The English Reflection
In freshman composition, I have academically enhanced my understanding of language, writing, and the collaborative nature of the learning process within the virtual classroom environment. I now know more about collaborative attitudes of sub-division topics that impact our daily lives from the impact of commercials, mental health, and art. Thus, this has helped me to communicate sensitively and respectfully with individuals from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of this self-evaluation is to reflect or demonstrate the way my development has been formed by the course and the extent to which I have met the learning objectives of this course.
The fundamental various ways of learning, for instance, class discussions, readings, and assignments have helped me comprehend that language is the most important aspect of identity and various social factors. Through class discussion and research, the topics that not only were expressed through art, science, math, and psychology were fascinating but it helped me learn about the value and cultural expressions of the biases that are faced in societal norms. My classmates taught me that everyone is affected by something, and we can all connect to one another in some way and we all show some type of this expression in a particular way just like literature and art.
At the beginning of each class, the act of drawing served as a unique means of expression, allowing us to capture visual thoughts rather than written ones. These drawings, centered around specific topics, not only sparked meaningful class discussions but also fostered creativity, encouraging us to look at things differently. This activity helped me learn that everyone has a different way of perceiving something, and more interestingly when we draw, talk, and write about it there are so many other ideas that come up. My favorite thing to draw was the creative project which focused on my bipolar depression. I drew, one side showing a positive light which was flowers and sunshine, and the other side showing a negative light which is being isolated in my room away from everything. Overall, I believe the drawings help me express something that writing wouldn’t be able to and this is one huge part of the class I am reflecting on because I will miss it.
Throughout the course, through the small writing assignment, I learned to create a draft effectively, collaborate with peers, revise, and edit. My focus throughout the course was detailed towards bipolar depression, which is a meaningful topic that is close to me. Through the writing process and the feedback I received, I focused on creating outlines that would help me structure and organize my essay into concise ideas for the final product. I found it important that the thesis and the introduction can help build the essay’s body of details, counterpoints, and arguments. In-class discussions allowed me to work on specific parts of my essay that needed improvement. The peer-review process helped with the editing and revising of my paper and my classmates for constructive feedback to help support and improve our writing. Participating in peer review workshops deepened my understanding of strategies and motivated me to refine my arguments and points in my writing, resulting in more compelling, detailed, and impactful writing. As a result, I now approach the writing process with greater caution, collaboration, and reader focus.
Furthermore, the course included a lot of work with writing. The research project required that I develop a more academic formal tone and competently put together scholarly information to build a strong argument. Moreover, I discovered that examining various rhetorical tactics in magazine articles and academic journals improves my knowledge of how authors mold their speeches to the targeted audience. Through the process of peer review and collaborative conversations, I understood what to pick as the key rhetorical elements and how to integrate them into my writing.
Collaboration and paying attention during this class are the two most important factors in the learning process. Peer review sessions and group discussions, which formed the core of the course, opened up the possibility for me to share my ideas with others and, likewise, to provide them with constructive feedback, all of which led to an atmosphere of collaboration. As I was working on portfolio over the semester, my classmates’ remarks provided me with a new insight into storytelling techniques and the things I could work on to make the final draft stronger, highlighting that teamwork is a key component of the research project because pooling resources and deliberating on them together improves the quality of individual papers.
The course also helped me write texts that can appropriately and effectively combine my point of view with the appropriate sources through strategies like summary, critical analysis, interpretation, and argumentation. In my research paper, I spoke about bipolar depression and the effects and how everyday life can be affected by the disorder. Summing up the important points from articles and news reports, I summarized the research project for my audience, and my interpretation helped to make the difficult concepts easy to understand. The main thing is making my stand clear and making sure people know how serious and effective this disorder is.
Lastly, the assignments for the course, which comprised weekly in-class participation and the final portfolio, created a framework for perfecting my writing ability. Weekly assignments and Blackboard Mondays encouraged active participation and involvement through reading, writing, drawing, thus creating a participatory and interactive learning environment. The portfolio, which has a diorama and two drafts of my past essays, allowed me to both explore and improve my storytelling skills by reflecting on my life-changing experience. This foundation made me improve my skills by asking me to write a four-page paper that had to be revised several times.The project has been made interesting by including an icon and a class presentation. The reflection and statement of an artist are the parts of my project that make what I did and how my creative process evident. The final portfolio at the CUNY Academic Commons was a summary of my semester’s work. It was an excellent occasion for me to look back on the things that I found useful and on the lessons that I learned, as well as to deal with the course learning goals.
Overall, this English class has really had an influence on me and affirmed my view of language, writing, and collaborative learning that cannot be viewed in any other way apart from this one. I have realized that language attitudes and conventions are critical, as well as analysis and evaluation of different genres in addition to an understanding of the writing process – primarily peer feedback and group work. This course has enabled me to acquire a critical, meaningful, and comprehensive approach to language, as well as to apply writing strategies and academic conventions to enhance my writing. The impact of passing this course, as far as my communications skills are concerned, is no doubt positive in terms of writing. Therefore, I really value the time and effort that has been spent on this academic adventure.
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