Reflective Essay on College Writing

Though out this class I learned a lot, I never really read much poetry and did not realize how much meaning poems can have. I am glad that we read so many different types and styles of poems and books. It really helped me get a well rounded understanding of poetry. My favorite unit was the collection unit. The other poems we read taught me a lot about the other topics we touched on as well. Before this class I never really gave poetry much thought, this class opened up my eyes to how important poetry really is.

The one idea that drew me to a liberal arts college was the ability to take a wide breadth of classes from all disciplines. I hope to receive not just facts and memorization out of my education, but applications to other subjects and even daily activities. A prominent example of this is my potential major, physics. To prepare for an eventual career in the scientific field, this semester I am pursuing research in physical oceanography. Also, I joined the physics club in order to extend my learning outside the classroom, in addition to using this club as an opportunity to seek out like-minded individuals who also share a passion for science.

As for college so far this year, my writing has improved. English 101 has taught me more about developing my papers than what I previously knew about writing. Revision is an important part when finalizing any of my papers. As I wrap up writing each essay, going back over it to make sure that it all the readers will understand the point of the paper. As this semester comes to an end, I am able to gain insight of structure through the significance of the PIE format, more organized ideas, and rereading sentences with correct use of grammar.

Throughout the semester I learned and overcame many different things. Writing has never been a strength of mine, but as the semester went on I started to enjoy writing the papers assigned to us. I overcame my problem with procrastination and not giving myself enough time to plan out my papers. I also learned what content is important when it comes to certain types of papers and how important peer reviews really are.

In the summer of 2015 I received a full scholarship to attend Jonathan R. Reynolds Young Writers Workshop at Denison University, an opportunity that shaped a simply hobby into an enduring passion. As a writer, I am highly critical of my work, however being accepted to the eight-day program merely by my own literary merit definitely served as an example that not only am I capable of writing something worthy, but that I have the power to achieve any goals laid before me. While I attended the program I greeted 35 peers from California all the way to Zimbabwe, South Africa. My core classes consisted of Fiction and Poetry, where I was taught by award winning authors and poets. To be honest, I felt entirely inadequate the first few days. Here I was

Chapter 7 in Writing and Revising talks about strategies for developing. Developing an essay is a great way to back up the points you make in the essay with evidence that can pull the reader into what they are reading. One way is to give examples. When you give examples, you show the reader that your points make sense. You can start by giving examples of things that happen in your past, or you can use examples of things you get off of research. Providing details is another way to develop an essay. Giving details can make any image seem real for the reader. The details that you provide should be true to what the readers might see, hear, or experience in that situation. The details in the essay must also serve a purpose and they have to support the idea you are trying to get across to the reader.

I understand how the dialectical journals and discussions were put in place to benefit us as a class but they had pushed me away from wanting to read the books assigned. Having annotations and worksheets helps me want to learn more and allow me to flow through the book rather than having to stop when I find something I find interesting and spend a few minutes trying to put a response together. But writing the essays had been easier having the quote the page the quote was on. The discussions were pretty great when I had a group that is. Being able to talk about the quotes and how we felt about the book helped understand the book more and give

Throughout the poetry analysis unit, I learned lots of things about the poems. I learned how to look at, analyze, and write a poem. My whole perception of poems changed, and I am really happy about it. Before this unit, I used to attach importance to only the meaning of the poems; however, right now, I can attach importance to more than one device in a poem, and use them in my own poems.

I took anatomy and physiology course to get a better understanding about the human body. I became a teachers assistance in biochemistry course which helped me solidified the chemical and biological pathways in our body. I started volunteering at copper point church which better helped me with my communication skills and increased my sense of belonging in New Mexico. I gained more clinical experience by continuing shadowing at Innovage. i started working at highland compounding pharmacy which also gave me a different experience than retail pharmacy. I gain more knowledge about compounded medications and their use. I became the DAT( Disaster Action Team) responder for the night shift at red cross. I started volunteering at joy junction to help

Through the assignments of our active reading journals I learned how to look deeper into thing and really explore their entire meaning. Taking something simple that I read and writing about experiences and what I thought about it really help this ability grow throughout the semester. Through the discussion in this class I learned a lot more about each chapter. I looked forward to the discussion because I enjoyed hearing everyone else’s way of thinking. Something’s mentioned in the discussion I would have never thought about. Although I didn’t participate in the discussion as much as others I felt like it got better throughout the semester. I have never really been one to open up to big crowds and share my opinion. Due to many reasons. But the discussion allowed me to tear down a little bit of that wall. Both of these experiences are something I know I will experience throughout my entire college career and learning them the first semester is something that will really help me along the way.

Entering in this class it did not know what I did not know. Walking in on the first day of class I had no doubt in my mind that I had a lot to learn. Never in my educational career had I been introduced to the topic of African American literature. Sure, history teachers would talk about slavery and our evolution as a society but never had I looked in depth on the first-hand view of the whole experience. Reading literature from the people who experienced these events truly opened up my eyes. The difference between reading a semi bias history book vs reading a piece of writing by someone who experienced the event gives one a whole other perspective that I had not thought of.

I have had some difficulty adjusting to college writing but some new areas of strength in my typing are: I am getting better with my transition and I did a better decent job with my conclusion but I still have more weaknesses than strengths and some weaknesses of mine are using too many fragments and moving on from thoughts without completing them.

I believe that one of my greatest strengths is my diversity of backgrounds. In college, my contrasting majors of Political Science and Theatre gave me the opportunity to explore topics both analytical and creative in nature. I was heavily involved in our university’s Theatre program, yet at the same time was able to pursue internships with a political campaign and with the House of Representatives, as well as remain active in the school’s Music and Digital Media Arts departments. I graduated cum laude and would go on to participate in both the political and Theatre communities of the Twin Cities on both an amateur and professional level. This background gives me a perspective that is relatively unique, compared to those who may have studied specifically in Business or Human Resources programs for their secondary education.

For all of my life everyone knew me as the kid who payed attention in class and evidently did the most of his learning in class.First one in, last one out was my principle and it was a philosophy I followed for the majority of my life until March 2017. The date more specifically was March 28st, this day was especially important to me because I was able to learn that I had an interest working with kids. Prior to this day, I thought I hated kids, with the exception being ones that I knew. Knowing that I would have to deal with a bunch of energetic kids for the duration of Spring Break if I chose to volunteer at a day camp, was tough to swallow and it really made me question if I truly wanted to graduate. Did I really want to spend 2 weeks

Its crazy to see my journey end with an overview of all the new things I learned about. This mini course has truly changed my perspective on how writing should be looked at instead of just writing paragraphs upon paragraphs. Starting this course I didn’t expect to learn so much about how to write, what to look for, and also different strategies for reading and writing that could help benefit me in college. I thought it was going to be the hardest online course but I soon found out that it’s just preparing me for college and recreate ways for me to better understand what college has in stored for me.