Larissa Sanchez

Professor: Taylor
English: 100
December 2, 2014

Reflection Essay
My first thought of this English 100 class was, This is going to be difficult. I
would hear all these stories of professors being strict, not caring and providing a ton
of reading and homework. I was absolutely terrified, I did not know what to expect.
The first day of class I arrived early and fully prepared. As I was waiting for Ms.
Taylor I noticed all my classmates looked nice, friendly and most importantly they
all looked my age. In my history class I felt out of place and so young since most of
the students there were about 10 years older than I am and had way more
experience than me. As class was about to start I noticed a very happy looking,
enthusiastic woman walking down the hall towards my class. At that moment I
knew it was my professor because she was walking straight to our room number. I
found it funny how she would always mistake which door to open and unlock the
back door by accident. She was nothing what I expected, I pictured a serious looking,
strict professor like in the stories I had heard but surprisingly it was the exact
opposite.

The first day of English 100 class was interesting. Here I was terrified that this
class was going to be very difficult, it was the exact opposite. Playing the icebreakers
game and interacting with other students made the class a more educational
environment. Working in groups and getting into teams helped to get to know
people and also being able to listen to other ideas as well as share them. The
teamwork was also helpful because we did not have to do everything on our own;
we had other people to help us. Although, sometimes it is better to do assignments
on your own because then you will not have to rely on other people.
The one thing that I really enjoyed about this class was having to think critically
about different subjects and explaining your thoughts and ideas. It was challenging
at times for me because I am not good at explaining how I feel but overall it was a
nice challenge. The way Ms. Taylor would constantly ask us questions about almost
everything we talked about and made us elaborate our answers really helped me to
think more about what I was trying to say and how I was saying it. She would
correct our grammar if we said something wrong and even though it might have
been somewhat embarrassing it was also very helpful.
Writing our journal entries and typing many essays was constructive because
using more vocabulary words helped me to expand my vocabulary and write better
essays. For example, I would look up synonyms of words so I could have a variety of
different words so that way I would not repeat the same words over and over again.
The feedback Ms. Taylor would give us was also helpful because, it honestly showed
that she actually read our work carefully and showed us that she cared in a way. She
was the only professor I had that actually wrote comments to students.

One thing I had difficulty with in this class was participation. This class was the
only class I had this semester that really made the students participate all the time.
Its not that I dont care its just that I would rather write down all my thoughts. I
know it is good to participate in class and answer questions and I like to do it, I just
dont like to be forced. I feel that not answering questions in class will not extremely
harm me. If I need to participate in class I will, if I do not have to then I will not.
In conclusion, this English 100 class was full of surprises. I met really nice people
and enjoyed working in this class. Talking about what is going on in the world and
discussing social media issues and events made it very interesting. This class was
absolutely great and changed my view on English classes because I had heard
stories that it would be very hard, but this class was not. It was challenging and easy
at the same time. I am really glad I chose Ms. Taylors English 100 class because it
made me think and I learned many things. I do not regret choosing this class at all,
even if it started at 8:30 on a Saturday morning.