Andree Ayala

December 10, 2015

Professor Collins
The Reflection Letter
English 115
California State University, Northridge

Dear Portfolio Reader,

Ive taken the time to step back and look at my experiences and learnings in this
class throughout the semester. This class has not only made me a stronger writer but
also stronger in different steps in writing.
For Progression 1, I learned how to define social literacy and how to compare it
to the world today. The purpose of this progression was to show how important social
literacy is in todays society. My essay was built around the three speeches we used
and also how kindness immensely influences social literacy. In Progression 2 the main
discussion was science fiction. For the first time, I had written an essay that included
hyperlinks, pictures, and articles. My topic for this essay was on how technology has
become an extension of ourselves and I used Be Right Back from Black Mirror as an
example. The purpose of the topic on my essay was to show my audience how hugely
technology has impacted our world. The last and final progression, Progression 3,
consisted of plenty of researching and using online databases. In order to conduct the
essay for progression 3, you needed to write annotated bibliographies, and argument
proposals to do so. The peer-reviews in this class before turning in final essays seemed

to help me a lot because I was able to get feedback from my fellow classmates and
revise thoroughly.
The facilitation in this class was something that I had never done before. My
group and I had to schedule times to meet up and plan what we were going to present.
We decided to include quotes from the articles we were assigned to and also a short
video. I believe we used our time wisely and organized the parts in a fairly matter
although some group members did not cooperate easily.
Overall, I believe my participation in class could have been much better although
I did speak up few times. I helped classmates with peer-reviews and asked questions at
times. My priorities were to have participation be a huge part in this class but sadly I
was only capable of it being a small part. I guess the semester had just gone by too
quickly for me and I now know to participate in class as soon as the semester starts. I
attended class regularly, and if I did miss a class it was because I was ill. I did have a
few assignments that were turned in late and for this I believe I did not perform to my
highest standards. I also believe I could have revised essays much better and devoted
more time into them. This writing class was quite an experience for my first year in
college and has improved me as a writer and reader. I know it wouldnt have affected
me so much if I didnt have a professor that cared about his students and influenced me
so greatly. So for that, I thank Professor Collins.
Sincerely,
Andree Ayala