Andrew Diaz

Professor Batty

English 101

29 May 2019

Reflection
Spring semester of 2019 I learned a lot of new things my critical thinking skills my writing

skills were tested in the first essay I know I didn't do so good. Luckily I was given a second

chance to show you that my skills have improved. When I had to start from scratch and basically

write a brand new essay because the original was basically trash. In the reworked essay I put

more time into thinking what I can write about but didn't get so far so I let my paper get reviewed

by the class and as soon as I got the comments I followed the prompt to find a specific issue

among a certain group of college students which were freshmen drop outs I started to think

about where am I going to find research and then I thought I'll write about my own experience.

In the second essay I dedicated the most time into the Still water saints essay. In this essay I

was given the option to choose one of the several characters in the book and out of all the

characters I chose Shaun. The reason I chose Shaun the drug addict was because it's one of

the most relatable characters in my life because although I don't do drugs I have a lot of family

that have been affected by drug use and honestly it's very sad to see family members addicted

to drugs. I had to do a lot of research into why the government doesn't fund enough money into

resources and why people let down those affected by drugs and then I had to put the evidence

and research I discovered into my own thoughts and express it onto the paper.I then had to

attack my own argument and defend it after this really made me think a lot because its a topic a

can relate to. At first it's hard for me to translate my thoughts into words that make sense then

transferring it to paper. I also learned that I need to dedicate more time and effort when I'm
writing my essays and coming up with new ideas. I learned how to revise my essays and its ok if

my rough drafts are terrible that's the point of a rough draft to write as much as possible and to

try to avoid as much errors as possible but it doesn't matter how many errors there are because

the whole essay is going to be reviewed and edited so that I can get the best work possible.My

reading skills were also tested when we had to read still water saints.This semester really made

me think a lot and it got overwhelming at some points but now it's over and know I know a lot

more things then when I first started the class. The skills I learned in the class are the skills I

need to continue practicing because I am going to need to use them later. Also in the beginning

of the semester I didn't really participate since I really did not know anyone but as soon as I got

comfortable with the class I noticed that I started to participate more and not only that when we

were in the groups I had to social with bryan and miguel even though I didn't know them that

well at that time but I was able to improve my communication skills and make new friends at the

same time. I really enjoyed the class conversations every time we spoke about a new charecter

because we were all able to.