Course Reflection

Noelle Baumeister

Pfister, English 102

I took Michael Pfister’s English course both fall and spring semester. Aside from other english

classes, this class has taught me not only to compose and write different types of essay, but to reflect on

my thinking process. Metacognition has been one of the most vital aspects of this class for me and

learning how to adapt to creating content on different sources, like a video or brochure.

Coming into college I was not a strong writer. I was scattered and did not prepare enough when

writing essays, which would cause them to not be well written. From this class I have learned that starting

early and preparing is the most important aspect when writing an essay or creating any content to express

ideas. The most valuable composing technique I learned is to have a format for your essay and sticking to

it precisely. In Project 1, rhetorical analysis about a mural in downtown phoenix a big success and a

struggle came from the critical thinking component of this project. I knew the mural I wanted to use and

did all the research associated with it, but figuring out which rhetorical techniques most accurately

expressed the rhetorical techniques was difficult. Overall the most important part of composing your ideas

is to plan them out in an organized way as best you can, but when you are creating the work to be flexible

and go with the flow of the piece.

Some of the biggest things I learned in this class about reading was to find the most important

part of a text to walk away with the overall message and to enjoy what you are reading. I felt that in this

class we did not read average textbooks about writing and reading, we read a book about how people

create to help us figure out how we wanted to create. Another concept we practiced in class often is

reading an article and picking out the big ideas from the article. Throughout first and second semester we

would read articles at the beginning of class and then write down the most significant points of the article.
I found this skill to be extremely helpful in all aspects of my life because this is a skill you can use in any

class or any point in your life.

Finally, the most important skill I learned was critical thinking, most importantly metacognition.

Metacognition is thinking about your thinking and reflecting on your thinking process. This was a big

skill I used when composing my papers and documentaries. When composing your thoughts into an essay

or film it's important to be organized with how you present your ideas. When filming the documentaries,

it was extremely important to make your ideas clear since it was a new platform to design on. In addition,

the project reflection sheets were important as well because you got to tie your composing process to

WPA outcomes and the Habits of Mind. These allowed you to fully reflect on your planning and

composing of your projects. Critical thinking can be difficult for a writer but i found it to be a good way

to improve my work for next time. Critical thinking is a very good skill to have in any major and will be

used by anyone after we graduate. The WPA outcome that was the most valuable for me this semester

was critical thinking and ability to compose in multiple environments because for me, these are the most

important skills to develop for after college. Along with that the Habits of Mind that went along with that

were curiosity, persistence and openness.

In conclusion, these past two semesters have made me a better writer, thinker, but most

importantly a better critical thinker. I felt that the assignment were interesting and I was provided with the

correct amount of tools to succeed. The projects were very organized and formatted, but still left room for

the students to add our own individual touches and research topics we enjoyed. I also felt that while

making documentaries was a struggle for me personally, it taught me how to adapt and compose my work

in a different format. Overall, I learned many useful skills in this class that I will use past my college

career.