Reflection About Reading And Reflection

In Dan Berrett’s article “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing”, published in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 21, 2014, the author describes some issues regarding writing that first-year students face. Berrett claims that “the students’ notions about writing” do not meet their instructors’ expectations. I, as a freshman in university, agree with most of the author’s ideas. However, there are flaws in the article, which make it less convincing.

Lewis notes that, “The incoming freshman have very poor skills to begin with, and that sets a new set of goals for the instructors on the basic courses.” As Nevarez mentions, he believes dual credit courses are conditioning students to think that they are good writers, without knowing exactly how to become a good writer. Nevarez offers a solution to this problem by explaining that, “Dual-credit courses are conditioning students to think they are good writers, through contextual writing assignments and syntactical lesson plans. However, they do not teach them to think and write critically in any subject or area. Looking into dual-credit classes being offered at different schools, the instructional methods seem to rely on the basis that expertise in syntax is essential for college education. This ideology does not mirror the expectations of university instructors, as noted by Lewis. Their biggest concern is for students to be able to think and write critically. We need a shift from the traditional contextual writing curriculum in dual-credit courses, to a grounded theoretical and pragmatic writing curriculum. With this new implementation, the curriculum will have to be structured in a reading- and

I feel strongly and I am convince that the fact that I had a headache and blocked sinuses affected my learning during the course time.

I sat in my fourth grade classroom staring at the bookshelf when suddenly I caught a glimpse of a dark blue book with a heroic being on the front. I lifted the heavy book and began reading Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. As soon as I started I fell into this mythical world where gods, monsters, and heroes all existed. It was a rollercoaster through my emotions. The thrill. The suspense. The surprising new book had a grasp on me, to stop reading it would be difficult. I felt attached. As soon as I started, I finished. Devastated, my chase of this feeling has never stopped, no other book has given me the same fulfillment as Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. As a young reader I would love to find the same joy and thrill (as I did back

At the beginning of this Writing Composition course, I hardly had any expectations besides the excessive amount of essay assignments. Up until this course, I had only considered that this was any other ordinary writing class. My experiences with writing classes and essays have not been a fun one because I have always seen it as an annoying task. Recently, this narrow perception of mine has gradually deteriorated because of my experience in this course. I have realized that writing isn’t just another assignment, but it is a place where one can express their opinions, emotions, and experiences. This course has helped me develop my strengths like my development of thoughts and organization skills while being able to acknowledge my weaknesses like having trouble stating two positions and having biased opinions. Due to this recent realization, I have been able to get a better insight of my writing skills and a new perspective of writing classes.

In my second attempt at English class I realized after the first couple classes that writing was no longer some magical formula you could follow and if you did you would pass. “For some it will come as a surprise to learn that reading and writing have no transformative powers.”

Although I’ve had quite a bit experience with writing classes because most Broward College classes are writing classes, I’ve never enjoyed them, writing isn’t really my thing. As soon as class is over I tend brain dump everything. My first writing class at Broward College was an English class that mainly helped with grammar and how to set up an essay. Some of the classes I took at Broward College were better than others. I took a geography class that was a writing class, but the writing consisted of was answering a few questions about videos I watched, in fact most of the classes taken that were not English classes consisted of this. English classes did actually help me in understanding how an essay should be written, but it did not actually

When first coming to Introduction to College Writing, I was nervous. I didn’t know anyone and nobody knew me. One thing I did know was that I was going to be writing tons of papers. As the class began on the first day everybody looked tense, but the professor made everyone feel comfortable. She told us that we were going to be writing 3 important essays and that we were going to improve as writers. When I wrote my first essay, I expected a decent grade. When I got my paper back, it wasn’t what I expected at all. This made me understand that most of the things in college are nothing like the things in high school. The professors won’t care if a student doesn’t come to class or if a student doesn’t do homework. Students have to be accountable and take care of themselves.

During my first semester attending Auburn University, I took an English Composition class. This course taught me many things not only about necessary writing skills, but also many things about myself. The class also showed me how important it is to research and embrace unfamiliar subcultures and communities. English Composition required me to produce three papers –two of them I am very proud of. Throughout the course of writing each assignment, I developed a connection with the subject matter of each piece. I believe I have learned what is expected of a college level writer. All of the skills I have acquired from this course have molded me into an adequate writer and a well-rounded student.

“I either go to television or turn on the radio in my car” (Whitefield 2011). Before I started this class, that is what I thought about when someone asked me “Do you keep up with the news?”. Most people do not get the opportunity to learn about what is going on around the world in their everyday lives and how they can help out. I feel that being in this class I got the chance to learn more about life and what is happening everywhere, not just insignificant matters such as who Kim Kardashian is now dating or why Kylie Jenner got more lip injections, I am learning about the important things. I am getting the chance to learn about how I can participate in the world to make big changes because of reading The New York Times, “Why Local Newspapers,” and “Freedom is Intended as a Challenge.”

Entering a new and unfamiliar place, a burst of cold air hit my skin like a gust of wind on a stormy night. Awaking my nerves, the wind reminded me of where I was. Within my sight, there were roughly twenty other people anxiously walking down the hallway. Feeling relieved, I noticed many of the other students were walking to their first day of college classes as well. At the time of entering my first college class, College Writing One, I did not think there would be anything special about it. This thought, as I found out, would be entirely wrong. Pushing my ideas and knowledge to the edge, I soon found out that College Writing One would be a special class. Obtaining countless knowledge through the reading of essays, class discussions, and even

Many college students do not enjoy writing. They look at writing as a trivial task that is required in courses that are within the field of study of English and liberal arts. However, writing is essential to all fields of study, whether big or small. This isn’t known to all college students; they neglect to see the aspects of writing in their particular field of study before pursuing it. I am familiar with this problem. I began my college journey as a pre-Business Administration student. I had no idea what types of writing were involved in my major. I thought that I’d only be writing for my English and General Education(GE) courses. I did and do enjoy writing, so I never thought of writing as a chore. As I complete my major’s pre-requisite courses, I thought of the role of writing in my field of study, which is Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems(MIS.)

I’ve always thought of myself as an above average writer. Why wouldn’t I considering the praise I’d get from teachers, professors, parents and friends alike? Consequently, English became one of my favorite subjects. With little effort put forth I received exemplary marks on all my work and easily earned the approval of my English teachers. However, things began to change upon my arrival at the University of Georgia. I took my first college-level English class during my second semester of freshman year and much of the same held true, but suddenly I had to spend more than one night to create a piece worthy of an A. It was at that time that I realized that I’d completely ignored the writing process in previous years. I didn’t even really see is at a process rather more of a one and done task. I did little to no planning and my first draft was essentially my final draft. However, my ways of thinking about writing in a classroom setting changed upon my enrollment in Advanced Composition. Before, when I pictured an English class I automatically envisioned reading prose or poetry, analyzing it, and writing a paper that backed up a claim surrounding the work, but this class challenged my conventional idea of an English class. Coming into this I thought we were limited to a standard essay, but by broadening our choice of genre and topics I was able to take creative liberties and grow as a writer. Taking this class made me realize the room for

When I signed up for this class (at the last minute, I should add, after dropping out of an economics class), I had no idea what to expect from a college-level creative writing course. I was excited to write creatively as a part of a group of like-minded people, but I wondered about the academic aspect of the class: what exactly would I learn about writing itself, and how would I learn it? Looking back now, I realize that through my interactions with the readings we did, my critique of others work, and the feedback I received on my own pieces, I have expanded my depth of knowledge on what is required to create great writing, and, perhaps most importantly, I have learned that great writing can take a variety of forms.

Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s