer coddled through the whole writing

Gordon B. Hinckley’s words ring true through my mind as I enter this school year: “Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” Entering into this AP Language and Composition class marks the beginning of my challenging school year. However, I will treat my assignments as I do my garden. Carefully, I will water the seeds of information that have been planted in my brain. As I remove the aspects of writing and reading that prove to be unbeneficial to me, it will be as if I am picking weeds. Desiring for my writing skills to blossom, I will work to be the best student I can be.

This is my first semester at Mesa College. I am currently a Political Science major. The term that would best describe my current situation would be “non-traditional” student. I graduated from high school in 2006. Since then I have gotten married, travelled the world, and had two children. While in high school I excelled and took part in many academic extra-curricular activities. In the past ten years I have accumulated work and life experience. Most recently I was able to work as a legal assistant for an immigration firm. Being bilingual was beneficial, as was my interest in law in general. I plan on attending law school in the future which made the job appealing. Although I deferred college for this long it has always been my

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

English 111 was an educational journey for me. Throughout the course, I was able to develop my own writing style as well as learn how to perfect my writing skills. At the start, I was not fully prepared to be a good writer. I did not know who the writer was inside of me. I could not find her and did not even know where to look. I realized that my goal was not just to get good grades, but be able to understand and absorb the material. The lessons I would learn in English 111 would be of great importance. Being a good writer is necessary in order for me to succeed in any of the adventures that tomorrow might hold. For this reason, my expedition through English 111 made me the writer I am today and there are several reasons how.

As the semester comes to an end this assignment gives me a great opportunity to look back on my experiences in English 111. Through my experience in English 111 recognizing several ideas that have greatly impacted me, my point of view on learning, and my actual learning. My experience in college has been beneficial because my professor approached teaching with a more aware effort and taught me how to approach learning and my role as a learner in a way. It is tough to put into words how much I have grown as a writer.

When I entered your classroom on the first day of school this year, I was confident that what I had learned in previous years was sufficient enough to call myself an experienced and competent writer. However, I discovered throughout the semester that this confidence hindered my ability to improve in the beginning. The first few days of analyzing essays and literary works was something I had never experienced before, opening up my eyes to a side of literature and the English language that I previously did not pay any attention to. After we finished writing our very first in-class essay, I was extremely surprised to see that the score I earned was a 6. But when I look back on that very first essay, I am even more surprised to see what I could improve using the knowledge and strategies I learned in AP Junior English.

Welcome to the “playground of unregulated freedom” (Delbanco, 19) that is college. These institutions all have a purpose in forming an individual. Some take their years in college to discover who they are, to gain independence, or to simply complete their degree. My personal experience thus far during my collegiate career has been to focus on following my passion. I have taken my love of athletics, and interest in the human body as a way to motivate myself through school with the end goal of receiving a doctoral degree. Given that my first year of college was full of hardships that caused questions as to whether an education was truly worthwhile, I am here as a sophomore stepping out of my comfort zone daily to pursue my passion.

A pivotal moment in my development as a writer is Azusa Pacific University’s English class. College English class is building

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.

The first year of college comes with many changes and challenges. These changes can include the food in the cafeteria, study habits, time management skills, and much more. Every student has to find their own way to handle the first year and determine what works best for them. For many the most essential change is living away from home. Campus life provides opportunities to become a part of a unique, diversified community. With these opportunities come challenges, such as having a roommate, being away from one’s parents, and determining self-limits.