Category: Portfolio & Reflection (Page 4 of 15)

Jordan De La Rans

English 1101

Coming into this class in the second semester it was kind of nerve wracking. I was never the greatest writer in school, and I would always put myself down because I never thought my writing was any good. So, coming into this class I was very anxious because I didn’t know how well I’ll be able to do in the writing assignments we were going to be given. Now that we are finally at the end of the semester, I can say my writing has definitely improved over the course of this semester. Before this writing class I never cared for writing or how it turned out, I’ve always just wanted to get the assignment out the way so I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. As this class took its course, I’ve learned a lot that like annotating, revising my work, learning about genres of writing, and also learning how to write to an audience.  The 3 major Unit assignments of this class have made me a better writer and has made me appreciate writing more because you get the opportunity to connect to the readers and maybe even teach the readers something they never knew before. As we come to the end of the semester, I wanted to revise my Unit assignments.

In the beginning of the semester Unit 1 was about education narrative. We had to write about what event impacted us on the way we view education/school. For this assignment I wrote about my relationship with a former teacher of mine that helped me build my confidence in school to the point where I am now in college. I point out the benefits of having a teacher who helps out their students and wants to see them succeed unlike some teachers. Most teachers don’t care for their students and just want to move on with their day and that shows how there’s a problem with our education system in today’s world. As I revised this Unit 1, I noticed how there are still some grammatical errors, not constructed as well as I wanted it to be. The feedback I got from Professor Cole was that I had a few grammatical errors, no title, no name or date on the paper, well developed in a clear and effective style but not structured well, writing is fluid and engaging. I never incorporated what Professor Cole said because I never thought about the small stuff and tried to make the best it could be, but the small things make it better and now I know that.

After Unit 1 we started to work on Unit 2 which was Reflective Annotated Bibliography. I wrote about how films make people better. During this unit 2 I got to learn a lot about films and how they impact us and our society. As I revise this assignment, I noticed grammatical errors, 2 articles. I didn’t answer all the points that I was supposed. The feedback I got from Professor Cole were the same things that I mentioned. I have fixed the grammatical errors but not the other things because I wasn’t able to find another source that wasn’t an article.

For Unit 3 if I could revise It if I had time. I would pick a different genre because I don’t think I did too well on this Unit because I struggled trying get my message across in a specific genre. I think I could’ve done a better job in this project. I think there are a few grammatical errors Aswell which I need to start paying attention to more often.

Final Reflection

This semester I’ve learned a lot about myself and about writing. In my time capsule I wrote ” Hey Jordan, I am writing this for the future. I hope your starting to find out what you want to do in life. I know you feel a lot of pressure on you at times but always remember you got this you can put anything you set your mind to. You’re finally at the end of your first college year and I hope you completed some of your goals that are passing all of your classes and also learn how to become a better writer. I hope you stopped bringing yourself down in certain situations because if you put your mind towards anything you will always prevail.” Now that I’m at the end of my first college year I still haven’t figured out what I want to be but I’m getting into photography and film so maybe that can take me somewhere. I’m not putting as much pressure on myself now and I’m feeling better than ever. And lastly, I think I have improved as a writer, and I think you can see that in my work this semester.

This semester I’ve learned as a reader, writer and a scholar. This term I learned about being a reader, writer, and a scholar. As a reader this term I learned that it helps you a lot with vocabulary and could help you in the real world with speech. You can learn a lot from reading for example this semester I learned that schools are killing students’ curiosity. Teachers would tell these young students to not ask any questions which kills their curiosity. These questions help me understand the topic more but not allowing them to ask them these questions won’t help them understand. This shows how you can learn many things from reading that you didn’t know before. You can really find a connection with the author, and I never realized that before it makes me more intrigued in whatever I’m reading. That connection makes want to read more and feel more connected to what I’m reading.  As a writer this term I’ve learned a lot.  I learned that it is very important to check your work to see if it sounds good or to even check grammatical errors. Before I learned this, I would never go over my work and check my work but now I understand how important it is to do it. At times I will still struggle to look back at my work to make it perfect but It’s going to be a habit I need get used. But I think the most important thing I learned as a writer that you can write anything thing down when you have writers block because it’s better to write anything instead of writing nothing. It helped me a lot when I was having trouble doing these projects, I would just write anything that came to mind to help me get rid of that writer’s block. As a scholar this year I’ve learned a lot and I’m beyond grateful for it. One thing I learned is time management it’s something you need to be good at it if not you are going to have a hard time during the school year. Not only did time management help me with schoolwork it helped me a lot with my job and my personal life. Time management is something everyone needs to learn. I also learned now in college never to procrastinate or it’s just going to harder for yourself in the long run. Always try to make everything easier for yourself.

