Reflections:

Monkey See Monkey Do

Writing has always been difficult to me. I have never had an interest in English (one of
the reasons why I decided to major in Math) and have never wanted to improve my writing. To
me English is all about perfection. It has to have good sentence fragments, diction, being able to
grasp the attention of the reader, being able to make the readers imagination wild and free to the
extent that they can see what they read. I have never had the pleasure to have this type of
perfection in my writing and have never bothered to make such impact to my audience. Coming
from a very poorly educational system, I never thought that I would be able to have a passion in
writing until I went to college.
Coming fresh out of high school, a freshman like me is excited to meet new people , do
things differently, and of course having less time for lectures. I was excited that I didn't need to
do essays or research papers anymore. I was done with English since I was a Math major but boy
I couldn't have been more wrong!
"You are going to take English 114A and English 114B for your first year" said my
counselor. With a little tear coming out I responded with great disappointment that it was great.
Once again enslaved with chains I was English's prisoner and along with the lasso of perfection.
My expectations for English 114A and 114B were really high and strict. I figured that since it is
college and not high school the page limit got raised from 2 pages to infinity and each paper
should be perfect from head to toe. Professors expect me to know the difference from works
cited and bibliography, etc. I already hated English and with these major expectations I was
afraid that I wouldn't meet them and my hate for English would grow more and more.
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English 114AB is a course that focus on helping students write effective academic
English, find evidence to develop their ideas, organize and present material clearly, logically, and
persuasively, and to read multicultural expository prose critically and insightfully. In
English114A this objective is focus through summaries, we need to be able to summarize what
we have read and be able to comprehend what we just read. This class was quite a surprise and it
wasn't what I expected. I still remember the first words my professor told me when I entered her
class ,she said-" Everything you have learned in High School forget it! Every essay you have
done erase it! What you have created so far is copy the same picture for many years and in my
class instead of taking a picture I will help you create a canvas of your own" Amazed and
shocked of what my professor just said ,I started to become curious and wondered if she was
going to be able to actually do that . All of the assignments I did in English114A were
summaries. I have done a lot of summaries in High School but none of them were like these
summaries. The difference between the summaries were that in these summaries there was a
voice and feelings rather than words that described the story. I was able to summarize and be
able to give my opinion about what I like, what got my attention , and what I told it meant. It was
quite enjoyable that there wasn't a right or wrong answer but my own opinion in the prompt.
Through this class I was able to learn that when one writes ,one isn't just writing about the
prompt but in our own words and emotions we need to be able to give our opinion about the text
and be able to explain it throughout own words to show our understanding. My professor was
able to help me give voice and my opinion on paper and she was able to prepare me for the next
step being able to analyze the text through my own words in English114B.
English114B is a course that helps students have a broad perspective of different writing
styles and being able to analyze the writing. On the first lecture my new professor asked us to
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write down two or more styles of writing we enjoy doing. To be honest I couldn't think more
than two styles of writing, the only ones I knew were essays and research paper. However these
are the two styles I dislike doing. I was amazed when he gave us the list of writing styles we
were going to do in this term; narratives, biographies, poems, songs, essays, research papers etc.
But I was also freaking out and already stressed out because I didn't really have any experience
with the other styles. It was challenging and fun being able to find my favorite writing style but
also being able to have experience and try out the writing styles I didn't know how to do. In this
class I was able to create poems ,something that I never thought I was capable of doing. Through
poems I was able to stick to the prompt but also being able show my emotions my topic through
different perspectives. Through repetition, imagery , and comparisons I was able to show
different feelings and sides of each character These type of rhetorical devices is what helps me be
able to summarize about my writing and being able to analyze why I wrote what I wrote. In this
class I was able to learn many styles of writing and also analyze the text through rhetorical
devices. But also I was able to improve my writing and being able to hate English less and accept
that it is fun just like math. It is a bit challenging but through this class I was able to expect what
each style of writing consist of and what are my weaknesses in my writing.
I have always thought that mistakes make you more weak but I was wrong. Not only did I
learn many styles but also I was able to take my fear of being able to hear critiques of my
writing and being able proofread and revise my work. I never proofread my work before in high
school. I never like anyone reading my work because I was so afraid that it won't be good
enough. But a paper can only be bad if you don't put your heart and soul in it.(also time). This
year I was able to see that in my writing I make the same mistakes and with a little help and
revision those mistakes go away. Peer reviews aren't there to criticize your writing but they are
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there to help you on your mistakes and also remind you that your writing has good points.
English114AB was a course that indeed does approach to university writing. English 114A
taught me that in writing one doesn't simply just stick to the prompt but also we are allowed to
give our opinion and English114B was able to help me write my opinion more academically and
connect it back to the text through rhetorical devices. These classes help me prepare for my next
three years of college and able to see the expectations of my future professors. Also some
individual assignments made me think about my future and my major. My research project in
English114B about my major made me realize that majoring in math is going to be tough and
difficult. It make me realize that majoring in mathematics secondary teaching isn't something
that I want to do until I have seen and experience others jobs first, so I switch my major to
applied mathematics sciences. I was able to learn more about my major and expect the everyday
life of a mathematician. In English 114A , the summaries that expressed my opinions and
emotions made me realize that I can paint my own canvas and that writing can be fun. I think
that incoming freshmen shouldn't really worry and be afraid of their writing like I did. English
wasn't putting me those chains ,but rather my fear of my own writing was chaining me up. That
lasso of perfection isn't just about grammar or diction but being able to comprehend and fully
analyze your writing makes an essay beautiful and perfect. It's not about what type of brush you
use to paint your canvas or technique you use, as long as one is able to express their emotions ,
show the audience our main ideas and voice, that's when our canvas is really created.