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Oliver Robinson

English 1101x

Dr. Reiman

October 13th 2009

Mid-Term Reflection

So far in this 1101 English class I have been exploring new ideas on have to

write and interpret texts. The main text that we have been focusing on is Jean

Anyon’s “The Hidden Curriculum of Work”, after many essays on the essay I believe

I have become more able to interpret and discuss pieces of work. After reading the

essay we were asked to present a critical inquiry into Anyon’s piece. This critical

inquiry was different to anything I had done in English before, and because of this I

was eager to explore her essay and ask questions to see what I could find. This

inquiry paper interested me very much because it felt like I was writing a

journalistic piece or a review of a book; this is very different to the uninteresting

syllabus driving essay they ask of in high school. In fact all of the essays that we

have done so far have given me the freedom to write how I want to and go in

whatever direction I desire. In high school I felt like the teachers had a formula and

wanted you to write the same paper as everyone else. As I reflect on the work I

have done in this English class I can see my skills as a writer have improved. I am

optimistic for the rest of this course and look forward to reading new pieces of work

and developing more techniques.

Since the beginning of the course we have developed new practices in writing

and taking notes of these new practices I feel most comfortable finding and

explaining quotes, just like we were asked to do for interpreting Anyon’s essay. For

me this is an easy because I enjoy breaking down pieces of writing then finding
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meaning to each part. When I find quotes then explain or interpret them I feel more

connected to the writing, it also helps me understand the writing if I cannot

understand it. The practice that was hard for me to understand was the critical

interpretation. Since this essay was after the inquiry it took me awhile to

understand what exactly to write about. I solved this by first writing what I believed

was right, and then after we had our peer editing session I was able to discuss with

other members of the class to finally grasp the idea.

So far in this class the work I have done in the class is quite close to the work

that I expected after reading the course description. The description stated goals

that I believe we have covered so far in this course. From Anyon’s essay alone we

have made thoughtful writing decisions, used ideas to interpret texts, supported

interpretations with concepts from other texts and we have begun exploring writing

in various modes. For the rest of the semester we will no doubt be looking into the

rest of the goals as well as exploring the same ideas which I look forward to. As far

as the goals I have set for myself this semester, I have not reached them all. This is

not unexpected seeing as we are only half way through the course. However I have

seen an improvement of my ability to understand different points of view, either

from our class discussions or from different ways to view Anyon’s essay. I have also

developed a new way of writing, instead of listening to music and constantly

checking the internet while I write essays now I need quiet distraction less time. I

write all of my essays in the library and give myself a large period of time. This

means I have developed better time management skills, unlike the papers I wrote in

past school years. From the goals set under our classroom culture document I

believe I could work on being more open and involved in discussions. I know this is

an obvious goal seeing as our whole class is quiet but it is actually something I have
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wanted to work on for a while. I often have opinions but never share or contribute to

the group discussions.