We got to do a lot of assignments this semester and most of them were very interesting assignments that I’d never had done before. One of my favorites was definitely the Unit 2 RAB. This project was my favorite because it got me to research about a topic I was interested in and that was films. I learned many things about films like how they impact our society in positive and negative ways. I also got to learn the deeper meanings in some movies. I really enjoyed researching this topic and finding out more about it and also getting to write about made it even better because I got to write up something really dear to me. Especially when I got to write up what happened in Pakistan it shows how cruel this world is and people need to know. My least favorite project was Unit 3 because I just didn’t have fun doing it at all. Especially with the genre part I had a hard time choosing it and understanding how to make my project an exact genre. It wasn’t as interesting as the other assignments.

While doing all these assignments throughout the course of this class I learned a few notable lessons. Some notable lessons I learned from completing some of these assignments is that I’m not the only one that messes up when writing professional writers mess up all the time. I liked learning how some these writers have trouble because it made me feel better about messing up in my writing and how the best to mess up too. I also learned how important it is to make sure my writing flows perfectly for the reader so they can understand my writing. I never want to confuse my readers with my reading ever or make them less interested. One last notable lesson I learned is that never slack off when writing you will never be proud of the work you do once you start slacking off.

This semester has gone well but came along with many challenges. The biggest challenge I had this semester was making sure my writing made sense and wasn’t all over the place. What helped me was doing the RAB in parts instead of doing it all at once. It helped me focus on one thing at once and make sure I put all my focus on part and then move onto the next and put my all focus into that part, I think I got over this problem, but I don’t think I’ve perfected it which I’ll be continuing to work on. All of the work we’ve received this semester challenged me as a writer and as a scholar, but it has made me better as both as time passed. I will continue to challenge myself as a writer and as a scholar.

What I have learned as an reader is I have always known that writing was not my strong point but thanks to the assistance from professor Lisa I have improved drastically in my writing skills and, as a result I am now a better writer. During the course of four months, I have learned so much. There were a few bumps in the road throughout the semester, but I managed to overcome them. It is hard to believe that my journey in writing is coming to an end this semester.Through my hard work and dedication, this class has helped me to build confidence in my writing that will help me throughout my college life.

Unit 1
My least favorite part was the education narrative because I didn’t write anything related to what I was assigned to do and I totally blew over my head because once I heard education narrative I just focus on that and not what I had to do with the education narrative to meet that requirements to get a good grade. However, with hard work and determination I will improve as a writer throughout my college years.I also developed intellectual skills, critical thinking skills and being able to connect what I learned at schools to my out of school experiences as well. As a writer I’ve notice that I have my thoughts all over the place. It was difficult for me to organize my many ideas so that it has a logical flow that readers can understand. I think have a deeper understanding from writing because I’ll admit at the beginning of the semester I wasn’t really looking forward to this class but you professor Lisa actually made it entertaining and kinda fun to do these essays and assignments and was very generous on on the time we had to do on the essays and assignments before o thought it was going to be those class where you have an essay due every week or so but we only did 3-4 essay this whole semester that’s like 1 essay a month which is very generous I just hope whoever I have next while keep it at least a little entertaining like you do and it’s also generous on the time we get for assignments and essays

Unit 2 mind set
What’s I’ve realized is most people don’t write because they’re afraid their writing will suck. Well, it will. Everyone sucks at first. You don’t get better at something by sitting on your hands. Suck it up, put yourself out there. You won’t have many readers at first, when you suck, but as your audience grows so will your skills. Every writer lives daily with procrastination. If you allow yourself to feel guilty about that, then you’ll feel bad about yourself as a writer. Instead, embrace your procrastination as a friend. People struggle mostly on starting the paper and finishing it, and mostly we struggle with grammar We take these classes to learn how to better are skills in the subject and make us want to move on to harder things when I started taking this writing class we learned many different ways to type and start a essay. Honestly my writing skills wasn ‘t the best, and it was hard to understand the points of a paper.With practice and proper instruction, the process of writing has become easier since I first began writing. During this semester I have discovered my strengths and weakness with the writing  process, allowing me to organize and write concisely to the targeted audience. There are many influences that helped me achieve my goal of becoming a better writer and I believe that I am a better writer because of my attitude toward writing has changed, understanding my thought process, and the experienced that I gained throughout the semester. Before I began this semester, I was not interested I did not like to write in a structured way, and I did not feel I was good at writing. The confidence I have gained in the process of taking this course is something that has helped me feel better about writing, and will continue to help me as I go on to accomplish my career goals. Writing can be fun, if you keep a positive attitude! There are many different types of writing that are used for different reasons, and to best portray certain things. I have learned few of these types during this course that I did not know, or did not fully understand before now. It is very important to know these different types, and to understand which style is best for the subject you are writing about. Writing a paper that is effective is also very important. I have read papers that may be great grammatically, but at the same time are very hard to understand. Writing to make the reader stay interested and tuned in to what the paper is trying to get across is a vital part of becoming a successful

