final exam - reflection

Kristen Ott Professor Thomas Composition 101: Final Reflection 3 May 2013 Here comes Goodbye I have never pegged myself as a good writer and just like most other students reading was not my favorite thing to do. Coming into college I was worried most about my composition class. Coming into my fall semester of my freshman year I had Mrs. Thomas as my professor. Just like every other class I was nervous on how I would do. Never would I have guessed that I would finish with an A in composition 101. Throughout composition 101 Mrs. T helped me get a better understanding of how to write and read with more importance. With all of our blog post, essays, and our class read “Sway; the irresistible pull of irrational behaviors” I felt much more confident with my reading and writing skills. To say the least I was extremely relived I made it out of composition 101 alive. For the spring semester I was still dreading composition 102. I did feel much better knowing that Mrs. Thomas would be my professor again though. Even though we did not have a class book to read our Norton book and “They say I say” book truly helped me get though our assignments. These two books did not only help me to become a better reader but also a better writer. These books helped me to grasp concepts in writing. For example, a fallacy which is an unreasonable argument that adds to your paper to convince your reader. These books aided me in becoming a better critical thinker also. Concepts such a reading like a writer helped me to think deeper into my arguments and create solid evidence. Both of these books played a big role in making me the (better) reader and writer that I am today. A better writer is an understatement. Composition 102 has worked miracles for me! Even after 101 I still had many things to fix in my writing and I still do. Our first paper of composition 102 was the Rhetorical Analysis and I have to say it was the hardest for me. I wrote this paper on Sarah McLachlan’s animal abuse commercial. Throughout this essay I had to analyze the use of path, ethos, logos, and the affect it had on the viewer. There were man different parts and aspects that went into this paper and I had a hard time with writing an analysis in composition 101. This essay was very hard for me and I had trouble getting enough information to fill the pages. After finishing this essay I realized I had to improve a lot and change my writing style. Once I got to essay two and had my conference with Mrs. Thomas I began to progress. After meeting with her about the argument analysis I felt much better. This paper was much easier for me to write and I had a lot to say about it. For this essay I analyzed article on doping in sports and the Lance Armstrong confession. After the instructor conference I was told I had to work on my transitions and the implementing of my research. These two aspects are something I continued to struggle with until my last paper in this class. The last paper I wrote was on the solution of the biological passport for doping in sports. Every paper I have written besides paper one has been about doping in sports so I was very educated on this topic. The struggles for me were making the paper flow with transitions and incorporating all of my research along with my own knowledge. I was always good at writing introductions but once I got to the transition of course, I struggled. This topic proposal paper was the “icing on the cake.” It was this paper that I improved all of my weakness and made progress on becoming a better writer. After getting the comments back on it I believe my peer response and professor Thomas could see the difference. I may still have had a hard time with some transitions but for the most part my paper was much better than my first one. Creating transitions are one of the hardest things about writing for me and I was doing my best to fix them. Taking this course has really helped me to pin point my weaknesses and make significant changes to them. This class had bettered me the most in writing but has also made me a stronger critical thinker and has made me enjoy reading! Being in Mrs. Thomas’s class means there is always a discussion. Things like tweeted about the presidential debates made my mind work and forced me to think deeper. When we tweeted about the super bowl commercials and their rhetorical analysis it made me think beyond the funny aspect and connect it to pathos, ethos, and logos. The little things like this aid me in becoming a better critical thinker. I now don’t just read the pages or type the paragraph I look deeper into the questions to answer them and come up with an inferential response to them. This class isn’t just about sitting there and taking notes, it involves your mind and enables you to be active in class. Being involved made me become a better English student to say the least. I truly think I have changed an enormous amount as a student by taking this class. With all of the papers, critical thinks exercises, and reading I can officially say I survived composition 102 and hopefully I will finish with an A. I didn’t just change throughout this class but I also had fun for the first time ever I can say writing papers wasn’t a nightmare for me and with the help of a great professor I finished decently. Every paper and every bit of work made me progress through my issues and all combined to make me stronger in English. I have come a long way with the help of the materials and my professor, over all I believe that being in Professor Thomas’s class has helped me to become a better student in not only English but all of my other college classes too.