Reflective Essay: Course Analysis

English class has never been my strong suite. I always had to work twice as hard in English then I did in any other class. Writing paper always had me stressed and overwhelmed, I felt discouraged in my work. l never seemed to be able to get to the level I wanted to. I would try my hardest and paid attention in class, but when it came to writing the paper none of that seemed to help. I think that my experience in English Composition 1 has helped gain and grow in some areas, but I don’t think that it highlights a well-written college essay. Some elements that I worked to improving was introduction paragraphs, tone, style, and thesis statements.

Over the course of this semester I learned a lot about myself as a writer. This English 101 class has really allowed me to expand my essay structure and ways of thinking. This was my first college writing course and it has given me much more freedom when writing because in high school I felt limited and like what we were writing was not very important. In high school I would write essays to just to fulfill the required word or page count and to a degree I still feel like this but maybe that is why I am an engineering major but in this course I actually was able to express my ideas and for the first time really test the limits of my writing capabilities. I really enjoyed being able to incorporate my voice more in my essays and I believe

This course was comprised of many learning activities; each was designed to help me achieve the course learning outcomes. I have taken two college English classes in the past; however, it has been several years since my last college class. I have some experience in writing and this class definitely helped me get back into writing. I often have trouble brainstorming and capturing the subject I need to write about. This class definitely helped me overcome the challenges I faced in writing and being able to effectively express my ideas in a clear and concise manner. Not to mention, it definitely helped build my writing foundation through a step by step approach to each assignment. Therefore, this class bolstered my writing and communication skills.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

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.

Hi my name is Alberta Nemeth, I am a freshmen here at Lamar Institute of Technology. I believe I will learn from this course how to write a perfect essay using proper english, grammer, and punctuation. I also think that I will leant how to capture, persuade, and respond in all of my essay's that I may have to write, along with any projects I may have in the near future.

I learned a very broad variety of English skills in my English 101 class. From the time of doing research before writing an essay, I wrote from the reader’s perspective, considering first what the reader would be benefited from hearing. I discovered methods of writing so that the reader would be able to easily follow my ideas and see connection between them. Along with that, I learned to actively read what others have to say, alter my writing based off of them, and courageously participate in the academic conversation. During this English 101 class, I acquired necessary English skills to participate in the academic conversation.

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that there was not just one significant learning experience from this course. I enjoyed the variety of readings and the conversations with classmates. Developing papers to convey my thoughts and provide supporting evidence, has helped me become a better writer. Though, I am far from being a superb writer, this course provided the opportunity to further develop my writing skills.

Unit 3 exam has been graded and updated in Canvas for your viewing. I am contacting you to inform you that Elijah did not do as well as I hope he would. Just as a reminder per the syllabus, exam corrections for partial credit can be completed up to five school days after the exam is given back. I recommend that Elijah see me during advisory to review and make the corrections together, so we can correct any misunderstanding or misconceptions about the material. Exam 3 will be returned this week.

During this semester, I have learned a great deal about my own writing, and writing in general. One of the main takeaways from this course for me was how to break down the intricate process of writing papers. In addition, I developed viable skills regarding going into more in-depth detail during each step of the writing process. I enjoyed having the freedom to write about a topic that I was able to choose. This allowed me to research and write about something that actually interested me immensely. Having to work with one topic for the entire semester taught me how to find reliable resources and how to pick out the essential research from each article.

Now that I have completed the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth course Crafting the Essay, I feel I have tremendously grown as a writer. Even after submitting the first assignment, I looked back at a position paper I wrote for school that I received an A+ on, yet I saw several flaws I wished I had changed.

When I first started the class I was struggling a lot. Since English is my second language, I had many stressful moments that made me think about dropping my classes. But when I thought about my future, I just kept studying even harder, waiting for my performance to improve. As a result, I felt like every time I wrote an essay, it got easier, which tells me that I’m on the right path. In addition, this class has helped me improve my grammar, taught me an important life lesson about sticking on my goal and helped me to enhance my computer skills

Without a doubt the lessons and exercises on time management were the most meaningful to me. They brought insight into why I seemed to be constantly working yet still never really got anything I wanted to accomplish throughout the day finished. I realized the majority of the activities I had been spending the most time on didn’t reflect my values of hard work and self discipline and long term academic goals to be successful in college. This motivated to completely change the way I managed my time by effectively striking a balance between my maintenance, committed, and free time.

“Be a reflective teacher. Honestly look at what you do from time to time. Evaluate the purpose of your role as a teacher.” (Robert John Meenham, 2011)

Since beginning to write papers in English class, I have had countless successes and failures. While many of my English classes have taught me how to improve my writing, I have not learned very much in others. My most recent English class was last year, my sophomore year. My class was particularly undersized; therefore, it gave each student the opportunity to have additional individual attention. Throughout the class I experienced high points, weaknesses, and even difficulties that I never overcame. Overall, my writing skills improved, but only marginally.