Unit 3 Mindset

I have learned how to fix those errors in my papers that I write. A thing I have learned about myself as a writer is that I write very well when a paper is about my personal life because it is easier to write about yourself than about a topic that you are just researching for the first time. The challenges I have faced is having the effort to keep going when I run out of ideas when writing a paper. When I get to the ending of my essay , I always run out of ideas and fuel to keep going. Once I get to the end of the page, I always feel like I am just repeating the same things I already stated in the previous paragraphs because I have little motivation left. I am working hard to change that about my essays but it’s still a work in progress. As I stated I struggle with keeping my essays interesting even in the end, that is something that I am trying to improve on and get better with. I would also like to improve on sounding more intelligent in my papers.

What I revised in my Unit 1 was making sure I did not repeat what I had in my first attempt. I made sure that I added onto the assignment. The reason why I choose to revise this was because I wasn’t satisfied with the feedback and I felt that I could’ve spent a little more time and put more effort onto it to be satisfied. The feedback that I got from my professor was having a good start. The feedback I had received from my professor made me think about how something small can make a difference at the end. It also makes me think about the results that I would receive at the end. Therefore, I realized that I put my mind on it too much which made me receive that feedback.

Unit 1 educational narrative

Educators need to be efficient teachers who include everyone in what they teach and relate it to the students life experiences. They did not go about teaching us about maneuvering around the internet. We want to encourage students to relate between information they have read and by whom it is given out. I only learned about the basic history as most students do. It is important to view things by learning how to read text from the media and question it.

One teacher that did change my life in high school was my biology professor in my senior year. I was not close to him but the way he encouraged and engaged with the students was unbelievable. He made the classroom interesting which something most professors did not do. He was the only professor Ive had that was what some people would describe as an “inspirational professor”. This professor attempted to teach different styles whether it was oral, written, or hands-on. The professor was to have students learn by power points, lectures, or not beneficial activities but rather have the students meet the high expectations that everyone should all have.

In addition, my thoughts on education was had me think about the negative results instead of pushing myself to do the best I can be. I would always procrastinate and leave things for the last minute which would always affect my grade at the end. Therefore, since I never put my mind into my homework or classwork that caused me to repeat the grade. I regret the fact that I never did my homework on time so that I wouldn’t have to go through stress by being left behind a year.

Unit 2 – Navigating Genres

I choose to revise Unit 2 was because I felt that I was missing information in the assignment that was required. The feedback I got from the professor was that I handed it in late and was incomplete due to the criteria. I realized what information I needed to include about navigating genres. Therefore, as I was looking at the work I gave in and the feedback I received I knew right off the bat that examples should’ve been added to the assignment.

In the Kerry Dirk’s essay “Navigating Genres”, the author uses many genres to provide examples to her readers about how genres can be comprehended and why they are important. This essay can be an example of how a writer may use genre as a temple to address their audience. The language she utilizes to address us as reader is informal. The author gives an example of Bordo’s poorly supported arguments because of her poor quotations structure giving a reasoning that,” readers will have a hard time constructing what Bordo argued”.  The author states ” “When offering such explanations, it is important to use lan­guage that accurately reflects the spirit of the quoted passage”. As the author is trying to explain how you present a certain language in the same style of the quotation.

Dirk makes learning about genres a lot more thought provoking than a textbook would have. Dirks examples are relatable they help readers understand how writing within a genre can change and how writers make specific choices within their genres to relate to their audiences. By stating, “Some writers quote too little­ perhaps because they don’t want to bother going back to the original text and looking up the author’s exact words, or because they think they can reconstruct the author’s ideas from mem­ory”, the author defines supporting quotations to usually be “perfect”. This essay. teaches us as writers how to examine our audience, how to contemplate about purpose and how genre can be used as a template when writing but also to remember use the freedom within that genre to effectively convey our message.

