Reflective Reflection Essay

Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.

As the semester comes to a close, it is always interesting to look back and reflect on the events and opportunities my English class has given me throughout my first semester as a whole. At the beginning of this semester it was evident that I was feeling uncomfortable due to the adjustment that I was going through as a student moving to college. It was very difficult expressing myself through my writing since I was nervous about good impressions and my good grade. While this class was one of the most difficult courses that I have taken this far, it has become quite evident to me that I have grown a substantial amount as a writer and as a person; Especially, when it came to explaining my ideas, writing academic essays, and making arguments.

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

From the early beginning of the school year to the current day, my writing skills and knowledge have improved and broadened over time. If not drastic, the change is noticeable nevertheless. For almost an entirety of eighth grade, assignments of varying difficulty challenged me to a degree. To be frank, some seemed as though they were beyond my comprehension and ability. However, determination amalgamated with knowledge obtained in advance helped me to overcome my doubts, for I exceeded my expectations; surprisingly good grades and comments are a delight, owing to the fact of that I don’t tend to think of myself as being proficient at writing. Consequently, the assignments given to me this school year shaped me into who I am as a writer.

This semester of writing has been truly interesting for me. Being able to write within a topic that interests me has made the process more exciting and engaging. I can see this growth in my papers this semester, but I feel that other, perhaps, cannot. It is true that the mechanics of my writing have improved and I am more able to articulate my thoughts and position. However, the real improvement, that other may not see, has been in my self-esteem and confidence in my own writing skills. I chose my sixth writing assignment as my example of progress for a variety of reasons. The two most prominent reasons are that it is one of my later assignments, and, therefore, will represent the most recent evidence of my progress and that it received my highest grade of all of my assignments.

During this semester in English 107, I have progressed more as a writer. Before I went to University of Arizona, my writing was rigid. I wrote five-paragraph TOEFL style essay all the time in my high school life. After I attended in English 107, I was not confident about my writing skill. Throughout these three projects we have done, I become more and more confident about my writing skill than before. The Student Learning Outcomes also helped me to grow as a writer a lot. In these goals, I did well on several of them, but I still need to work on the other goals.

The assignments in this class have shown me that I’m a better writer than I initially thought. The assignments have where I have improved, areas where I still need to improve, and how skills developed here can transfer into other courses.

This class has taught me multiple things other than improving my writing. I learned how to work with different people for a common goal, which was to complete our project and pass this course. However, things didn’t go as smoothly as I had expected, all of my partners were taking a few different courses and time was crucial to us. Summer school being a fast session did put us up against great obstacles but in the end we all prevailed and completed our portion of the work.

From the first assignment to the last, I realized that my writing process has changed a lot. I usually write my papers in my room, whether on a desk or on my bed. I did not organize my thoughts as eloquently as I should have. My ideas were more sporadic, and I did not give myself as much time to write it out. In addition, I was more worried about the page limit rather than the content of my work. Similar to the other assignments, I did not start my process with an outline. I went straight towards writing my paper without giving any structure, which did not help with the organization of my papers in this class.

When I enrolled in this class, I was sure that it will influence the way I write and read. I have a relatively large experience with academic writing and reading; still, I would have benefited even from slight improvements in my approach, methods, and techniques I use for writing and reading assignments. Because of this class my reading, writing, and thinking processes became more efficient.

For this assignment I decided I wanted to learn who I was as a writer and as a person. It was a hard process to decide how I could ever do that and then I came up with a bright idea. I decided to go search through one of my google drives and see if there was any writings I could pull up and look at. And a few weeks before I started this class my best friend from my highschool back at home sent me pictures of a piece I wrote to my future self in the freshman year. So I took it from there and ended up really enjoying it.

It’s a typical October in Davis in the year of 2015, and you’re an eager, impatient first-year student enrolled in the writing program of university. You’ve been telling yourself that you must be a sponge and absorb whatever there is to learn, but so far you haven’t been satisfied with anything you have written. Your “Recycled” file is overflowing with false starts. One moment you feel defeated, the next, exhilarated. Every piece of writing matters too much, or too little. You’re in a hurry to get on with grown-up college life. You type too quickly and read too slowly. You tell yourself that for every window you’ve ever looked through, there’s a story to tell. Every night when closing your laptop screen you start to think about one question: How do I really want my writing to be? To reveal both of my personality and voice? Or to show how I perceive the audience? How do people really think of my writing?

Throughout the semester, I was asked to summarize, respond to, analyze, and build upon the works of others.The transition from high school English to college English was an obstacle to overcome. Throughout the semester, I was given a multitude of feedback on different pieces to improve my writing. My writing drastically improved from high school to college and will continue to change in the expanse of the semester and the remainder of my college career. Through the feedback of Professor Valley and my Writing Fellow, Emily, I have improved in my writing through including more specific details, stronger vocabulary, improved organization, and being able to better identify problems in my own writing.

Reflection is they key to growing and developing any new skill. With teaching being such a complex skill that involves many layers of practice and theory, it requires equally in depth reflection in a variety of formats. Watching my teaching video in front of the class helped me get over my self-consciousness and provided me with a number of action points moving forward. I feel motivated from the character and lesson based glows, challenged by the management based glows, and directed by the detail oriented “next steps” that I received through this feedback session.

Prompt: Science, Mathematics, Computer Science students have the opportunity to specialize in rigorous mathematics, science, and computer science curricula focused on problem-solving skills and research. Students will work with a diverse group of peers to solve mathematical, science, and engineering problems. Please describe yourself as you study, work, and interact in your favorite class or activities related to the focus of Science, Mathematics, Computer Science program. Be specific and choose your words carefully. Your response must fit the space below. Your response may be word processed using font size 12 and pasted in this space.