The thing that I have learned about myself as a writer this semester is that when I am pushed to do better or told I can get an A on a project I would push myself to get to that point. The way I have developed this semester is that I have been asking more and more questions on how to improve my work/projects. I actually think about what I’m going to add to my revised work that I am given time to do. I also think more about the things I am working on and how it would affect my work/grade in my class or how I will view myself. When I look over my work as a writer, like in Project 1, I always think about how awful I made the essay/project I did the first time around and make it better, changing everything around and making sure it looks perfect. Like in the sentence I had retype which was “In the first act of the play “TRIFLES”, when Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters, “It’s log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn’t it? I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt it or just knot it?”, I still did not understand what that word meant or what she meant by “log cabin pattern”, because I am still learning. When I looked up what “quilt” means, it is a British English verb that means “to stitch together (two pieces of fabric) with (a thick padding or lining) between them to quilt cotton and wool”…. etc.”, I had added more details to the sentence to show that I am slowly starting to understand the crochet/knitting community a little bit more. I also added my slow understanding to the question that was asked in the play. Another thing I learned about myself as a student this semester is that I do better with my work while listening to music because I am not left alone in my mind and can actually focus on what the teacher is saying or what they are presenting on the board. While I listen to music I can actually think more about the question and write more about that one question.Â
When I think back to ENG 1101, I think about the projects I had done and how I didn’t do enough for all the work I did in that class. But when I think about ENG 1121, I see that I have improved on my work and also working on myself to improve who I am. Also the work I had changed and brought up to the standards of the people who would read my work. The way I would transfer the knowledge that I have learned this semester to all the other writing tasks, assignments, or situations in college is that I would stop and think about everything I have written/typed up and see what else I could add onto it before I go onto the next thing. I would also transfer on the questions and thoughts I have in my head and actually ask for help when I need it. In my personal opinion I don’t think I learned a lot in ENG 1101 because I didn’t really feel engaged in the class, it was a little boring and never really got my attention as much as I thought it would.
One piece of work from ENG 1121 that I would highlight in my ePortfolio is Project 3 because I believe it shows off my creative side. It shows off how I can use my mind to come up with creative ideas and make them become a reality. When I was first creating the draft for the project, I thought about how I could make it appealing to the eyes and to catch the attention of all students of students. As well with the second half of project 3, the first little draft I had written was very short but after I had read the comments, I was able to add more and change some things arounds. But for Project 2, it wasn’t really my strongest work I have done this semester. It started off strong but in the end it turned out not so amazing. I did work hard on it, but the work I did just flopped. I looked at my project 2 and I thought that I did amazing on it until I got the feedback and my grade. Once I looked over the feedback and read my project again and the requirements for the project, I saw that I didn’t do it right. When I read over the feedback and look over my work, I added a hook. I also saw that what I was trying to get across was not present in the work at all. Like with the sentence in the third paragraph (it used to be the second paragraph) “Middle schoolers and high schoolers need more sleep. At least around 8 or 8 and a half hours of sleep, that is why middle schools and high schools should start at 8:30am or at least a little later.”, it speaks about middle schools and high schoolers and not about college/City Tech students. So I will be changing it and making sure I make adjustments to it and make it more targeted to college students and not middle school and high schoolers. I also took out the whole part from “Middle” to “reason.” and I will be retyping the whole paragraph to make sure it is targeted to the right audience. I had changed some words around in the 5th paragraph and added a 6th paragraph right under it. I have added some information on how I was during my one class that started at 8:30am and on another class that started at 8am. I also added some details of one of my friend’s saying he would miss breakfast just to be at school on time. Also I have added a little paragraph right before the last paragraph of the ed-op essay.
But overall When I look back at my projects and just carefully read over them, I can see the change and growth I have done over the semester. I can see, I have really improved my skills as a writer but also as a student as well. I can see that I made big changes and have done the best I could this whole semester and I hope it reflects on my grade.
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