Reflection Paper

I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.

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

On September 6, 2017, I were documented for an incident that involved a University Housing policy violation. I was charged with violating the University Housing Alcohol 1.2 policy. With my violation, came consequences. I met with The Residence Conduct Coordinator to discuss my actions and came to the conclusion that I would have to schedule a meeting with The Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC) and with that, a reflection paper.

I came into this class expecting to fly through it to complete the necessary credits for college. I got instead was an education through writing that will help me further myself in my future career choices. I wish that I had only worked harder on the essays I was given to write to help my grades and future even more. I valued the lessons and instruction on the different forms of essays that came from attending this class. My next step is to continue that path that was made possible with the skills that I have acquired from this course.

Wow, where do I begin? When I first came into this class I assumed it was just another boring writing class that I just needed to walk away with an A in. Boy did I walk away with more. The main things I came away with were that writing is a way to express myself when I don’t have the voice to say it. Sometimes it's much easier to write my ideas on paper and later find the proper word choice to bring it all together. I became my biggest critic, whether it was about using the correct word choice or correcting my paper and realizing that my sentences weren’t flowing smoothly. Those are pretty big components to writing. So yes, I’d say this class changed my outlook on writing.

In conclusion, I had a great time in this class. I have developed in my writing skills and the confidence I have in my writing abilities; this semester has taught me some key life skills that go past a simple English but skills that will be applied.

From taking this course I have been able to improve many of my weaknesses, but there are still some that I need to work on. Overall I am becoming better at not procrastinating as much as I used to. This class has helped me to learn to take the little steps along the way because then there will not be as much work to do towards the end. This has also made me realize that the final product of my writing will turn out better because it will have had more time to develop, which means that there would have been more opportunities to proofread. I think by learning many styles of writing, such as paraphrasing, summarizing, analyzing, and researching; it has enabled me to be able to write more broadly. By knowing how to correctly use all of these kinds of writing styles, it will help me in the future for other classes because I will have the knowledge that I need to write these types of papers. I still procrastinate sometimes, but not as much as I used to. I will be able to improve on this as time goes along because I will become more motivated by seeing the end result, which usually would be better grades.

I have heard my professor state before, that education is a right not a favor, education is an important tool that should be taught to all students fairly. In a perfect world all students will enter a classroom with full bellies, a goodnights rest, and an eager mind ready to learn; however, we do not live in a perfect world. Some students enter a room hungry, tired, many thoughts running through their head, more energy than they can handle, or even they cannot walk and are being wheeled into the classroom. For this class I have read two very interesting books about smart young men who encountered many challenges at school and at home. John Elder is a bright young man who grew up during a time period where teachers, his parents, or even doctors were not quite sure why he was not like other children. As I was reading I asked myself many questions, but I had one very important one that stood out among them all, would I be the teacher to dig deeper and try to understand why this intelligent student is failing his classes? Blake also faced challenges that made me question what I would do if I were in his or even his teachers shoes.

Every little experience in life molds and defines the human you would become as it pushes you towards your destiny. Leaving my native country was hopeful and a thing of joy for me; as I was a newly wedded wife extremely excited to join her husband in California. Unfortunately, my relationship came to an end with me barely walking out with my life. This heartbreaking experience was a kick in the teeth. As I once read your setback is the platform for your come back. That was the genesis of my coming to Houston as I sort out what’s next for me.

I was 12 years old when I started to play volleyball. I can remember going to the gym for the first time bounces echoing off the walls for the balls being played. Before this, I was a competitive cheerleader for 4 years and had made it to the highest level possible. Hearing the crowd roaring wit =h every hit trick was what I lived for. My friend from my neighborhood finally connived me to try out volleyball and go to a camp. When I got there I remember always doing cheer moves on the volleyball court. In one drill we had to throw the ball across the room “bang bang” went the ball as I hit the back wall every time. The coaches were so impressed and immediately started talking off my parent's ear after the camp.

This last trimester I attended the class, Introduction to College Writing. I enjoyed the class and enjoyed the challenges the class brought. I have always loved to write papers, but my grade did not always reflect my enthusiasm. I took honors classes most of my high school career, learning how to write a very specific type of essay, with strict structures and numerous restrictions. This class taught me how to write different types of papers, and put my personality into the paper. I am ready for English 102 due to the skills that I acquired during this course.

“The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."” Upon hearing this my life was forever changed. I couldn’t understand or comprehend why God, God being all knowing and almighty, would have to make a bet with the devil in the book of Job. God began to lose me after this scripture, I had questions before, but this rocked my core and destroyed any doubt I had in my inquiry. It was in this moment I began on a path that would lead me away from Christianity and to Voodoo.

Since the beginning of the semester, my writing has changed and evolved to accommodate and sustain longer essays. With longer essays, there is more room for in-depth analysis. Further analyzing a topic has led me to findings that I did not know existed. As I continue to write, I uncover addition and superior methods to approach my writing to the benefit of me and therefore, my audience. Throughout the semester, I have incorporated techniques to further my narrative throughout my writing.

I had no doubt this class would be more challenging than any other english class I have taken, but the structure helped tremendously. Before we learned a single thing in this class, we had to write two essay. One was to see where we stood, in terms of our writing ability, and the other was our first official paper. After we wrote the second essay, it was time to learn. We spent the next couple week learning and practicing the skills required to write a good paper. After that we had the opportunity to go back and fix our essay. This was so helpful for me, and it truly made the class much easier. I saw how horrible my writing was, and I was able to fix what needed to be changed. If the class structure was arranged in any other way, I would not have taken as much knowledge from it.

At the beginning of this class I was nervous on how this semester will go and whether or not I will succeed to my fullest potential in English. With that in my mind I still was trying my best to work at getting better, despite how much it made me cringe at the thought of it. My perspective of writing began to change as time went on, the assignments were based on interesting topics which made it a bit bearable for me. I’ve learned that you have to make the steps to get to the perfect paper. A paper requires you to brainstorm, make an outline, and writing your rough draft to get that feedback you need before finishing up that final draft. During this class I have also learned where to put my thesis and that I don’t need to have that three point subtopics of what you should talk about. The writing length started getting longer and I was a bit skeptical on how I can get to the word count or what will I talk about within my papers, but I have