English class reappears on my schedule each year, and I normally set one goal for the class, to pass it with an “A+”. This quarter surpassed my expectations by a mile, and I learned many helpful strategies for writing a more organized and intelligent paper. The class transformed my boring left brained mind into a more creative right sided mind, in the way I begin and write my essays. Each paper I wrote throughout this quarters demonstrates my improvement as a writer. Mrs. Carlson taught me easy ways to steer clear of to be verbs, how to use commas correctly, and how to correctly cite in MLA. The class consisted of a plethora of homework and hard work, and even though Mrs. Carlson gave us these difficult assignments I maintained an “A” the entire quarter. I deserve to graduate from English 101 because my writing improved greatly over the quarter, including, to be verbs removal, less simple sentence starts, and correct citations.
I struggled in using an excessive amount of to be verbs while writing my first essay of the quarter, “Metacognitive Query”, adding up to 19 in this 494 word essay. I basically used a to be verb every 26 words. Throughout the quarter, Mrs. Carlson taught my class strategies to avoid writing with to be verbs, including rephrase, flip, replace and show, and omit. After I finally completed a rough draft for my last essay, “Research Essay”, I skimmed it and implemented these strategies to remove to be verbs. In the end, I only included 5 to be verbs in
English Composition I has developed my style of writing and my skills analyzing and researching topics to write a piece about a topic. Throughout the course, I got better at analyzing articles and pieces to get the meaning of the topic. With that improved skill I was more able to use the information given from the text and install it into my essays, with proper citation if needed. Before taking the English Composition course, I was not one to organize my essays in an ordeal order to clearly state the point of the work. Now with taking the course, I have learned to organize my essays, examine research for a topic, and develop an essay with proper mechanics, and revising skills. In writing my personal, review, analytical, and cultural
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
The information learned in English 111 will have a major impact in my life. This class was created to teach students how to properly write and understand different genres of writing, and to emphasize the importance of writing. As many of us continue our educational paths, it will be critical to understanding the fundamentals of writing, and I am positive this class will be a great steppingstone. This My goal is not to achieve an A in this class, but to achieve success in this subject and leave with information I will use for my benefit.
Even the smallest changes to a paper can become a great improvement. From the first papers completed at beginning of this course to the last papers submitted far more recently, my sentence structure, grammar, and syntax visibly improved. During the first few weeks of the course I struggled with the exclusion of verbs and tenses I used far more often than I realized. “Using passive voice to avoid attribution is, therefore, a problem. Fortunately, the solution to avoiding passive voice is relatively simple: use active verbs (Smith, 80).” After my professor informed me of my mistakes, I took advantage of the opportunities given to rewrite my papers, even when I received an acceptable grade to begin with. By doing this I found ways to improve my writing even more and followed Mrs. Patria’s guidance until I felt that I completely fulfilled the requirements. An example of this: the four word movie essay written about Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow originally received a grade of ninety percent, but when I chose to rewrite it I managed to bring the grade up to a ninety-five percent as well as learn from my mistakes.
There are many changes needed in high school’s English classes across the country to prepare students for college writing classes. The high school teachers need to start preparing their students for college level work from their freshman year in high school. However, they do not need to teach the things they already know otherwise they will have difficulties in college. In college students have hard times understanding the material because they understand something different then what their professor wants them to understand. There are many changes my former high school need to make versus my high school. The changes my former high school English classes needs to make are the vocabulary, sentence structure, and the important of Citation.
English has never been my strong suit. I always hated English simply, because I never concerned myself as a writer. I always stuck to the bare minimum and was pleased to know that I passed. I honestly never tried hard in English because I never felt good enough. I did not see myself as a confident writer and I am not sure I ever will. Since, being enrolled in English 201, it supplied some challenges that I was not ready for and felt unsuited for. Along the way, I learn some valuable lessons that I will utilize in my college career.
As my freshman year of college comes to a close, I reflect on my two English courses this year. I have learned a lot these last two semester in my english 101 and 102 classes. English 101 focused a lot on different types of papers, while English 102 focused mainly on taking what we learned from a reading and analysing and interpreting of stories and poems we read. Looking back at my high school English days, I believe I had made major improvements in my writing abilities between these two semesters.
English 101 was a general education course I had to be enrolled in. I personally chose this section number because it was the last one available in the morning and didn't interfere with my job and other class. My overall experience was great, it's a great environment if you put the time and effort to advance in your reading and writing abilities. I believe I have came along way compared to the work and effort I gave in the beginning of the class. Looking back at what I've accomplished in this course I feel like an appropriate grade to receive would be a B.
