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Wendy Sanchez
Professor Adler
English 1A #36475
27 March 2015
Reflective Essay
Reflecting on my experience as a reader, writer, and learner in my English 1A
class I have to say that the authors in my readings, who I came across, had a lot to do
with the way I viewed my learning process. Not only have I learned great strategies like
annotating or summarizing after chapters, but also measuring the capacity of my
concentration span, which comes in handy. All of these strategies gave me a better
understanding during a read, not to mention it kept me on track. Overall, this was a very
overwhelming semester. In the beginning, everything seemed so fresh, I felt invincible. I
kept up with my article and book readings. I really enjoyed reading Writing to Change
the World by Mary Pipher. I felt inspired by her words and I understood her and the
message she aimed to unveil at her readers. Change Writing has such an effect on
readers worldwide. Her words were more than just words put together. They actually
created something more than just sentences. Piphers book explains in depth that there are
writers who write with a purpose, some who expose true realities to society. We live in a
world where poor children make toys for rich children, where the worlds food program
cuts distribution because the lack of funds while two-thirds of America fight obesity
(Pipher). Pipher puts her heart and soul and you can feel all kinds of emotions through
her writing. I speak about Pipher because as soon as I came across her book Writing to
Change the World during this course I realized something clicked in me. My attitude

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towards reading, writing, and learning changed. It changed in a way where I now view
words differently. I notice that they have power, a power that I never seemed to see with
my old mentality but I now have a different view and perspective.

The possibility to change ourselves or learn something significantly from words is

mind blowing. I argue, like many students, writing is more than just a way to express
ourselves. It opens a world to a better tomorrow and it alerts us through words, while
reading an article, academic journals, or even a book; which is why I am a strong believer
of education. You see my mentality was never like this. I didnt appreciate education the
way I do now. I was so careless and I wasnt practicing critical thinking, which was a
term I recently learned about in an article Critical Thinking by Bell Hooks. It emphases
the need for discovering the who, what, when, where and how of things. The heartbeat
of critical thinking is the longing to know to understand how life works (Hooks). I have
never encountered so many authors who wrote to change the world. I have evolved as a
student and learning about Change Writing and Critical Thinking has really affected
me. I have gained knowledge and I am leaving this English course with a greater mind,
an open mind full of new learning strategies that will help me evolve into a better student.

Throughout the middle of the semester I became ill and got behind on a few
assignments. I felt that catching up on the missed assignments would be really time
consuming and noticed that there was a long road ahead. Looking back now I realize that
the situation I was in wasnt as bad as I thought. As a student, I noticed that self-sabotage
can affect students and it particularly affected me this semester. Over a sixteen-week

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course we had five essays. Essay #2: Rhetorical Analysis; I received a no pass grade. This
was the type of essay one would say piece of cake, the writing prompt was simple and
we had been reading and connecting the authors throughout the semester. We had to
respond to our readings from our unit: Jimmy Santiago Bacas A Place to Stand, Henry
David Thoreaus Civil Disobedience and Martin Luther Kings Letter from
Birmingham Jail. These readings were all so inspiring, connecting them was no problem
since they were all incredible writers. My sentences structure lacked and my essay fell to
crumbs. That was my worst essay. All the blue pen marks from the revision scared me.
Going back and trying to figure out what I missed or what I could have done to improve
my essay still gets to me. Im getting the usual run-on sentences, be specific. I know
for a fact I had great ideas, but my problem was sentences - level were problematic,
which made my essay unclear and did not meet minimum standards. As a writer, I lost
my mojo after receiving a no pass grade. I feel like I could have done so much more. It
was one of those essays that one seems to rush through just to turn it in on time. I didnt
take the time to go over it and make sure it even made sense to my self and my reader. I
forgot there was help, I didnt think much of it but now I realize that I should have gone
that extra step and asked for help.

My best essays are always the ones where I can share with my readers thoughtful
ideas and concepts, but my favorite ones are creative writing. When I received my Inclass Essay #1: Writing On Writing, assignment I was enthusiastic about the prompt. I
had to take a position and make an argument about the process and product of writing,
which lately I had been feeling very strongly about. I was extremely proud of my ideas

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and myself when I saw I had passed with a B on my essay. I remember having an outline
ready and creating points where I could connect different authors that ranged from
articles like Free Writing by Peter Elbow, First Thoughts by Natalie Goldberg, Writing to
Change the World by Mary Pipher, and The Perils and Promises of Praise by Carol S.
Dweck to the simple fact of proving that writing is a powerful tool. I knew for a fact that
I felt confident about this essay that generating ideas was no problem at all. The drafting
process was simple because I had a plan in mind from the start.

Whats a good essay if the format is incorrect? I am so glad I am finally getting a

hang of MLA formatting. As a student learning the basic format, I have to admit I found
it troubling entering Pasadena City College as a freshman. Leaving English 1A as a
sophomore, I have a better outlook of what my weaknesses are. Long fragments within
my essays, not being able to explain in detail, jumping around in paragraphs; funny thing
is that I write the way I speak. I am a very random person and yes I tend to jump from
conversation to conversation that sometimes I dont even finish one conversation. I might
have an amazing idea or thought, but I have trouble putting it down on paper or even
explaining it to another person. My biggest writing problem is fragments; sometimes I
just dont know when to stop. Not because of how long a sentence can be, but because
my idea is not yet fully explained. Im still working on fragments. Im not going to say I
have a full understanding of them, but I know what Im doing wrong so now I can work
on it.
Another one of my writing goals is definitely finding a way to break my cycle.
Meaning I want to be able to put down in writing what I want to say, but it needs to make

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sense in order to be understandable. Lastly, a writing goal of mine is to learn how to write
in detail. Ive noticed that sometimes I can keep things broad in my essays rather than
fully explaining a concept in detail. I want to accomplish these goals not only because
they well help me during my schooling, but also because in the near future it will help me
develop a better understanding of my thoughts and ideas on paper, making sense. I want
to create readable creative writing, where my randomness makes perfect sense.