Furthermore, a way that I can increase my memory and my understanding of my classes and subjects is by improving my ability to take notes. I am currently under the impression that my skills at taking detailed and descriptive notes will improve as I continue my college education. As of this moment, my notes are enough to achieve a passing grade, but not enough to succeed like I intend to. However, over the course of Honors Colloquium, I do believe that my notes have improved for the score of my quizzes are a slight reflection of the quality of my notes. Additionally, I once asked my grader, of the Honors Colloquium course, what he felt was the best approach to improve my note-taking skills and he replied with something along the lines of, “It …show more content…
Based off the feedback and results that were promptly administered to me as a response to my major assignments of the Family Research Paper, the Retirement Essay, and the Political Essay, I feel as though I have proficient writing skills. All of these assignments required an extreme effort on my part in terms of research and countless hours editing to make these assignments worth submitting. For one assignment, I had to begin research over the summer to adequately provide detailed information and research for my essay (Family Research Paper). In another instance, I had to research my career path and elaborate on why I chose the profession and my ambitions and goals that I expect out of my career (Retirement Essay). Luckily, though, it seemed to work in my favor for I was more than satisfied with the grades given to me. These acquired skills will ultimately provide a secure background for my classes in the future, such as for research projects and upcoming essays. I am extremely fortunate enough to have a foundation in these skills, however, they are far from perfect. I intend to further these skills as a progress through college and take higher level
I am currently an English 160 student who is hoping to move on to the next course, which is English 161. I understand the requirements for English 161. It require students to explore a topic in some depth and conduct independent research related to that topic. Conducting research allows students to learn what it is like to participate in academic culture, posing questions about important issues and developing an argument in response to what others have said. It expected students to learn the most valuable skill in college, which is critical thinking. Students have to be able to read challenging readings. Although I still have problems with English, I think I’m qualified to move on.
In one semester of English 101 I have learned so many things about writing. I used to believe that writing was just putting words on paper, but have since learned that writing is much more than that, I now understand that writing is a way of exploring my mind and of making connections with other writers and readers. Over the course of the semester I have been learning to write in a way that uses the skills of reflection, critical thinking, and much more. I have used these skills to compose two academic essays that I am submitting in a portfolio to determine my final grade in English 101. In order to have a passing final grade my essays need to display skills I have learned in the course that are required by the Portfolio Assessment Rubric or
Over the course of this semester, I have progressed as a writer. Picking up new skills and dropping old bad habits has transformed me into a much better writer than when I entered the English 101. Entering this class, the only English classes that I took were mandatory high school classes all four years. In these classes, however, content was focused on reading novels, poems, and literature. There was usually only one major writing assignment each year, which was a research paper on a topic that was given by our teachers. Although there was some writing involved in these classes, most of the class time was spent on improving my reading and comprehension skills. A small part of the class was given to improve my skills as a writer and even a researcher. In English 101, however, most of the class time was spent on writing and more specifically, academic writing. This includes doing proper research, picking a worthy topic to write about, correctly analyzing sources, and developing a well-rounded, complete paper. I have progressed a writer over the semester by effectively integrating and analyzing sources better, and being more specific with my words.
Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I thought that I did not have to worry about being prepared for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not going to be enough for college. Writing is not just something that I will use in English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate to professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be something that did not come easy to me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to get my thoughts down on paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of writing that was required ended up helping me in so many ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me so much for college and real life.
English has never been my best subject. Reading books can be exciting, but the writing aspect of English can be dreadful. Somehow, however, I passed all my advanced English classes with at least a B, and my teachers always considered me to be “above average.” My impartiality toward English shifted to an indifference near the end of my high school career; my indifference then shifted to appreciation. This appreciation is attributed to American Studies and Honors Writing, the most difficult English classes at Belleville East Township High School. American Studies and Honors Writing have strengthened my writing skills beyond what I believed possible. I still do not believe that I am the best writer, and English may never be my best or favorite
Throughout the semester i only learned few new things but i did improve and solidify my skill of writing. Before my first year of college my skills have always undermined by other high school english teachers and with that came disappointing grades. I am writing this paper as a reflection of the semester and the progress i have made as a writer. I now understand many things that my high school teachers have done a poor job demonstrating and i am grateful that i decided to take my own route in my education instead of their syllabus. I entered the semester with anxiety that i would perform as i did before but i clearly outdid my own expectations by receiving top grades on my essays.
