English 101 Reflection

In one semester of English 101 I have learned so many things about writing. I used to believe that writing was just putting words on paper, but have since learned that writing is much more than that, I now understand that writing is a way of exploring my mind and of making connections with other writers and readers. Over the course of the semester I have been learning to write in a way that uses the skills of reflection, critical thinking, and much more. I have used these skills to compose two academic essays that I am submitting in a portfolio to determine my final grade in English 101. In order to have a passing final grade my essays need to display skills I have learned in the course that are required by the Portfolio Assessment Rubric or

The reason I use such personal examples is because I think that it will help the readers of my essay understand that originality is something that I have experienced as being difficult to achieve. I feel that if I make personal connections in my writing other people will be more apt to connect to my writing, and interpret their own meaning. At the start of my English course I tried to not make personal connections in my writing; I thought it was unacceptable to do so at the college level since it was unacceptable in my high school English classes. After only two classes I realized that the English 101 class I was in was asking me to explore my own thoughts and interpretations of texts so that I would be prepared to write this very critical