Considering that this is my first academic semester in six years, English 111, has been insightful. My professor forced me to rely on self-reliance and also forced me to use the Internet and blackboard way more than I thought was necessary. But, since this is a post-reflection, in retrospect I value the self-reliance and computer savvy that I learned during this course.
I have learned through English 111, taught at Tidewater Community College, the use of rhetorical appeals, which are egos, pathos and logos. I have also slightly improved my grammar and formatting, although it still has a wide margin for further improvement. The wheels that were forced to turn in my head during this last semester were important ones as opposed to the few wheels that were turning prior to this semester. It has me thinking way more academically about myself and about other views on anything. Some of the text that we have gone over in class and using peer review have also helped me judge myself in relation to my peers and lets me know that I am not as far off academically as I thought I was prior to this semester. English 111 is by far my favorite class out of the three classes I’m taking this semester. When comparing it to Math III and ITE 115 that might not be saying much, but at least it’s something.
I actually enjoy writing, even when confined to certain guidelines, topics and formats. I have learned that to hone your skills as a writer you must have these confinements to explore yourself in your writing capacity. By far, my favorite assignment was the argument essay, which involved the most research, or quite possibly the only research out of all the assignments, but I have never felt so clueless about a topic in the beginning of the assignment and by the end felt so knowledgeable on the truly dynamic and complex topic that I chose, which was the auto bailout. Conducting two interviews which were suggested for the research on your topic was the slingshot that catapulted me into my argument paper and is probably the reason why I went about 11 minutes longer than I should have in my PowerPoint presentation.
Professionally speaking, I see myself in the future as a thorough researcher and at the same time open to many viewpoints on a particular topic. I know I may not have displayed this throughout my total argument essay, but it certainly gave me a tool which will enable me to acquire this trait in the future, combined with more English classes and more assignments.
I have to also say that ever since I can remember, I have been a last-minute kind of a person, and I have not changed my standpoint on that position about myself, even though the last-minute thing probably hindered my grades in some respect. As a matter of fact, I did not sleep a wink last night due to my preparation of my PowerPoint presentation that was presented today, and maybe in the future I will be more prepared for a final due date than I have been in this class, but for now I am just excited to be excited about writing.
From the moment I saw my professor for English 111, all I could think about was that dude looks like Seth Rogan, but coming to an end of his class I feel like I could talk to him like a peer and he would give me the answers in return like a peer but also with an academic authority which is needed to be seen as a respected professor on a college campus.