Review your work, and brainstorm
To help generate material for your reflection, think back through all your work (writing, reading, talking, thinking) from the semester. Consider sharing your brainstorm or a part of it below as a comment. Use any of the following more detailed questions to help you brainstorm ideas for answering the main questions for your reflection that I will share in the Final Reflection and Portfolio instructions:
- What did you expect to learn in this class? What did you actually learn?
- What are some notable lessons that have stuck with you after completing certain assignments?
- How does your work from early in the semester compare to your work now?
- What changed in your writing (and reading and thinking) as the genres changed or as you became more experienced?
- What were your assumptions/beliefs about yourself and writing at the beginning of the semester? How have they since changed? What motivated these changes?
- What techniques or ways of thinking about writing helped you this semester?
- What was your experience when revising assignments? If you revised any of your assignments, be sure to identify what you changed and reflect on the changes.
- How did feedback on your writing or other input (eg from me, classmates, tutors, librarians, your personal support team) factor into your work? What additional feedback would have been helpful?
- This course did not have late work penalties–how did that affect your work and your work habits?
- What was particularly challenging for you in our course this semester and how did you overcome it (or attempt to)?
- What advice do you wish someone had given you to help you with this course? What difference would it have made for your learning and your writing?
- What advice do you have for future ENG 1121 students?
- What advice do you have for ENG 1121 instructors as they prepare to teach this course again.
Photo credit: “nearly there” by Jim Forest via Flickr under the license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED
As we go and face the final last days of the 2024 spring semester. There’s definitely some things that I would like to say… and maybe even get off my chest.
As these things have just been weighing down on me. As if there was a burden just sitting directly on my chest. Making it so hard for me to breathe. Along with all of my other responsibilities weighing down on my back. However, I definitely learned a lot about this past semester. I’ve learned a lot about myself not only as a writer, or a reader, but also a student. I’ve definitely learned that once again, I feel like I couldn’t give college my all like I wanted to. Although I still did get good grades, have some great connections with my teachers and students, it all still just doesn’t feel right.
Always waiting to put stuff off until the very last minute. Being like “Yeah, I’ll just do it later.” “It’s not due for another two weeks, I’ll have time.” “I’m not going to worry about it.”
However, next thing you know time goes by and the whole semester is basically about gone. You blink and you’re at the finish line before you even know it. It’s crazy how this thing called “life” works. But hey, it happens to the best of us right?