Reflection Essay

It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,

For my tutoring component for READ class, I had the opportunity of continuing to tutor my student Ryken. Eleven-year-old Ryken is an incredibly intelligent student, possessing a large vocabulary, however, he struggles distinguishing phoneme sounds while encoding and decoding. In addition to the phonological issues, Ryken’s eyes were crossed when he was young until he got glasses to help the issue. Because of his delayed literacy skills, his parent asked me to tutor him for two, forty-five minute sessions a week. Utilizing the Wilson reading program, I have had the opportunity to tutor Ryken for about thirty lessons. Throughout this time, I have been able to administer testing, teach teach letter sounds, digraphs, blends, closed syllable exceptions, and multisyllabic words.

Tight turns of hatred, steep slopes of everlasting joy, ups and downs and all arounds, my expedition in learning the writing process, writing my first short story and flipping my table over in agony have been nothing short of a never-ending roller coaster ride. There’s a fine line between love and hate and writing sits right on top it covered in chaotic sprinkles and a nice, big, juicy manic cherry on top. My first memory of writing had been in the first grade where I took a writing class and learned about the writing process. It was done in a silly way to help us remember, “brain drain/jot list, sloppy copy, neat sheet, goof proof, last pass” accompanied by goofy dances as well as playful gestures. It was my first exposure to actual writing and it did not appeal much to me at the time due to the excessive steps. To a six-year-old having to make a list of what I wanted to write about, have relevant ideas for each topic in the list, make a rough draft, revise and rewrite said rough draft, proofread the rough draft and final rewrite it once more into my final copy, was just too much to handle. Walking into my writing class each day left me with the sudden plop feeling you get when the roller coaster takes its first fall down the tracks. I recall handing cramps, complaints, and whines about a one paragraph essay. It was agonizing torture to a little kid, yet I would have complained a lot less if I knew what type of writing was in store for me at the age of eight.

my senior year of high school, I was the FFA president at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School. As president, I tried to make sure everything was done on time, but by the end of the year I was a little worn out. Irritated with having to do everything myself I tried to delegate but still ended up doing mostly everything. My officer team had clocked out for the year and I was upset. Sitting in an officer meeting one day before school, I asked my advisor if there was any chance we could talk to some of the officers about participating more, which was mostly about the officers that never came. Instantly he snapped at me in front of everyone else, including my little sister. In summary he told me I was a bad president and that I blame others for my mistakes. I was so shocked that I didn't even respond. I sat silently crying right next to him avoiding all eye contact. This was when it all started.

Is the glass half full or half empty is a question that many people ask themselves to determine whether they are more optimistic or pessimistic. It is easy to see every glass as half empty, but with a change in your mindset, you can see every glass as being half full. At every football game, cheerleading competition, and band competition, having an optimistic mindset has helped me have a lot more fun than I would have had with a pessimistic mindset.

The challenging 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 be a successful writer throughout college. In high school, essays often gave me anxiety and stress, however, when taking English 10, I was able to learn to enjoy the process and the art 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 get a lot more out of this course. To showcase my progress in this course, I have included my essay from project 2 a rhetorical analysis titled, “Black Lives Matter!” and a research essay from project 3 titled “Why is Racism dangerous?”, which effectively demonstrate my growth as a creative writer, reader, and thinker.

I have always been a person interested with anatomy. Although, when I was younger, I was more concerned about animals (polar bears specifically) to ever take the time to learn more about ourselves. School science classes were the first time that I was actually exposed to human anatomy. From the very beginning I was fascinated. There was one organ in particular that I never wanted to stop learning about; the brain. Whenever teachers in class would stop talking about it I would immediately become slightly less interested in what they were teaching.

Patience is the key in accomplishing anything. My most challenging class this year would be my Math Analysis Honors course. My main struggle was fully understanding the curriculum that I avoided my sophomore year, with Algebra 2 Honors. The curriculum was knowing the domain and range of a graph, I assumed that this notion would stay in Algebra 2 and not follow me into my next math course. Starting off the year, the class was simple as it was review of Algebra 2, however days later I am faced with domain and range. I took tests that dealt with this concept and would always get those specific questions wrong. I remember, my teacher saying how most concepts in math would never go away and would be there when taking math in college. My first thought was getting help right away and was exactly what I did. I stayed after school in the Godinez Grizzly Lounge where I got aid from a tutor who took her time in fully explaining the essential way to understand domain and range. After a couple of weeks attending tutoring sessions with her I felt more confident in working with domain and range and was able to get these questions right on the next test that I had. Learning how to figure out these two concepts on a graph was harder as a result of giving up my previous year. I knew, however that I needed to address the issue differently and that's what I did. Although I may not be an expert, I can now figure it out without having to guess or give up on the question. Aside from a challenging

