REFLECT ON:
1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year composition courses.
Because of my Advanced Placement Literature course, I learned a lot about reading more into works of writing for what they imply and what they mean, rather than just the words on the page. I feel as though a lot of first year writing is about analyzing and understanding what an author means and why he is saying what he is saying.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year composition courses.
The most important lessons that I learned as a reader and writer because of my first-year composition courses mostly involve time management and making sure I keep a routine. In English 101, my scheduled consisted of full time student, full time athlete, engineering projects, etc. This was not easy to manage. For my English 102 course, I was demanded over three times the amount of course work during the week, along with a full time job working outside in the heat, with early hours and long drives, along with being an athlete and performing off-season training. This was even harder than performing English 101 in the fall. This course definitely proved to myself that I still maintain excellent time management skills, and the ability to stick to a routine and post things, on time, when the need to posted.
3. The ways you brainstormed, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements.
There were a few new ways to brainstorm and make sure that my ideas were organized and developed. Using Google Draw, I was able to make bubble maps of what I wanted to discuss in my writing. This was good tool for me to use because it allowed me to visualize what I wanted to write about before I actually wrote about it. In relation to thesis statements, my biggest realization was that thesis statements do not have to be one sentence long. It is often easier to develop your thesis into two sentences so that your writing flows much more smoothly.
4. The peer-review process, including what you offered and what you received.
I felt as though my peers did a wonderful job of listening to what I was hoping for when reviewing my paper and editing accordingly. Sometimes, people can be too lenient because they don't want to hurt your feelings by saying that you some of your writing flat out stinks. I was appreciative when seeing comments that told me to change things because it wasn't very good. That type of criticism is very helpful to me because it makes me re-read and reconsider what I am writing and whether or not I like my own writing.
5. Individual or small-group conferences with your instructor.
We did not have any conferences with the instructor. I emailed back and forth with Ms. Wolfe a few times. She was relatively quick with her responses and was good with communication.
6. The discussion you had about your paper with people who were not in your class.
Most of the discussions about my paper I had with people outside of class were my parents. They were helpful in giving me advice and just discussing my topic. My parents were fascinated by my topic of controversy so it was easy to discuss with them my own thoughts and the facts about what was going on.
7. How yo approached the revision process for each essay.
I approached the revision process very simply. I read back through what I wanted my peers to see and edit on my paper and I went through my own paper just like I wanted my peers to do. I would read my papers slowly through in hopes that being slow and considerate of everything would allow me to see all of my mistakes without missing many.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres.
I learned a lot about reading and writing in different genres. I never considered the effect that writing to a specific audience can have on the quality of your writing. I thought it was really interesting to consider different genres and see how different genres are set up, how they are written, and the specific examples of different genres and their effectiveness. I feel as though I have a strong grasp on writing to specific audiences and appealing to their specific ideals and appeals.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take your first-year composition courses again.
I would not do much differently if I were to retake my first-year composition courses. To be quite honest, I would not want to take them again. I am not the biggest fan of English composition. It is sometimes cool to learn about different methods of writing and reading and analyzing, but sometimes I just get bored. I get the feeling, often, that the work that I am performing is monotonous and repetitive. I don't like to do things over and over again.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career.
College writing taught me a lot, though. I am glad that I learned how to appeal to different audiences. I think that will play a really big part in my future as an engineer. Understanding how to write differently to your boss than you do to your coworkers or to the public will be crucial to my effectiveness as an engineer and my ability to get promoted and move up the rankings within my job.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
11. What did you learn (from specific a writing assignment, from a specific experience, or from the semester as a whole)?
I think I took more from the semester as a whole than I did from any one particular assignment or experience from the class. I learned more about audience and how you can speak differently within the same research topic depending upon who you want to reach and how you want to reach them. As a person, as I stated before, I learned more about myself in the time management fields. It was cool to see my real life time management skills at work. There were many days that I felt like I wasn't going to be able to get everything done, but somehow I managed to prevail. I learned that I am stronger and better than I thought I was with scheduling and making sure I accomplish my goals.
12. Did the choices you made, or writing experiences you and, reinforce something you already knew about yourself or about writing?
I chose to write about robotics and their influence on the world. This was a choice that stuck with my though the entirety of the class. I learned a lot about robots and their impact. This choice certainly reinforced my appreciation for the sciences and continued to further my interest in technology and more specifically engineering.
13. If you did not gain as much from a particular project as you had hoped, what are the possible reasons for that and what might you do differently next time?
I think every project that we managed to do exceeded my expectations for what I would learn and what I would gain from it. I didn't have much of an expectation to begin with, so it wasn't difficult to beat, but everything exceeding the expectation that I had, drastically. I felt as though I actually came away with some valuable skills, knowledge, and experience that I was not expecting to have acquired.
14. Think about the course objectives listen on your syllabus as you consider you success in the class. What course objections did you meet? What objectives are you still working on?
The main course goals that are listed on the syllabus are as follows: help students write for varied audiences and situations, find and evaluate sources, make critically aware decisions about how best to achieve their purposes at the university and beyond, and to prepare students for further research and writing in their future fields of academic work. I think that I met all of these objectives throughout this course. I have noted how I have learned to write for audiences and situations. I surely learned more about finding valid sources and evaluating them for use in my own way. I definitely feel more prepared to write in my future field of academic work (engineering). This course taught me how to write better, more fluent, more organized, and more valid. Although the class was time consuming and tedious sometimes, I learned to manage my time and get things done with even more ease than I had known before. I feel accomplished with all of the goals set forth in the course syllabus.
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