It’s hard to believe that my amazing journey in English 104 is coming to an end. The journey has been so much more enjoyable than I initially expected. I have tried to avoid taking English 104 numerous times because reading and writing have not been my strong points. Each time I attempted to take this course, I dropped it due to a particular instructor style, or a boring set of literary materials. This time around was different, as I set my goal to obtain my bachelor degree in Business Administration by the end of this summer. Therefore, I was determined to force my way through this class no matter what challenges I had to endure. To my pleasant surprise, this class was much better than the
When I arrived to Dr. Singleton’s Identity, Cultures, and Democracy class in September, I had no idea what importance the name of the course held in my life. Now, nearly completed the course, I see the importance of the course’s title and how impactful each word is to me. The two terms that were used most often throughout the semester were “American Dream” and “Culture”. After extensive conversations regarding the American Dream and Culture, I have a new perspective for each that will forever serve me well on my journey through college and life in general. The definition of the American Dream mentioned in class is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work,
This year, my English class felt like a major transition from last year’s Civilization and Literature class, as one concept that was put into emphasis this year was having your work not entirely based on effort. Middle school English seemed to favor writing with effort and length, despite putting attention to grammar, advanced thinking, and quality content. Consequently, my goal in partaking in the English honors option was to make the transition from “quality over quantity,” and I think I have made an improvement on that goal. My writing isn’t perfect, but it’s improving at a good pace. I believe the extra effort I put into the class, ranging from extra credit opportunities to long-term essays, is making a difference in the quality of my work. Over time, small things I check for in my writing, from being precise in explaining to elaborating on ideas, will benefit me in the long run as I continue my education here at BHS and college. My strengths in English are my inventive and resourceful thinking process, and my diligent work ethic to complete assignments to the best of my ability. Yet, not everything in my work for the class is perfect, similar to my writing. I can put in plenty of time to write a paper, but still, miss the mark when it comes to a certain area of writing. My struggles in English are my confidence in my work and trying to maintain clear and precise writing. Looking at my portfolio, not every assignment received an A or A+, and that's not necessarily a bad
Like most new occasions in life, you must go in with an open mind and remain possessing this sort of mindset throughout the duration of the encounterment. This is the tactic I chose in regards to this class, English Composition 1. The reason I say this is because of one specific reason and one specific reason only. That reason being: I haven't always had the best luck with English professors in and throughout grade school. Attempting not to pick fun, I have not always been a huge advocate for my past professor’s teaching styles. A common response to this may be “That’s your issue.” And it is undoubtedly my personal issue that I had to come to terms with. If my learning style differs to that of a professor’s, it is my responsibility to alter things. For example, my senior year of high school, I qualified to be apart of Advanced Placement (AP) Writing. It was a class, in which you were required to meet certain criteria upon admission. They looked at things like your ACT score, in regards to both Reading and Writing, as well as your overall academic performance. Within this class, students were able to qualify for contests, in hopes that their essay was chosen as the best. That being said, I was given the opportunity to read my commemoration essay in front of the entire school and many visitors on Veterans Day my senior year of high school. My essay is still being used as an example for the up and coming AP students, in regards to the commemoration unit within this class.
Speech. The English language has been hard for me to grasp. It still is today, in many ways. Of course, I have grown to love it and accept it, even indulge, in the challenge it presents. This did not come naturally, though. As a young child, I had a speech impediment. It was hard for me to make myself understood, even less so through my writing. Not only was it hard for me to write, but also to read. As a result, from the time I was four years old to the time I was nine years old, I worked with speech tutors and attended special reading classes to improve my speed and comprehension. In the end, it made me come to love the English language and its different sounds and compositions. However, struggling with this early ineptitude for it had
When I enrolled in this on-line English 101 summer course, I was a bit hesitant and nervous, as I wasn’t sure what to expect. I prefer the physical element of a classroom setting with other students, which provides the visual, hands on environment, allowing me to focus strictly on the subject. The on-line class was the only option available; therefore, I decided to give it a go. I was concerned as this was my first on-line class and I wasn’t familiar with the process.
I’ve been writing essays and reading books ever since I could remember. Starting out, I didn’t exactly like English class as a whole subject. I was always more interested in math, science, and history. English was always a boring subject to me. As I grew older and older and got to experience much more English classes I’ve found myself digging deeper and deeper to find better books to read and more interesting essay subjects to write about. As an English student, I’ve discovered how much my thoughts on essays has changed, what types of books I enjoy reading, and what my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to English.