Unit 3 – Final Reflection 

I have learned so much about myself during this term. I contemplate that throughout the term I have improved in many ways as a reader, writer, and scholar. When it comes to being a reader, It helps with people that have stress and need improvement in vocabulary. The more you read the more you build social-emotional skills. I learned that setting reading goals would help you become a better reader as well as annotating the text. For example, “I always had issues with coping with my emotions which had me struggle during the time being in the retention situation. Some students may suffer with coping skills and it takes them awhile to cope with their emotions and behavior.” This shows that the more you read the more it reduces your stress level.In this term, I learned a lot about myself as a writer. I learned that i should always go back and proof read my writing because there might be some errors to correct. As a writer, you must know about critical thinking to become a better writer. The writing piece needs to be concise and proper grammar. The more you write the more information you can collect. For instance, “An example of standard written can be when we talk or write to someone its because we need respect to be shown. Standard written english deals with grammar, punctuation and vocabulary.” This tells me that, as a writer practice makes perfect, that you should always make sure the writing has strong reasoning and that you are going to be confident with the grade you will receive. I learned so much throughout the term as a scholar which made me become a better version of myself. I learned that time management is important especially when it comes to education. The lesson that I learned was to advocate for myself and If I am stuck on a certain topic alway ask for assistance. “Little did I know, my procrastination kicked in because I had a bad habit of leaving assignments for last minute or even not attempting them. From then on, I learned my learned my lesson on procrastination and began to do my assignments earlier than they are usually due.Towards, the end of the year I knew right off the bat I was going to have bad consequences. There are pros and cons about being held back in a grade. In other words, I was the type of student was absent often and that told me that issue increases the risk of me getting held back as I did.” I agree with this quote because this was something that was constantly being done. The skills that I have collected from this semester so far that I will be capable to transfer to other writing situations is pulling apart the writing piece into separate sections so that it can be less complex when I begin the piece. I will be capable to meet the deadlines, manage and prioritize tasks as well as motivating myself to complete any assignments that are needed to be accomplished. Therefore, I will be capable of thinking positive. I will proof read my work to make sure there is no errors in the writing piece.  I contemplate that fear can prevent me from growing and progressing which means that would be something that I would need to overcome. In order to compare and contrast my work that I did early in the term, I would say that there is no difference in my writing. I was angry with the results after completing the RAB project. I should have used my time wisely and manage it the proper way. I would say that I need to work on procrastination going forward. In the beginning of the semester, we began with annotation and critical thinking based on several topics. Then, as we are coming to an end of the semester, we are currently revising and brainstorming to finalize for the portfolio. My least favorite assignment was the unit 2 RAB because I was very stressed having to get the minimum of about 2,000 words and the correct lay out professor wanted. My favorite assignment was on annotating “The Markers Eye” because it taught me the importance of revising and the role it plays on becoming a better writer. The notable lessons that have been stuck with me is focusing on positivity and learning to have patience. Therefore, as a writer we all make mistakes so we can learn from it. The article written by Donald M. Murray called “The Maker’s Eye”. It gave me a new way to look after my work after I completed it. In the past, I would always have a bad habit of not checking for grammatical errors and just handing it in. Now that I have learned some strategies, I would brainstorm ideas If it is necessary to do so. My vocabulary has improved as the genres changed. When you read many different genres it improves the vocabulary and the writing skills. The purpose of this to help you identify how people are throughout the writing. The more you read in different genres the more you dig deeper into the story to find out more in the text. Genre lets the reader know what to expect in the writing. The decisions I made in my assignments about content and design were to make sure that everything in my writing piece was narrowed down for my readers. I gathered plenty of information for my assignment which would meet the criteria. I made sure that my writing piece was valid enough by having enough details included. My beliefs on writing is that writing is a process and it is something that takes a person awhile to make a good writing piece sound interesting for readers to read. Everyone does have the capacity to write, writing can be taught and professors can help the student become better at writing. The more effort that is being put into the writing the more better you will be in writing. My early beliefs about myself was that I would not think negative based on what I am capable of accomplishing.There aren’t assignments that I have revised yet. Therefore,  I am currently working on revising, but last week we went back to revising assignments we did in the beginning of the semester which is  “Time Capsule” in class to basically visualize any difference from the beginning to now. Overall, thinking back at the assignments I feel like I should have put more time into the work instead of not proof reading it to make sure there is no errors. In this semester, I found that grammar was challenging for me in this course. I always had a bad habit of misspelling any word or leaving out any punctuation wherever it is needed. I feel like it was challenging because of slang as well. Sentences can be predominantly with slang which can be complex for anyone who doesn’t understand what the writer means. If I had the time to revise the unit 3, I would have taken my time on this and made sure I added more information that would be necessary. If this was need to be corrected, I would’ve made sure that I have no grammatical errors and my punctuation is proper.