Mrs. Fox's English Class

This English class was the best English class I have ever had. There were no tests, vocabulary quizzes, or in class essays, which made the class less stressful. Before this English class, I was afraid that I would not enjoy writing many essays or writing so many words in one paper. Afterwards, essays have become something that is not so much my favorite task in the world, but it has become more enjoyable to an extent. Professor Sullivan’s class has taught me to formally write a research paper, to analyze a book through responding to different quotes from the story or novel, to understand magical realism, and to understand my own passion for school and how much effort I will be willing to put out in years to come.

I observed Dr. Jenny Crisp’s English 98 class on January 19, 2016. The class began at 12:15 PM and lasted until 1:20 PM. The room that the class met in was on the third floor of the Liberal Arts building, and the room had individual computers for each of the students to work on. The class was divided into two sections on this day because Dr. Crisp had scheduled an introductory visit to the writing lab, which began at 12:45. Prior to the visit to the writing lab, Dr. Crisp guided the class in a discussion on the topic of revision in regards to the first paper that the class had submitted. The stages of revision were discussed and the students were shown where additional help could be found within the book. Dr. Crisp told the students that the reason that their grades on the essays were significantly lower was because the essays were lacking in detail and had Type One errors. She stated that revision is important and that could help bring up the grades on the essays.

When writing A MLA paper will be typed using 12 font-Time New Roman. This paper should be double spaced. Then, this paper should have one inch margins on all sides. When writing each page should have a header with the writer’s last name and the page number. There should not be a title page for any of the MLA papers. A MLA paper should always have a Body paragraph.

According to Eddie Nevarez, university English professors are having difficulty teaching in depth college level writing and composition because they are busy bridging the gap formed in their students high school foundations and ultimately realizing that their students are not fully prepared to thoroughly understand and complete college level work, which in turn was expected to be taught in college readiness classes while the students were in high school. Many believe that dual credit classes do prepare students for college courses, allowing them to bypass introductory classes which offer assistance and strengthen weak foundations by reviewing lessons covered in high school, as well as prepare students for a much more rigorous college curriculum.

The Lion King has always been considered a symbolic film teaching children not to dwell in the past. To demonstrate that what happens in the past does not matter, it will prevail how the person grows from it. Simba’s past was not the best, however he grew from it. His uncle Scar made him think that he killed his own father. When he found out Simba still did the kind-hearted deed and spare his uncle's life.

Some future college students are born with a natural talent in the subject English. Which includes critical thinking, writing, and reading. While for others, possibly being mathematicians, English is and probably will never be their keen subject in life. Students find more passions in sciences, arts, and medical teachings which is not something to look down upon. Although, many students forget that English is still a huge part of all these subjects. Where ever these students go they will find the necessity to read something or to write something. That’s where college English comes in handy. College English prepares students for academic writing at a university level, and also for their careers when formal writing is required. Many students fear college English classes, but there are many ways to succeed in these college English classes. Looking over the articles Becoming an Active Learner by Skip Downing, Brianology by Carol S. Dweck, and The Right to Fail by Willliam Zinsser, these authors express their feelings on being able to succeed in life in a general view. Mainly taking education into consideration. Students should not be afraid of college English classes because their are many ways to succeed in them by establishing a growth mindset, creating an active learning pattern, and having a positive and mature attitude.

Filled with frustration, I got up for the first day of classes for the spring semester. I went to my first class in Scully and then had to make the long trek across campus to get to my first college English class, EN100. The class took place in Art Building, a place I have never been. As I entered the building, I prayed I was in the right place. I walked up the flights of stairs and frantically searched for the classroom with only a minute till class started.

MLA format is something I have always kind of needed help with. Until this semester for some reason I could never really cite my sources that well. Its something I knew how to do, but when it came time to do it my mind went blank. When you went over everything on the bored that helped me so much (also because I took notes), but only because you told us to take them. With MLA format I learned that when quoting, if its more than three lines you have to use block quote. I didn’t know that till I got to this class.

At 11:15 on Monday, August 17, 2015, my first official college class, English 1101, began. In general, I had no idea what college classes would be like let alone how college English would be. Even though this class taught me a great deal in one semester, it took a large amount of time and effort to make the adjustment from high school. The simplistic writing style of high school was put to rest the moment the first college English class began. As a result, I learned quickly that college writing is complex and less systematic than high school writing. Five paragraph essays with three strict body paragraphs were no longer the norm for writing. Even though my professor helped guide my writing, I was no longer coddled through the whole writing

“…As for all the seniors, I want you to challenge yourselves this year and don’t think you’re going to cruise through to graduation.”-Mrs. Smith, County High School. Although some seniors in high school refuse to take a hard schedule, I decided to take a challenging composition course my last year of high school and learned more than ever before from it. My teacher, Mr. Bacz, focused mostly on vocabulary, grammar, and how to right an essay. Each one of these subjects combined to give me a year of hard work, which eventually paid off.

In Annabel Lee, Edgar Allan Poe states, “We loved with a love that was more than love.” This saying is used by thousands of people everyday to their soul mate. The American Renaissance, which began in 1828 through 1865. Poe was an Anti-Transcendentalist, he wrote mostly about self-destruction (sin). Edgar Allan Poe enjoyed writing about death, sinful acts, and how others felt towards sin.

The common people helped to support the Inca economy. Communities were linked not only through socials relations, but economic relations as well. Economic activities varied by communities, with coastal societies having a more specialized and interdependent economy. They were primarily farmers with some also have herds of animals such as llama or alpaca. The households in the Andes communities depended on each other to trade necessary goods. Lands or fields varied and were not suitable for all crops, exchange networks were created and linked people in complementary ecozones. Kin groups would exchange labor in order to support the community and the economy. This was particularly important if a person was away on military duty.

When I first started the class I was struggling a lot. Since English is my second language, I had many stressful moments that made me think about dropping my classes. But when I thought about my future, I just kept studying even harder, waiting for my performance to improve. As a result, I felt like every time I wrote an essay, it got easier, which tells me that I’m on the right path. In addition, this class has helped me improve my grammar, taught me an important life lesson about sticking on my goal and helped me to enhance my computer skills

Fable used to be involved in extracurricular activities like, basketball, dance team, and volunteering outside of school. Fable then became a different person. Rather than play basketball, or participate on the dance team, Fable spends her time outside of school either working or reading. She has time to do all her homework, and make sure her grades are acceptable. She has never failed or come close to failing a class. She’s not a perfect student by any means. She fails papers, has a hard time understanding certain topics, but comes out with good grades nonetheless. Fable is pretty confident about her knowledge and believes she will excel in college. Fable’s senior year, she decided to take dual credit college english. Considering she loves reading, she figured college english will be an awesome class to kick start her college experience. Come to find out, Fable is not as strong a student as she was led to believe. The first semester of college english focused on grammar. Since grammar stopped being an important part of the standardized test in 6th grade, Fable has not had a proper grammer lesson in 5 years. She realized how unprepared for college she really is. If all of her classes are going to turn out like her experience with english did, she's afraid she might fail out of college all because her school's curriculum was based off of

As the semester comes to a close, it is always interesting to look back and reflect on the events and opportunities my English class has given me throughout my first semester as a whole. At the beginning of this semester it was evident that I was feeling uncomfortable due to the adjustment that I was going through as a student moving to college. It was very difficult expressing myself through my writing since I was nervous about good impressions and my good grade. While this class was one of the most difficult courses that I have taken this far, it has become quite evident to me that I have grown a substantial amount as a writer and as a person; Especially, when it came to explaining my ideas, writing academic essays, and making arguments.