Looking back on my reflection for the year I feel as though i did partially accomplish my goals for the year that I set earlier. I do think that I was able to grow as a writer and apply my knowledge from previous education to this and expand and grow on it.
When looking back on my goals I think I would only change them slightly. I think I would have set higher standards for myself not only in the class but overall in my semester and how I treated it.
As I continue on into my college career I plan to take what i have learned and grown on in this class and apply it to other classes even outside of English ones. I want to continue growing on my skills as a writer such as how I connect my ideas more clearly throughout the essay. I would also like to grow on my syntax as a writer too. My weakness of not staying focused or persistent towards the end of my essays will need to be worked on though so I can begin to grow much more dramatically as a writer.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Assignment 14
For my final portfolio I am choosing my Literacy Narrative essay. The strengths of my essay were the detail and description of specific events as well as the transitions I use to flow my essay together. I feel that my weaknesses were how I didn't always connect my ideas clearly and I lacked persistence to conciseness in minor areas.
When I revise my essay I will decide which details and descriptions are absolutely necessary and which I can omit or rearrange to make more sense. I will also pay specific attention to my transitions and making sure that it not only flows and makes sense but that it is concise. While looking and revising my essay before hand I will try to find my ideas and connect them more clearly with my thesis in a more relevant and chronological manner. With my minor areas such as conclusion to paragraphs or small transitions I will try to pay more attention to the wordiness and syntax of my sentences.
When I revise my essay I will decide which details and descriptions are absolutely necessary and which I can omit or rearrange to make more sense. I will also pay specific attention to my transitions and making sure that it not only flows and makes sense but that it is concise. While looking and revising my essay before hand I will try to find my ideas and connect them more clearly with my thesis in a more relevant and chronological manner. With my minor areas such as conclusion to paragraphs or small transitions I will try to pay more attention to the wordiness and syntax of my sentences.
Assignment 13
My favorite essay that we wrote in class was the very first essay that we wrote. I had many reasons to enjoy this essay and I also feel that it was my strongest. It is normally easier to write an essay about yourself or your own personal experience because it's your own and no one can say that it is false. I also think that this is a good way to practice ones own writing because when you are writing about yourself I feel that it is easy to have a steady, constant flow of writing and thought stream.
Another reason that i enjoyed this essay is that is simply made me remember a lot about my high school English education. While I was remembering some of the essays and techniques we used in my junior and senior years I was able to remember some of my weaknesses and attack them in this essay. Along with remembering the educational factor I found confidence in my writing and my abilities to write. I think that is important to any writer when they are attempting to write and do it well.
Another reason that i enjoyed this essay is that is simply made me remember a lot about my high school English education. While I was remembering some of the essays and techniques we used in my junior and senior years I was able to remember some of my weaknesses and attack them in this essay. Along with remembering the educational factor I found confidence in my writing and my abilities to write. I think that is important to any writer when they are attempting to write and do it well.
Assignment 11
The essay I chose to analyze was "The $78 Million Bag" which was on the city of Chicago's spendings on the "war on drugs" and legalization of marijuana. During the reading of this essay what I took away from the authors writing style was his non-bias of sides in his writing. They never made profound statement that would lead you to believe they lean more to one side than the other. With that I would apply that to my writing by not stating my own personal bias in my writing to much in such a way that would make the reader uninterested in the rest of my work.
Assignment 10
The best thing about the peer review process that we do in class, in my opinion, is how we often go over the rubric of the paper before we peer review. I think this helps us better understand what to look for when we are editing our peers essay. I think we could improve the process by having our essays edited by more than one peer in the class in order to get another perspective and pair of eyes over the work and its content.
I think one of my strengths in peer reviewing is that i am able to catch punctuation and grammar relatively well. I can catch little errors in words or sentences that the writer doesn't notice during their writing process because they are familiar with their writing.
One of my weaknesses of peer editing is that I sometimes find following the rubric 100% of the time a little challenging. I begin reading the work and forget to remember the specific things I need to be looking for according to the rubric presented to us.
My ideal peer review process would be when we go over the rubric in class before we switch papers. Then we would switch papers and peer review in accordance to the rubric and specifics asked. After we finish that I think we should be able to look over the editing that was just done and then switch once more with another person and edit those. Then take those revisions and apply them to your paper where needed.
I think one of my strengths in peer reviewing is that i am able to catch punctuation and grammar relatively well. I can catch little errors in words or sentences that the writer doesn't notice during their writing process because they are familiar with their writing.
