Reflecting on My English 111 Learning Journey

While in English 111 we completed an annotated bibliography, about 5 or so quizzes, a group project, and three different types of papers. It is my hope that while you are reading this letter, you will gain an understanding of the work I have completed in my English 111 class. Below I discuss the three different papers and classwork assignments I completed in my English 111 at Germanna Community College.

The first paper I wrote in my English 111 class was a compare and contrast paper about gender roles. The instructions of this assignment was to choose a social protest song, whether it be about war or the government, from a different time era (60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s) and juxtapose it to a current song that addresses a comparable topic. I chose the song “Born a Girl” by Manic Street Preaches and “Little Game” by Benny or Ben J. Pierce. I chose to do a compare and contrast essay on gender roles, specifically on the topic of being or thinking

of becoming transgender because I wanted to choose a topic that no one else would cover in the class and is a growing issue in the United States. It is often overlooked due to the fact others don’t understand the topic or because many don’t feel comfortable talking about the subject. Transgender, also called transsexual or transvestite, is defined as “of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth.” (Merriam-Webster.com). I spent a lot of time going through the weekly folders and trying to make this essay the best. However, the thesis statement was not about the music but instead it focused on the topic of gender roles. Consequently, because of this it effected my grade on the paper. My strengths in this essay were my details I included in the introduction. However, my weaknesses in the paper were that I started to turn away from the topic.
The second paper I wrote in English 111 class a narrative paper, which I chose to write about my struggle with depression and bullying in middle school. I personally hate narrative papers to begin with because I prefer research papers over narrative papers any day of the week. Since the narrative paper was so personal I held off on writing it till close to the deadline of when the paper was due. Thus, resulting in the paper sounding like a middle school student wrote it. I should have used more imagery throughout the paper and gone into further details than I did.
The third paper I wrote in my English 111 class was the persuasive paper.

This was my favorite paper to write out of all three of them because I could choose any topic that interested me. However, I do not do so well at writing papers to argument my point or topic since I have never had to write one till now. I chose to do my paper on organ donation and I was trying to convince my readers to become or consider becoming organ donors since there is such a shortage of donors and an increasing number of people being added to the transplant waiting list every day every ten minutes. In the paper, I included the pros and cons about being an organ donor, facts and statistics throughout the paper, the difference between the types of donation, and how to register to be an organ donor and/or how to register to donate your body to science so that medical students can become good future doctors and nurses. My strengths in this essay were all the facts I included throughout the paper and my weakness in this paper was trying to argue my

point.
Lastly, we did a group project that was related to our first paper. Emma and I focused on gender roles and women’s standards. We included in the project history of the two songs we each chose from our essay. In order to prepare for the presentation on November eleventh, both Emma and I talked and worked on the presentation about “Gender Roles & Women’s Standards” in class but also met up outside of class at Panera in Central Park to finalize the presentation for the next day. In my individual free time, I practiced what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. However, when I got up to present the presentation I didn’t say everything I was supposed to say, such as more detail about the “Little Game” music video, since I got anxious and nervous with others staring at me. I’m not good at speaking in front of a crowd whether it is only two people or a class full of twenty people. I didn’t struggle with putting the information into the PowerPoint or finding the history of the songs and artist, other than “Born a Girl” by Manic Street Preachers; I just struggled with standing up in front of the class and discussing my contribution or part of the presentation. The aspect of the project that I cared most about or thought about the most was the song choice and the information that should be put in my section of the presentation as well as how it should be organized in the slides of the presentation.
In conclusion, my writing has seemed to have improved, but I still am struggling with grammar and being more descriptive in my writing. The quizzes we took in the class were a great way to boost our grades and improve our writing in the area I am practically struggling in such as grammar. Overall, in the class I meet a new friend name Emma and improved on my writing with grammar errors and being more descriptive. In the class I am most proud of my persuasive paper because I feel I chose a good topic that I had interest in and I looked up a lot of facts and statistics to put in the paper.