My Experience Of English Composition

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.

When I first entered english composition 1101, I expected this course to be manageable. As an outstanding english student at Clarke Central high school, I believed that I had enough knowledge to excel in this course with no challenges. Dr. Catherine Rogers was able to knock me off of my high horse and make me realize that I has a lot more to learn about reading and writing. She is very comprehensive and analytical, which caused her to give me a c average on my midterm assignments. I put the blame on myself because I believe that I should have been more open to Dr. Rogers’ methods with pre-writing and revision. Now I think highly of reading and writing.

A freshman college level English Composition course aims to improve students' abilities with writing, critical thinking, mechanics and usage, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary. By studying English 101 at Luzerne County Community College, I will work diligently to improve in all of these aspects. My main focus is to develop skills specifically to create clear and concise thesis statements, strong and persuasive essays with cajolement, and to develop different perspectives on narratives and other essays. These writing skills may also improve my critical thinking and reading skills.

Composition 1, also known as English 101 or FYC (First Year Composition) is an entry-level course taken by a majority of college students to introduce them to college-level reading and writing. FYC is a prerequisite course at many colleges and universities and therefore must be taken before students can enter into courses specific to their major. Though FYC serves as a bridge to college-level reading and writing many students and even some compositionists (those who teach writing in a college or university) do not see the relevancy of the course and instead view FYC as a course with very little applicability within the majors and future careers of college students. Others, including Nathalie Singh-Corcoran, believe FYC is a crucial prerequisite course that does teach skills crucial to the futures and lives of college students. In her essay, Composition as a Write of Passage, Nathalie Singh-Corcoran first, speaks to the purpose and overall goals of an FYC course before explaining how the skills learned in FYC can actually be applied to the majors and future careers of college students.  From the very beginning of her article, Singh-Corcoran establishes a strong foundation from which she can reach her main audience, but, she fails to support her main points in the best possible way by a very sparse use of non-anecdotal or personal experience based evidence.

As I look back, College Composition has improved my writing techniques and skills by directing me through tons of practice with writing, readings, and examples from the textbook, in-class discussions and helped me notice my strengths and weaknesses as an English student. Some of my strengths that can be shown in my previous essays are: my ability to free-write with lots of detail, structuring an essay correctly, constructing a very well organized and detailed essay, and manage time and use it to construct a well- thoughtful essay, my thesis statements in all four of my essays were structured correctly, and also, it can take me less time to come up with a debatable topic for my essay than it did at the beginning of the semester; therefore, I have quite a bunch of weaknesses, it can take me a while to start an essay, still to this day, and I can’t begin to write an essay without completing the introduction paragraph first, every now and then the structure of my sentences can cause a problem and a hard time for the reader to understand what I’m really trying to say, and trying to get my point to come across clearly may be a challenge for me as well; also, I’ve noticed that in my previous essays I had put a few commas in the wrong places or missed some commas in a sentence, I have also misused semi-colons, sometimes I have used the wrong word or phrase in a sentence which has made my sentences really unclear and ending an essay with a conclusion paragraph can take me some time

To begin, I am eager to receive critique and assistance regarding my writing. My hope is to develop into the best writer I can be. Having said that, fearful struck me the moment I registered for this course. Fearing that I would be expected to write essays, papers and that I would fall short in my abilities. Writing a narrative essay, reflective essay, or researching material for a persuasive essay is not something I had done. Fortunately, soon realizing that this is why I am returning to college. English Composition specifically, will guide me through the information that I need to study to become the best writer I can be. Receiving guidance is a necessary part of life, and in college, if I want to develop my skills, receiving analyzes and assistance is essential to my growth. Falling short is an opportunity to fix what is wrong. So my enthusiasm is in learning everything I possibly can to aid in my success.

Coming into this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. Of course,I expected to be writing a lot but was unsure of the type of writing and the style. I was looking forward to writing challenging pieces that stretching me creatively as a writer. I wanted to explore how to express myself in my writing because it had been a long time since I'd written a creative essay. One of my main hopes for this class was challenging myself to become a better editor of my own papers. I often find it a tedious and laborious process to find and edit the grammatical errors in my papers. However, this is an important skill that I need to develop for my future as a successful writer.

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.

When I started the English Composition course I expected an entirely different type of writing. I expected more of a story telling writing, novelist, story and screenplay writing. To my surprise, it was a different world of grammar, style, voice, sentence mechanics and structure guidelines. I was afraid of something new and challenging. I expected more of a three act structure to write a novel or a short story but the course was different. Different in a helpful way that it opened my eyes to how the overall writing process works.

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

This semester I took dual enrollment English Composition I. Not only did this class give me college credit, it strengthened my writing skills as well. I was challenged to write a variety of essays that focused on different writing styles.

As a high school student taking on a college course, I acknowledged and accepted the challenge that lay ahead of me. The main reason I selected Composition I and II was that it allowed me to vastly improve my overall writing skills. Developing my techniques will benefit me when I am required to compose any writing assignments for my future college classes. Therefore, with that goal in mind, I chose to take this class while still attending high school. I began this class as an average writer; additionally, I did not know the majority of the writing rules or how to make an essay meet its potential. Over the course of these two classes, I believe that I have proven my writing to be more seamless and interesting to read.

This semester I plan to learn a lot from the English Composition course. There’s always room for improvement, and I would like to improve my writing, revising, and editing skills. I will attend each class unless there is a time I really can’t make it, turn my work in on time, and be sure to be attentive during classes to show my full engagement. I look forward to a great learning experience and I appreciate Mr. Fairchild’s interest in teaching me the content of this

There are many languages around the world. Nobody can control where they are going to be born. People even cannot choose what language they spoke. People cannot choose their mother language. Everybody can decide which language to speak as a second languages. No one wants to leave home where they grew up and had friends. This is a very difficult decision for people. Unfortunately, there are many situations that force people to immigrate to other countries including religion, economics, and political situations. When people move to a new country, it is necessary to adapt to live. First of all, they need to speak the language of the country where they moved to. Our family decided to immigrate from Russia to the USA because of the Communist government.

Almost Eight weeks have elapsed since the start of English Composition and in these short eight weeks, I have absorbed a tremendous amount of information that I will be taking with me in my pursuit of a college degree. I have mentioned many times in this class that I have been absent from college for almost twenty-five years. Restarting the educational process has not been an easy undertaking. English Composition, in particular, has been a problematic area for me, currently and historically. Gratefully, throughout this class, I have been given valuable instruments that I can take along with me class by class. Through the last eight weeks of this term, I have regained some footing I lost through the years with the aid of the tools presented in this class. The use of the eLearning material by MindEdge as well as the continuing support of Professor Morrison and my fellow students through the utilization of the discussion board has enabled me to flourish beyond my expectations.