English? I already speak it. When signing up for my English class, I thought I was going to master my grammar and writing techniques without any strain. I figured I would fly by and pass smoothly, but it took a lot more than I thought. My writing and presenting skills have substantially grown, but my paradigm for English did not harmonize with my grades, even with the advice from former students in Tool 1. Moreover, my essay writing and presenting has gotten sufficiently stronger. My hooks, transitions, and vocabulary use to contain no power at all, but now improved to where I use it all in my everyday speaking. I had a few great triumphs during my presentations in front of the class. I felt my anxiety leaving me when it used to take control over my mind and body, but now feel more confident in my material and speaking skill. I am most proud of my Best Essay Video, even though it did not work properly on the projector screen. I put lots of effort into the video and it came out very well for the first video I had ever made. I love that I have grown so much, but my mindset and actions held me back drastically at times. …show more content…
In my Premortem, I listed: too much music practice, my hesitation to ask questions, not understanding punctuation, getting sick, procrastination, and underestimating the assignments for English as my reasons for failure. Underestimating the assignments and procrastination caused me to work inefficiently on many of them. I did well at first, but later went into a moment where I fell behind on my grades. I failed to accomplish many from not knowing their impact over time and waiting too long to finish them. On some assignments, I did not do very well as I thought they were too
My development as a writer has flourished throughout this semester. The first week of this fall semester started out with writing responses from our readings in the textbook. Looking back through and analyzing my reading responses at the semester to now; I noticed a substantial improvement in not only my grammar skills, but also my summarizing, and in-depth studying of writing adeptness. Another way I have progressed this semester is the vocabulary of my writing has significantly improved and become more scholarly. Another advancement I noticed was that the content of my work has matured, along with my organizational adeptness.
...lized that there were many mistakes that I needed to fix in order to perfect my writing. I need to consider more about focusing on the topic and organizing for my writing, because it appeals to the audience more clear to the point. Also, I feel that I am much better to convince my audience through my writings.
Over the course of this class I feel like I have become a much better writer. When I go back and look at some of my Journal entries and assignments that I did at the beginning of the semester, I can’t help but tense up at some of the things I wrote. Sometimes the things I was writing didn’t flow well, or I might have even have missed glaring grammar mistakes.
Throughout this semester we have had to write many types of essays. Although this is a college English class there is still room for improvement. I made much improvement during the semester of the class. I was able to identify my weaknesses. I learned how to make improvements to the areas I was having problems in. Although each essay we did was different I was able to begin with one essay and throughout the semester turn it into two other essays. I was able to change my style of writing to fit the type of audience I was working with. I will continue to work on my writing and keep improving it.
I know I was never good at writing in English, but attending this class I have learn how edit and organize my own work. Also, I have a better understanding of how to express linguistic diversity while still communicating clearly and effectively with a chosen audience. In my fourth project, it shows my improvement in grammar and organization. I learned how to conduct research for a paper, make a claim, and form a counter argument. For example in my fourth paper, I collected five research documents to support my paper. I annotated and highlighted main reasons in each documents. My claim had been redrafted several times with my peers. I valued the times with my peers and the thoughtful suggestion about my paper. More importantly, my writing skill improved significantly. Even though I still make mistakes in my papers, I believe that I am qualified to move on to English
As writers, many students write to the expectations of their professors and not to their fullest potential. Throughout English 101 I had been writing only to please my professor or to fill the basic requirement to pass English. I always felt that my writing ability was never enough for my professors throughout the previous years. They always wanted clear and concise essays, which for some reason was unreachable by me. However, starting college and taking English 101 helped me with my weaknesses and changed my technique of writing essays. My experience in English 101 taught me to write to my fullest potential and to write what I felt; rather then writing what was required.
Regardless of all of these improvements, I know my writing is still far from perfect. My arguments still lack the emotional appeal that, if present, would make my audience consider my arguments a lot faster. My analysis still lack development because often times I just state what happens instead of explaining why. In general, I need to work on controlling my voice and tone throughout an entire essay, which can be fixed if I choose my words more carefully to make sure my diction is uniform. Despite all of this, I am satisfied with myself, I am satisfied with the ways my writing has changed, with the way my writing skills have grown. Why? Because I am learning, and I know that I will continue improving as long as I take chances.
This course was the first course I took as an incoming freshman, as anyone could imagine I was scared and nervous at the same time. Also since it is a writing course; I was hesitant if I wanted to continue in the class because writing is very challenging for me as an immigrant. Returning from summer break, I found it extremely tough to continue where I left off with my writing skills from high school. The fear of writing that my old high school teacher instilled in me did not help my writing anxiety either. In contrast, I found that the professor and the course were not at all intimidating as I assumed, the professor took time from his busy schedule to help his students to further improve their writing and the writing topics were very stimulating and thought provoking. Composition 1 has helped me learn more about myself and my writing skills, which allowed me to further self-evaluate myself, find where I need improvement and become motivated to change.
Throughout this semester I have learned many ways of writing through two main essays literacy narrative and comparison and contrast. These two essays have taught me how to correctly fix my comma splices, thesis statements, and capitalization. I have engaged in numerous learning material during this summer class. Many times when I thought it would be hard to work on those three developments I never gave up. I gain more positive feedback from my teacher because he pointed out most of my mistakes I made on both literacy narrative and comparison and contrast essays to help me understand what is it that I need to work on. My development as a writer became stronger.
As I look back on my English 101 experience, I have come to the conclusion that I have learned many new things that have improved my abilities as a writer. I have learned some new techniques that have improved my ways of approaching an essay. I learned all about the rhetorical appeals and how to apply them in my writing and how to look for them in a essay written by a author. I have also learned how to argue both sides of a argument, and how to look for reliable sources and to properly quote and site the author of the essay. I feel as if I have become a better writer and my improved writing skills are shown within each essay.
My willingness was not as prepared as I wanted to be, I found that out later in the semester. I wasn 't really into studying mainly because I had “better” things to do
I was sometimes slower at completing a written paper or an assignment. In open discussions about material we had just read, things weren’t sticking with me after reading to feel confident to raise my hand and be active with discussions. I would have to search for answers in my memory for some time. Sometimes answers just weren’t retrieved at all. I became frustrated in school often, and eventually developed a negative attitude toward school. I struggled a lot with this because I knew I could do better. Every day I prepared myself for failure because I lacked the tools and strategies that I needed to succeed in school. Granted, I got by, but I could have been a much better student. I earned low B’s and C’s, but should have been A’s.
A large part of an English teacher’s job deals with helping students find their own voices amidst the many teachings of their parents and peers. A student’s voice can be their values, their interests, and their perspectives of the world in which they live. Their voice can be their critical questioning of the many situations they face, whether in a text, the school cafeteria, or a park after school. It is the job of an English teacher to aid in finding this voice through their writing. It is by putting words and thoughts down on paper that a student can sometimes feel comfortable enough to take risks and find their true voices. Although traditional grammar instruction has long been thought to improve this skill, this is no longer the case. Instead, by providing a classroom environment in which students are immersed in classic literature from many genres including poetry, short stories, and novels, students will learn how to harness grammar for their own purposes of finding their voice in their writing.
I have also improved my creative and critical thinking skills. For example, the use of infographics in the conclusion of our presentation helped to filter down all the macro details mentioned in presentation into an easy to read format.