Sarah
High
SEGL
102
Tasha
Thomas
29 April 2013
Reflecting Through English 102
In the beginning of the semester I
felt very confident on my abilities to deliver each task at hand. However, as the semester continued I quickly
realized this was going to be more difficult than what originally thought. Although this semester has been very
stressful and time consuming, I can honestly say it has been very
rewarding. Through Mrs. Thomas’ teaching
methods, not only did she help relieve some of the stress this semester brought,
but her assignments also helped guide me on how to be a more critical reader,
thinker, and writer. Researching
credible sources, analyzing, and developing and identifying thesis statements
have all become clearer. I have always
been interested in writing, but being exposed to various types of writing and
learning better approaches this semester have encouraged me to develop a love
for writing, especially research papers.
Because of this class, I now feel well prepared for writing papers in
future classes; therefore, I feel more prepared for academic success.
Transitioning within my essays has
been a struggle since the beginning of the first semester, and I made it a
point to really work on them this semester.
With the help of the books They Say, I Say and The Norton Field Guide to
Writing, enabled me to follow through with this goal. Because Mrs. Thomas assigned readings from
these books, and I had them to reference back to, writing the papers were less
complicated. Along with They Say, I Say
and the many examples given in class, my transitions have improved
greatly. However, I still feel they need
to be a bit stronger, and will continue with this.
Having The Norton Field Guide to
Writing and reading assignments throughout for each paper, along with the
explanations given in class, allowed me to develop into a more critical reader
and writer. I am now able to distinguish
the various meanings authors use in their literature, and analyzing what I read
seems to come natural now. I am able to
use my newly developed critical reading skills for my own writing. Not only has this helped me in understanding
what I want included, but exactly what I want and how to say it. I now take the time to reread and analyze
what I write for any changes.
Being a technology intensive course
and using the many digital tools, allowed me to think beyond just writing
academic papers, and helped me to understand there is more to literature than
just words. I find it to be beneficial
submitting everything through blackboard and via blogs. This helps keep all of the assignments well organized,
and the feedback from each paper is right there to help with future
papers. Although every assignment was
posted to the blog, it seems like they weren’t concentrating on their
purpose. The blogs weren’t active within
other class members unless to do the peer reviews, and it was always the same
classmate. I read what I saw posted to
the blog, but never commented. Because I
find it to be beneficial reading opinions about my work from others, I should
have engaged more with the blogs as well. Despite not communicating enough
through the blogs, I still find them of help.
I am able to see how others format their papers and use language, but
would have liked to get opinions from more classmates in order to see how they
view my work as well.
One assignment I found very
interesting was participating in groups while working with Haiku Deck on the
iPad. This was one assignment that
encouraged me to become a more critical thinker. Because of this, I understand that with the
use of pictures and a few words, you can get the same meaning across as if
using a thousand words. Being able to
connect pictures to the article about early child education not only helped me
understand how to pull out the main points in articles, but also think more in
depth about what the true meaning of the article was.
I had never discovered a podcast
until the class was introduced to them.
I enjoyed working with the podcasts in groups, and now find them very
interesting. There is a lot of
fascinating material on podcasts that I didn’t realize I was missing out on. With this assignment being linked to the
rhetorical analysis, which is one of my favorite papers, helped me to
understand the value of rhetoric in literature.
Between English 101 and 102, I now know what rhetorical devices are and
how to spot and use them within my own papers.
I have certainly learned that rhetoric is a fundamental aspect in
literature.
Although
I have come a long way with writing, the feedback given on each papermentioned working on being concise. I am not sure where to start on correcting this, but is
something I will continue to work on. Overall this class has encouraged me to open up and given me
a better understanding about writing. I have discovered a lot about who I am, not only a writer but as
an individual, because of the experiences within this class. I use to not be a reader, but I now enjoy
reading books and articles. Every bit of information taught in English 102 will follow with me as I
continue to work on my writing skills. As a whole, I can honestly say this class has been a joy, and I
take with me a love for writing, reading, and understanding
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