Final Reflection Once upon a time, in a place not so far from home, it was my first day in the college

world. My third class of the day was English 1103 with Ms. Rand. So far, my classes had very interesting professors, but were very formulaic in the type of class they were. The moment Ms. Rand introduced herself to us, I knew this class was going to be better than any English class Ive ever taken before. She wasnt a professor who was going to make us read a bunch of books and then write essays for each one. She didnt lay down petty rules about how to write an essay. She told us that we can make the essay however we like it, although it still has to follow a few guidelines. Thats the difference. There were guidelines, not rules. The first thing we did in class was a daybook entry. The daybook entries always made you think abstractly about the simplest things. Who are you? What have you done? Where are you going? These were the first questions we were asked. We had to know ourselves and our goals for the class before we could start the journey through English 1103. Throughout the semester, we did a few writings that allowed us to develop our writing style. The literacy autobiography made me think about literacy as 3-D, not just reading and writing. The inquiry project was like a research project, but I got to choose the topic and it was more abstract. The multigenre project was based on our inquiry project. We presented our topic in three different genres. I did mine as a Tumblr page, a bumper sticker, and a cereal box. The multigenre project was the most fun, because you got to be creative. Now that the end of my first semester in college has come to an end, I can honestly say that English 1103 has been my favorite class. It wasnt boring and lecture based. Even when Ms. Rand did a lecture, it was interesting and thought provoking. I have never been fond of English, but I enjoyed this class.

Although I enjoyed the class, it was challenging at times. While trying to balance all of my other classes and assignments, I had to find time to sit down and write my essays, which could be time consuming. My most successful piece of writing was my literacy autobiography. It was easy to write about because the topic I chose, dance, was interesting to me and has been a part of my life for a very long time. My organization, flow, and ability to explain each topic came a lot easier because I knew my topic very well. While writing my literacy autobiography, I knew that I wanted to explain each component of my dance style so that it was easy for the audience to understand. I explained the movements, the facial expressions, the stories behind the music, and the costumes. I included pictures for each so that the audience had a visual aid. I believe that the visual component was the best part of my paper. The only thing that lacked was my ability to define my audience. I wish I could have changed some parts of my other writing projects. Although I feel that my literacy autobiography was my best piece of writing, I wish I could have addressed my audience better, as mentioned before. Without the definition of the audience, the paper lacked a little purpose. I was too repetitive in my inquiry project, because I wasnt able to synthesize and analyze my resources all that well. I would have done more research so that I had a variety of information to elaborate on. We did a wide variety of writings, from blog posts, to daybook entries, to essays, to multigenre projects. Of all of our writing assignments, the inquiry project would be most useful for other classes. The inquiry project helped me develop research and research synthesis skills, which will be handy for my science classes, especially biology. I will have to write my own research papers one day using research that I conducted. I will know how to read the research and synthesize it so it is easier to understand. It will also be useful in my science labs when I

have to write lab reports. The multigenre projects have helped me be exposed to other forms of presenting information. I learned how to make a Prezi, which will be useful for future presentations, and I mastered how to make Powerpoints more professional, also helpful for future presentations. Lastly, I have learned from my mistakes in my literacy autobiography regarding my problem with addressing my audience. When I have to write papers in my film class, I will not have trouble addressing my audience because of the tips I received from Ms. Rand while reviewing my papers. The book we read for our class, What The Best College Students Do by Ken Bain, had the biggest impact on me. If I was able to talk to Ken Bain, I would tell him how helpful his book was for me as I adjusted to college. I am no longer so grade focused, but I still strive for good grades. I know how to encourage myself and keep my head up so that I can accomplish my goals. I am no longer that high school student who never asked for help or who just memorized everything for exams. I understand my material and make connections between them. I am on my way to becoming a successful college student who has reached their goals. If I were to teach this class, Bains book would be one thing I would keep in the lesson plan. It not only teaches you about how to be successful in college, but it also teaches you about how to be successful in reaching your goals and in life. I would also emphasize the lesson on literacy, because I think it is very important for us to learn that literacy is not a two-dimensional thing, and that it is more like the fluency of a language. The language can be anything from a sport, an art, a craft, or anything abstract. The myth that literacy is being able to read and write needs to be disproven. I would emphasize the importance of addressing your audience. I feel that it is one of the most difficult parts of writing an essay. The various genres that information can be presented in will be emphasized as well. It can be useful in other classes.

The experience Ive had in this class is mostly good, but it was often stressful since I was trying to balance other classes and assignments. I learned a few things about myself and how I work best, especially when under pressure. The song, If Youre Going Through Hell by Rodney Atkins, would best describe my experience in English 1103. If you look at the lyrics, it may seems pretty harsh, but let me explain. My experience started out great, but a couple of weeks into the semester, my workload started to pick-up. Suddenly, I was bombarded with lots of work in all of my classes. Ill be honest. Every couple of weeks I would go through hell trying to write an essay or blog post at the very last minute because I kept procrastinating most of my English work. I knew I could get it done and still have it be good quality. I would just sit down and write away the day, or night, and Id just keep on going and not slow down. Like the song says, there were angels along the way, mostly my peers and roommates, who would be there to pick me up when I needed it. There are many allegories that I could use to describe my first semester of college, but the allegory of the airplane would work best. When my first semester took off, I was nervous to my stomach. I was afraid that I was going to fall from the very beginning. Once I got the hang of things after a couple weeks, I realized that I was going to be okay. Along the way, I faced some troubles in my journey. Turbulence, in the form of stress and multiple deadlines due at once, occurred more times than I would have liked. After a couples days, which would be minutes in a flight, everything would be back to normal loads and I would not be so stressed. People were always there to lift me back up when I got a little low in the sky. Now that I am on my descent, I realized that although the journey was treacherous and unsure at times, Im proud of myself for reaching my destination, the end of my first semester of college.