The Importance of Education and My Personal Learning Experiences

Prior to enrolling in this class, I always had the mindset that I would be able to get an A if I turned in minimal work. When I started taking this class, the alarm in my mind went off and I woke up, realizing I had technically begun college and that I needed to start working like it. Dual Enrollment English 111 improved my work ethic, a necessity for being a successful individual throughout

It was a task that took a significant amount of time and effort, but was truly an excellent learning experience. I found it intriguing how much the original essay can improve or modify over time; moreover, how different ideas flow through your brain each second. The revision of my essays taught me an enormous deal about writing and was genuinely pleasurable to do. In summary, I had an enjoyable time in my first college English class. I pushed myself as diligently as I could and learned much more than I thought I would.

All of these things can be used in my future classes throughout my college career. This essay reflects on how my writing of English Composition essays has grown, or benefited from continuous revising, visiting the Writing Center, and implementing the feedback I have received from my instructor. The process of writing and revising of my first paper for English Composition 1 benefited from the various resources offered at the University of Oklahoma. The first paper that I wrote was the scholarly discourse pa... ... middle of paper ... ...xplaining it with relevant sources and research. Although I have learned a lot and have improved my writing skills tremendously I still feel that I have more to work on.

Throughout the first semester, I have learned many new skills and techniques to succeed in college. Some of these came naturally and some not so much. The mistakes I have made actually have helped me more than hurt me. Life is a learning experience and gaining knowledge from every kind of circumstance can only help. I have learned many new skills in my first semester of college.

College is going to help me more in life than I realize. It’s going to make me into the person that I’ve always wanted to be, and the degree that I get will get me the job that I’ve wanted since I was fourteen years old. I have faced some obstacles getting here, but I know it will all be worth it once I get my degree. When thinking about what obstacles I had getting to this point at WSU I can only think of a few. One of them was high school.

Throughout my experience in the link I have learned to appreciate any help I received. When I entered College for the first time, I wanted to know how it feels to have to think critically, and to be an independent student. I wanted to know what the true meaning of “working hard” actually meant. In high school I passed without attending my classes, but I knew it won’t be the same in college. I was ready to challenge myself to be on top of my game and get straight A’s.

Armed with positive experiences from my earlier years, I was secure in my writing skills and I welcomed any new information that I could learn that would make me an even better writer. I owe a lot of my writing abilities to this teacher, I feel that she greatly and thoroughly prepared us for our literary futures. Essay writing was the biggest English lesson of that school year, this is where I first learned how to write an introduction, how to organize and structure paragraphs, and how to construct an overall essay. In this class my teacher would often times use my essays as an example for the other students, because often time I had the highest scored essay in the class. That school year gave me such confidence in myself when it came to writing essays, that it is something I started doing as a hobby and not just in school and academically.

Editing, an area that has never been a strong suit of mine, is also taught in First Year Writing. Peer-editing is a valuable exercise in which students exchange drafts with their peers and edit them for each other. This process helped me greatly during the semester as my peers were able to point out flaws and faults in my essay that I would never have seen myself. This, i... ... middle of paper ... ...t response to my concern coming into college, First Year Writing helps increase responsibility and independence in students. By giving them time and space to develop their writing skills students are “empowered as agents responsible for their own learning” (Gere, 2).

It would be difficult, but I was willing to make sacrifices to finally finish my degree and work somewhere that would bring me happiness. I love working with children and I could not wait to do that every day. It ... ... middle of paper ... ...s. I can’t wait to complete this goal and start helping my husband provide for our family again. I continue to keep pushing forward toward my goal. I feel great accomplishment in making it this far.

I would be incredibly honored to be admitted to the graduate program for English Literature at Vanderbilt because I’ve always had a passion for learning and teaching. I went into college with the idea that I needed to teach children overseas how to read and so for my first year of school I was unmovably focused on achieving that end; however, within a year’s time I would change my tune and set myself on a slightly different course. I tested out of both the required freshman English courses, so my freshman year I decided to dip my fingers into as many different pots within the Humanities as I could, which is how I ended up taking Existential Literature. I was utterly enraptured by the teaching methodologies Dr. Bringle utilized, she was engaging,