In freshman year, I have grown intellectually as person. I’ve gained qualities that have helped shape me into a portrait of a graduate. I have learned that to be successful I must have the ability to work with others due to many group oriented projects. Through those projects, I have also come to the conclusion that I must have effective communication with my peers to be successful. However, with that said, it is important to have a strong motivation as an individual. Overall, I have become a better student by being a proficient collaborator, communicator, and goal directed and resilient individual.

As i a still learning i am/did have trouble with this. This time I am going to connect it into one section(I will try and split them up but they may run together)

When I first walked into dual credit composition at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t worried about not doing well in the class. I had always been an exceptional English student, so I thought this would be a breeze for me. However, I soon learned that being good at reading doesn’t necessarily make you good at writing. From my semester in this course, my writing has become better throughout the year through writing in a way that is easier to understand, outlining all my essays, and employing better editing techniques.

Every person on this earth has a past that shapes them and makes them into a unique individual. I am a 19-year-old student who has a life that may seem to have little flaws from the view of an outsider, but in all honesty been a journey of difficult ups and downs. I have found that many of the readings we are required to do in university will not personally touch us or make us reflect deeply on our own lives. This certainly was not the cas e when I read the personal essay titled Ghosts and Voices: Writing from Obsession by Sarah Cisneros’, because I found that I connected on a deeply personal level to three principal aspects of this piece of writing. First of all, I was also ostracised as a younger child, but in a school setting not at home. In those difficult years when I felt like I had no one, I escaped into the worlds created in books and through trying to write my own stories. Secondly, like Cisneros’, I found myself deeply connecting with some of the books I was reading and in them found the girl that I wanted to become. Lastly, this entire piece was how Cisneros’ discovered her voice as a writer. She found that the best way was to write what you know best, basically using your own experiences to draw your readers/audience in, which is also something I am well versed in not only as a writer but also a performing musician. I truly connected with this piece by Cisneros and was able to find many key parallels between our personal lives that really struck a chord with me.

Upon my enrollment in high school, I joined multiple student organizations. I have been a member of my High School’s marching band, the Sound of Pride (SOP), since the eighth grade and have continued to participate every season. I marched both trombone and euphonium before becoming the Assistant Drum Major as a sophomore in the 2016 season. This past season, I was named the band’s Drum Major, becoming the school’s first junior to ever hold the title. After the conclusion of the marching band season, I perform with the TCHS Symphonic Wind Ensemble for both a winter and spring concert. During the spring, I also perform with the TCHS High Tide Steel Pan Band. I have been a member of both bands since freshman year. At the start of my junior year, I became the pianist for the TCHS Chorus. This year, I also joined the TCHS Drama Club and participated in the club-sponsored One-Act Play titled, “The Great American Talent Show.” Finally, the my sophomore year, I was chosen to be one of the six members of the Georgia Secretary of State Student Ambassadors to represent my high school and Tattnall County. Through this program, my team and I educate our community about how our government works and volunteer at local voting polls and municipalities. I was chosen to be a part of this team again at the start of this semester.

I have participated in Acts of Random Kindness club, whose purpose has been to spread positivity in the school environment. High school students encounter a variety of emotions such as anxiety, stress, and drama. Hence, we have done uplifting projects such as putting nice complements inside books. We have also reached out to teachers by delivering messages of appreciation to their mailboxes. Furthermore, I have partaken in Colts for Animals, whose motive was to spread student awareness in regards to animal cruelty. We invited guest a few times speakers to talk about issues relating to animal abuse. Moreover, as a member of Garden club, I have helped in beautifying our campus from watering plants to picking out the weeds to digging up for new plants.

When I first heard we were writing this essay, I honestly thought it was kind of pointless (no offense). I always thought that english class was meant to be analytical, and this paper seemed like it had no real purpose (other than maybe helping with college essays). However, as I was writing I really began to appreciate what this essay allows you to do. English was never my most favorite subject ( I tend to lean towards math and sciences), but this essay felt so easy to write. I really enjoyed how it allowed me to truly reflect on who I am as a person and recognize how and why I am who I am. I think that being able to reflect on who you are can allow you to see what the good parts of you are, what the bad parts of you are, and what the