Weak skills that I began the class with have become strong and my strong skills have become stronger. Having the opportunity to write a variety of different essay styles has challenged me greatly to improve my writing techniques. Each essay I was required to write brought its own struggles for me. I had to draw on the information that was presented through the class as well as look to the textbook for guidance. To ensure I did well on each essay I thought about my topic, researched the topic, then began to outline what I wanted to write about. Finally, I would write the essay and submit a rough draft. English 102 has given me the skills and training I need to move on to other classes next semester that will require writing essays. I now have a confidence in my writing abilities that this class has given
In the course of this semester of writing, I grew more than I ever had in my ability to write well. I remember on the first day of class several other students were talking about how hard this writing professor is. I was a bit worried and even thought about switching to an easy professor for a guarantee A so I can get a 4.0. Now, I am grateful that I chose to decide to work hard for a 4.0 instead. Even though I may not get it, I am still glad I stayed because for once, I learned and became a better writer. I can see that my knowledge of conventions definitely improved from last semester. I really loved the feedback for my assignments, since it allows me to realize what I need to improve on and what I should keep doing. Unlike the previous semester, the writing professor only told us our grade on the very first assignment after two months. There were no feedback on how I could improve either, so I had no idea if I was having trouble with anything. Prior to this course, I always had trouble writing sentences and organizing them in such a way that flows and delivers my idea well. I also rarely outline or plan out how I will write a paper too, and even when I did, it was very vague. Out of the five learning outcomes, I grew the most in rhetoric knowledge and writing process from the reading responses and 4 assignment.
In my English class, I wanted to do well and ultimately became competitive to be the top student. I would read several passages, plays, and books through the year and at all times write as much as I could for the essays. My overall goal was to prepare for the ACT during junior year and earn “Advanced” score on my EOC/Benchmark scores. Hence, any writing techniques I could learn from my teachers, I would. I learned a majority of my writing skills and techniques in my sophomore and junior honors English classes. During my sophomore year, it was the first time I was in an honors course and it challenged me with writing even more. The summer assignment for the class was reading the book “A Separate Piece” by John Knowles and to complete and A, B, C of literacy techniques and elements, which was simple enough. While beginning the assignment, there was what appeared like a heap of unknown and new words, which left to question if the class was for me. By the end of that one assignment, I learned several new literacy elements and techniques that I would go on to enhance my writing as well as add new vocabulary to my everyday conversations and papers. My sophomore year also required a good amount of writing for state standardized tests. In my Honors English II course, for a certain score on the standardized tests, the student would receive extra credit points for class. Parallel to when I was in
One skill that I wish I had time to improve on is citing sources in MLA style. Through the course, I refused to seek help from my professor until week seven, one thing I regret doing. that could have allayed the fear and doubt I had about this course. Any questions I had could be cleared up as the course progressed. My essays through the subsequent weeks have demonstrated my strength and weaknesses. I do not have many strengths when it comes writing, but still I consider my greatest strength in writing to be being able to clearly understand the prompt and answer it correctly, especially with the analysis essays. I think this is just because I spend most of the scarce time on hand just to think about the prompt, for example, when I was preparing for my rhetorical analysis essay on globalization I thoroughly read both article on globalization by both Kwame Anthony Appiah and franklin Foer .An obvious struggle I have as a writer is organization and transitions. I tend to jump from one topic to another and sometimes cover. I should have used more transitional words in between sentences and paragraphs to make my reader understand the logic of my paper. I have not had enough writing experience and the writing process is difficult for me. I do sometimes admit that it takes days to complete one assignment, but it will be worth it when I become a proficient
I grew up in a small, close-minded, community that had insignificant minority people throughout it. I did not have a lot of experience with racial and ethnic groups. I did, however, have some experiences with children as well as adults who had learning disabilities as well as autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome, and fetal alcohol syndrome. When I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who had down syndrome; she was in and out of our classroom periodically throughout the day. In junior high; I was a peer helper during leadership class and in high school, I was a peer helper. During high school, I also was a Special Olympic instructor which was very rewarding. Right now, I feel that I could someday handle the responsibility of meeting
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work in see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded. Some of the skills I had shocked me as I didn’t think I had those capabilities in me.
When I arrived at Yale during the fall of 2009 for my freshman year, I started my undergraduate career wanting to practice medicine. Also, I wanted to receive a well-rounded education in an array of subjects. To this day, the education I received at Yale inspires me to delve deeper into pressing issues within our society and utilize the information that comes from a diverse knowledge capital to create strategies and make informed decisions.
Two of the most important study skills are setting goals and taking notes. A student may set a time goal, such as studying a few hours a week; set a general goal, such as trying to study hard and stay on schedule; set a specific performance goal, such as getting at least 80% of the homework problems correct. Another important study skill is taking notes. Students generally make two kinds of mistakes in taking notes. One is to try to write down everything the instructor says, which leads to confusing notes. The other is to copy concepts that they do not understand but hope to learn by memorization. Good notes are compromised of the following: 1) written information summarized in your own words; 2) outline the important concepts; 3) try to associate the lecture notes with the material text; 4) asking yourself questions and making up questions from the notes.
Much like Benjamin Franklin believed, I feel that a person should take advantage of the time the person has in life with activities a person wants to do or needs to do. A person should not spend much time on activities the person does not want to do. Life is way too short to concern oneself with work or other activities one wants nothing to do with all the time. When possible, I try to forget about my responsibility and just let go of the ‘things’ that do not matter to me. I think a person should try to occupy oneself with something productive, worthwhile, or necessary at all times. Even though a person’s life is left up to a person to live, I cannot imagine thinking that I owe my time to society through working a job that I simply despise. I am a compassionate person, but I do not owe anyone anything regarding my time.