After taking this course I learned an abundance of information. Many of the things I learned were about myself as a writer. Coming into this class I felt confident in my ability to write a paper. This was mainly because in high school and previous college writing courses I always got an A with almost no effort. However, this course changed my mind almost completely. I never realized how many previous errors I was making until they were actually brought to my attention. I’ve learned more about how to properly format a paper, how to structure a thesis, and even small things such as the difference between “affect” and “effect.”
Reading on the other hand has never been something to interest me. I am a slow reader and feel like I have troubles comprehending some of the information. Which led me to forgetting what I read when it needed to be remembered for a quiz. After failing the first few quizzes, I found a better way to read accurately. By simply jotting down important facts, and words, I seemed to remember more of what I had read. By practicing
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The most valuable thing I learned from this class would be how to properly write a paper. After much practice and many sessions of peer review I felt as if it benefitted my writing skills. I learned an abundance of new information such as discourse, genre, audience and rhetoric, but when I put those things together I better understood how to properly format a paper. Which seems to be the most valuable to me because English is used every day. Unlike a math course which is typically only used if you are a math major; English is crucial because any job requires a person to know how to act formal and intelligent. Even more strict jobs require people to know how to correctly read and write. A well put together paper is satisfying for any person to read, especially those who could be your potential bosses. That is why I felt as if writing in a more profession sense has been the most valuable thing I have learned from the
...out homework, which was a huge stress relief. The class also offered how to write the base foundation of any paper, which is significant to become a great writer as well as to write a flawless paper. Also, the group activities allowed us to get closer with our classmates. However, I feel like some of the activities we did were mediocre and ordinary. But it is hard to tell what experience each student received from their high school. Some knew more than others, and I was just more grateful with the education I obtained from high school. I was also not fond of buying the books for the class, when it was not a necessity for class. We did not put much use into the books, and they were relatively expensive. I do recommend the class, especially to incoming freshman. It is a great foundation for legitimate college writing classes. I enjoyed learning from you Mrs. Penwell.
This class was far more intense than what I expected but I was able to make it through the semester. I learned a lot from this class that I will carry into the future and use in other classes. All of the revision and feedback I have received during the time in the class helped me in the end. I feel like I am gradually becoming a better writer. I will take everything that I have learned in this class and use it for future reference when writing papers. I overall have enjoyed this class this semester.
Throughout this course, we had multiple assignments that were aimed at improving us as writers. I am sure that everyone took something different from this course, and I am sure that each student took more from some areas than others; however for me there were three major things that I saw that I benefited from most. Our weekly craft lessons, grammar plan, but most of all, observational learning. Our weekly craft lessons have introduced us to multiple writing strategies. These strategies have helped turn my papers from elementary papers that were written below my expected grade level to papers more on par with my peers.
I have always known that writing was not my strong point. Entering writing 101 in September I was very much afraid. I knew that the expectations would be very high for this course; thus it would be more difficult than any other writing class I had previously taken. At first writing was a nightmare for me, but thanks to the assistance from professor Smart and my tutors, I have improved drastically in my writing skills and, as a result I am now a better writer. During the course of four months, I have learned so much. There were a few bumps in the way throughout the semester, but I managed to overcome them. It is hard to believe that my journey in writing 101 is coming to an end. Through my hard work and dedication, this class has helped me to build confidence in my writing that will help me throughout my college life.
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 that I developed my own personal style a bit from this. At the beginning of the semester my writing was quite choppy and there was plenty of room for improvement in the overall flow of my essays. Now, I use several different tactics such as outlining to create better connections between paragraphs. I believe I was able to move beyond many of the high school ways of writing and make general improvements to my essays.
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
This class was by far one of the hardest I took this semester. Though I love graphic novels and encyclopedia type books, I've always found reading “normal” books difficult. My mind wanders from the page I'm reading and that makes reading any book tedious. Most of the books in this class were no exception to my usual struggle, however, I did push myself pretty hard. I'd read for quite a long time until I was finally able to focus.
I have learned so much from this class, mainly that if you speak up after not speaking for most of the class people stare at you, a lot. Actually what I really learned was how to take criticism, not to heart and learned to use most of it in my papers. Also very near the end if I chose to speak up nobody would judge me, so even if it was just a bit I tried to comment. On to the writing, I realized is that I have learned a lot and have much more to learn. There are things that during my writing process didn’t cross my mind, now I find myself double checking for too many ‘I’ statements, ignore the ones throughout, and also to consider a different approach on things.
Before this class started I considered myself to be an average writer who has good ideas but has a tough time connecting these ideas. My thoughts were able to create good topics and discussions in my papers, but I couldn't successfully put them in correct order and reasoning giving most of my papers poor structure. As I wrote more papers and learned new tricks, I saw my writing skills improve. The summary paper was the best grade I received on all of the papers this year.
My tutor helped me learn that the best reading technique for me was reading the passage once, then answer questions without looking at the passage. Then, I would review the questions again but with the passage. My practice test scores got better. By my last practice test, it was a part of my Saturday routine, like washing my face and eating
I've improved overall in my research paper writing methods, and over the course of the summer have gained another useful set of skills to further my college education. If you are going to take a class be prepared to learn from it. Have an attitude of trying to perfect the skills that are going to be taught or else the knowledge won't stick with you as well. The true purpose of learning to write research papers, cite sources, write essays, use correct grammar and punctuation are all means of preparing a person to have the intermediate skills for a professional or business-setting job, if you were ever to be at one. This class greatly improved my confidence in being able to write a clear and well understood research paper, as well as, retaught me methods of English writing I had long forgotten.
Thank you for being my composition teacher this semester! Starting this summer, I expected a class with essays due every other day―I was delighted to find out that actually only one essay was due per week. I thought this class was going to be self taught lessons about how to write. But after, I realized that everybody knows how to write, it’s just learning about using proper words and finding your own voice―which is what I got from this class. Knowing the right verb to use was a struggle I faced at the beginning of the class.
Reading has never been my strong suit and it still is not to this day. Being a first generation American made speaking the English language difficult, due to the lack of help my parents could provided. Speaking only English in school and afterwards coming home to a household that only spoke Spanish made learning English difficult. No one was around to help me read when it came to doing my reading homework, again because no one understood the language. I have always struggled in English class up until high school when a teacher hurt my feelings in a way I could never forget.
This class has allowed my writing to improve a tremendous amount. I came into the year a pretty good writer, but knew that if I wanted to get an A in the class that I was going to have to do the work to earn it. This class is infamous for being difficult for even the best of writers, so coming in and being complacent was not an option. In the pre-writing assignment the grade that I would have receive would have been a B, but now the end of the semester I am continually receiving an A of some sort.
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.