final reflection

                Coming into this semester English was one of my classes I worried about. Reading and writing was one of my weakest points and I was never very good at it. This class has completely changed my opinion English, especially writing. This course was a lot of hard work but Professor Thomas made sure we were all prepared for our papers and other work. My first paper was about my mom so it was on the easier side but the next paper that was assigned was a summary and analysis on the book sway. Starting this paper put a damper on my confidence, I was lost. One thing that helped me substantially was the teacher conference on two of our papers. Having that one on one time to meet with Mrs. Thomas and get her feedback made it clear on what I needed to work on to make my paper better. This also helped me on avoiding making the same mistakes for my next paper. Another thing that helped was the preparation for each paper. For example, things like reading and annotating older student’s paper before beginning ours. Creating info graphics and getting involved in our work keep the class interesting and made me want to dig deeper into my research. These ideas helped to improve my writing in many ways.  

            As I am finishing this class I can see all the improvements I’ve made. Everything I have learned I will take with me through my following semesters. Even though I have learned many things to make me a better writer I still have some weaknesses. I can work on my writing skills by learning to add more research and create better transitions so my papers flow better.  For research papers such as my last paper in this course, I need to add more of my own voice and commentary throughout the paper. Next semester I will need to work on forming my thesis statements. Another thing that I also would like to improve would be my understanding of technology and how to properly use it to communicate my thoughts into my papers.

When class started I didn’t know if all the computer usage was going to benefit of confuse me. In the end using all the technology in this course was a lot of help surprisingly. Things such as Digo and our blogs made it easier to keep track of papers, get feedback and review other peoples work. This course also helped me become comfortable with other internet sources such as Prezi, Infogram, and Blogger. All around I think the technology and other tools introduced throughout the semester were extremely helpful in making this course very beneficial. I am very excited to be in Professor Thomas’s class next semester!