Author: Charles (Page 1 of 11)

Final Reflection Of My First Semester – Charles Pessin

My first semester in college has certainly not been an easy one due to many factors included with is the fact that all classes are held virtually rather then how it was traditionally, in person. Thanks to COVID I had to learn how to balance four classes using six different websites (such as Open lab, Miro, Blackboard, Zoom, Dropbox etc etc) and I occupied the same room in my house for 12 hours straight which can get rather boring and after about hour three I start to bounce off the walls yearning for a change of scenery. However after that’s all said and done I still persevered and although as we are approaching the end of the semester and I am already making plans to get out of the city for a month the bright side of this is that I learnt a lot and disliking the format in which topics are being taught cannot change the fact that it still works. Yes in person learning may be preferred but online learning does have some perks such as not having to look for parking, sit in traffic or waiting in the cold for a train. So now that we have established that online learning is boring but has its perks lets talk about what I actually learnt. In English my typing skills and spelling have drastically improved although I dislike open lab and prefer to write on Microsoft Word which is what I am typing this essay with. In addition to my typing and spelling improving I also learnt how to “manufacture essays” as I would dedicate certain days of the week to certain homework topics for instance Thursday would be math, Friday would be Architecture 1101, Saturday I would cram all my English essays into one day of writing and Sunday I would generally do my architecture 1112 class. As you can see I allotted one day per class homework on the weekends so come Saturday no matter if their were one or five assignments I still had to get it done that day so you might call that time management or such but I called it manufacturing essays. Another thing I learnt this semester is organization I maintained a weekly planner of sorts using index cards on it I would detail all major assignments I had to finish before the week was up, once completed I crossed the assignment out and write in a new one which seemed never ending until now when the end is in sight and a month long break is almost withing tangible reach. After juggling four classes my unreliable car and my job I could not be more looking forward to the long awaited ski break of mine but onto the final reflection part of this essay I say thanks to my classmates for leaving nice reviews on my essays although it would be nicer in person to actually have the conversation discussing which parts fit in which needed to be removed and such. Thank you to professor Cole for allowing me to submit my essays a bit late at times where I might have fallen behind a bit in class and submitted my essays past a set deadline so I am thankful for the understanding that I was trying my best but sometimes things pop up and I can get distracted. One thing of mine that still needs to be improved however is the fact that I still find it difficult to reach minimum word requirements such as this essay which is supposed to be one thousand words minimum but here I am sitting at my desk thinking what could I possibly add to extend the length of my essay? Hopefully I can fix this issue in the future I do realize I tend to be a bit like “here’s the information, hope you understand” rather then elaborating and explaining each piece of information as I probably should be doing but one day it will be resolved, just not yet. Overall I had a good semester but it was no doubt stressful just as right now I am staring at my computer wondering what on earth would I possibly add to meet the thousand word requirement, I don’t think I can. So in conclusion I have discussed Learning new sills and improving old skills such as spelling as well as improving on “cramming” I have also stated that some bad writing habits persevere such as the lack of elaboration which will hopefully improve but overall I believe I have experienced a very productive virtual semester.

Congrats to myself for seemingly making it through my first semester of college, which I do not consider to have been “easy” by any account due to the fact of taking four classes one of them being six hours long while simultaneously dealing with other responsibilities such as work and an unreliable car. I have accomplished most of my goals but not all as some of those goals have yet to be completed but lets focus on the positive, I have improved my writing skills drastically (I hope) and have become more adept at math as well as, (because of numerous assignments) my typing and spelling skills have improved and now I find that there are less red underlined words at the end of each assignment when it’s time to look it over before submitting. My intended major of architecture engineering has proven difficult sometimes and I am still not completely sure that it is what I want to pursue but even if I were to change my intended major it still provides some extra knowledge of how things function so no harm in that. I am looking forward to winter break as a chance to relax and have some fun before the next semester starts, I plan on “hitting the slopes” as soon as possible. Overall pretty decent semester and a great English teacher who helps get through each assignment and to understand what is expected clearly and concise 10/10.