One of my weaknesses of peer editing is that I sometimes find following the rubric 100% of the time a little challenging. I begin reading the work and forget to remember the specific things I need to be looking for according to the rubric presented to us.
My ideal peer review process would be when we go over the rubric in class before we switch papers. Then we would switch papers and peer review in accordance to the rubric and specifics asked. After we finish that I think we should be able to look over the editing that was just done and then switch once more with another person and edit those. Then take those revisions and apply them to your paper where needed.
Assignment 9
When I think of errors in my writing the very first one to come to mind is how i lack self-editing on my own work. I can often find myself getting papers back with comments on certain errors in the paper that i should have been able to avoid by proof reading my work. This causes my writing to look weak and immature to the audience and teacher. I have noticed when I do proof read my work I tend to get better comments and better grades overall. To change this I believe the simple answer is to just proof read my papers when I am done.
The second error that I notice in my writing most is when I tend to slack off near the end of my papers. I get lazy and antsy to finish the work and will not put in as much effort as normal. When I do this my work becomes extremely weak and hurts my overall work and point of view drastically. It makes me look like I don't know how to write properly and that I don't do basic writing skills in my work. I've noticed that to change this I have to pace myself when I do papers and long works in a good environment for me to work in.
Third error that I take notice to in my papers is my pattern to repeat things in other words and not notice it. I will often write the same point or the same fact in a different way throughout the work in a repetitious way that isn't helping my work. I think this shortens my work due to the fact I am repeating myself and weakens my points overall as well. I believe I can tie this to my first error in the way that to solve this error as well as the first I would simply have to proof read my work to be wary of these errors.
The second error that I notice in my writing most is when I tend to slack off near the end of my papers. I get lazy and antsy to finish the work and will not put in as much effort as normal. When I do this my work becomes extremely weak and hurts my overall work and point of view drastically. It makes me look like I don't know how to write properly and that I don't do basic writing skills in my work. I've noticed that to change this I have to pace myself when I do papers and long works in a good environment for me to work in.
Third error that I take notice to in my papers is my pattern to repeat things in other words and not notice it. I will often write the same point or the same fact in a different way throughout the work in a repetitious way that isn't helping my work. I think this shortens my work due to the fact I am repeating myself and weakens my points overall as well. I believe I can tie this to my first error in the way that to solve this error as well as the first I would simply have to proof read my work to be wary of these errors.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Assignment #7
Looking back and reflecting on my writing so far in English 101 isn't a difficult task to do. I see my writing as a good piece of work most of the times and clear and concise. I honestly don't think that I have developed any more as a writer in my first semester of college. I'm writing papers for English and History like I did in high school but with fewer restrictions. In the least self-centered way, I believed myself to be a solid writer beforehand while taking AP English and History which included a arms full of essays throughout the years. I have found myself less intimidated by having to write a paper in college though. I am confident that I can whip out a 4-5 page paper on a topic or prompt and do well or better.
However, I have noticed that I have developed as a student and a critical thinking over this first semester at NEIU. Never before would I do drafts, revisions, or read my own work aloud to hear it with a voice, but now I find myself wanting to do these things before printing and turning in a paper. The peer review that we had done for the narrative essay was helpful in many ways and showed me how I can better my own papers and writing. I feel as if the class and the way it is run does a good job of not only teaching but making (atleast myself) think differently and become engaged in ways I didn't before.
The goals I had set for myself in the beginning of the class were simple enough and quite mundane. I feel like I will accomplish my goals of becoming a more mature person and passing the class with a good grade to start my academic career at NEIU for the next four years. I hope that this will help me better myself not only personally but academically for the coming years of 10-20 page papers and my eventual graduation from university.
However, I have noticed that I have developed as a student and a critical thinking over this first semester at NEIU. Never before would I do drafts, revisions, or read my own work aloud to hear it with a voice, but now I find myself wanting to do these things before printing and turning in a paper. The peer review that we had done for the narrative essay was helpful in many ways and showed me how I can better my own papers and writing. I feel as if the class and the way it is run does a good job of not only teaching but making (atleast myself) think differently and become engaged in ways I didn't before.
The goals I had set for myself in the beginning of the class were simple enough and quite mundane. I feel like I will accomplish my goals of becoming a more mature person and passing the class with a good grade to start my academic career at NEIU for the next four years. I hope that this will help me better myself not only personally but academically for the coming years of 10-20 page papers and my eventual graduation from university.
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