Reflection on English 102

Reflective Essay

First off, I would like to say English is one of the hardest subjects for me. Every time I take an English class it is a constant struggle to stay on top of things and produce quality work. English 102 was no different.

Happily, I can say I've learned a lot. My punctuation and grammar are still not where they should be (especially for a college student). I have learned to take care about the amount of commas I use. My vocabulary is becoming more robust. Who knows, someday I may sound educated as well as be educated.

My papers overall have become stronger. My proofreading is getting better every time I write a paper. Reading from essay 1-4, there is a tremendous difference in sentence structure, and the whole paper is more fluent now. My best paper by far is essay 4. My worst besides the incomplete essay 3 is easily number one, even after revising.

Having us use outside sources has been beneficial to me. At first I found it difficult to insert someone's words into my work. Then, I learned to use their words to support my own. I remember a quote from American History X, “...says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong.” This has stuck with me and helped me to try and pick good places to source.

Other things that are general for all classes, I need to cut down on my procrastination. Procrastination is stressful, since I do care about my work. I always end up turning in something not quite as good as it could have been. That is something I will need to work on for next semester. Classes only get harder here on out, right?

Online classes as a whole are distracting. I have the internet at my fingertips and can do a multitude of things besides school work. I've learned I do better in a classroom setting, because at least there I can donate my full attention for the hour or so. This semester I felt stretched, just working bits and pieces at a time. My 3 online classes next semester probably wasn't the best idea, but hopefully I will learn from my mistakes this semester and not repeat them.

This semester was full of mistakes I can learn from. Taking my classes online next semester, I will try to get rid of most distractions while I do my homework. Starting on projects early and hitting them hard will be key to getting As. I will strive to be very detailed in writing my papers. I've learned from this class, that I have sometimes several topic sentences in one paragraph. Communication is also key.

My relationships with most my teachers isn't very good. I only write to them in dire circumstances. Emails are very easy and not very time consuming. I could have been dropping lots of them for ideas and what not. That's the whole online theme coming into play. I tend to have better face to face relationships. When work does not get in the way I will definitely go back to historical classroom settings.

Overall this English class was good. It was tough enough to push me to think. I like the fact we read books instead of newspaper clippings. The books weren't something I would normally read, but for the most part I enjoyed them. The analytical essays was definitely not up my alley, but I do understand the importance of them. I believe with the small amount we did, a lot of writing concepts were touched. Thank you for having me as a student.