Throughout my four years in high school I was rarely pushed to do well in my classes. I never did my homework or properly prepared myself for any upcoming tests, or assignments. I rarely had to work hard to a achieve a good grade. My literature classes, in particular, were very easy and were basically a joke, to put it honestly. Most of the time, in class, we would just mess around and rarely pay attention to what the teacher was saying and never apply it to anything. We never worked on writing papers and were almost never required to read anything over more than ten pages. I was not prepared for college, at all. I thought that I would be able to take my lazy studying habits to college and be able to achieve a mediocre grade.
This class, however, has opened my eyes to a whole new world. One where I realize that you MUST read the assignments to succeed and I MUST learn from my previous mistakes to become not only a better writer, but better in other classes and in life itself. I believe that I have learned to better transfer what I am trying to say into a more educated way. I have also learned how to read information, get the message of the author, and put it into my own summary. The most important thing that I have come to realize is that I am more able to argue about a topic I am passionate about, and also to incorporate other individuals' points of view, which will help me in literature classes in the future.
I really enjoyed this class and wish I was able to take your class next semester. Although I would rather take your class, I believe what you have taught in this class will enable me to excell in my remaining literature classes.

Final Blog

Over the semester I believe that my confidence in writing has improved dramatically. While I question whether or not my grammar has seen any improvements, I have the courage to write like an educated student. I do not believe that I came into the class with major errors in the content of my writing, but my grammar was lacking, specifically my incomplete sentences. Concerning the content of my papers I do hope that I am not arrogant in the belief that I have minor issues. I came into this class deeply concerned that my English papers would be ripped to pieces, and that my style of writing would be uncomfortably changed. I do realize that with different teachers my style might have to make a dramatic one eighty, but in this class I found writing extremely comfortable. Regarding major issues that I came into this class with, they include; writing a thesis, run on sentences, punctuation, and conclusions. These issues are now much more relaxed in my writing. Throughout the semester the careful revealing of my mistakes and issues helped me to grasp what I had issues with, without destroying my confidence in writing.
I was so glad that you were a teacher that allowed class discussions, and debates. I already had a good amount of comfort in dealing with class conversations, but the conversations allowed more critical thinking and analyzing of debate topics. I enjoyed hearing my educated peers thoughts and views on current issues. We discussed many issues that otherwise I may not have even considered. The discussion over racism though language, many topics came up that altered my attitude in an issue that I did not even realize was still an issue. In high school teachers teach issues of the past, but are careful with the current, in order to avoid scaring or altering each student view of the safe, secure world they are about to be thrown into.
Overall, I am happy with this class and its end. I find that writing a 300 word essay is not as scary as the beginning of the semester, and becoming emotionally involved in my writing is much more comfortable. I still worry about grammar, but I am aware of my issues, and must continue to progress.

Final Blog

When I first came to college I was a little bit worried about how my English class would be. Last year in high school my English teacher who thought she was a college teacher taught us a very hard curriculum. She graded very hard so when I came to college I thought that I would never be able to make it. But then I came to my first college literature class and was surprised because I actually understood some of the things I was hearing. I was not extremely confident with my writing and critical thinking abilities. One of my biggest problems is not being able to put enough content into my writing. I feel like I get to the point when I am writing but then I can’t add enough supporting ideas or sentences. Sometimes I write papers the same way I talk and it is hard to tell when I am doing it. This makes it very hard to correct it, but I think that I have gotten better at spotting some of the errors. Critical thinking has always been one of my weak spots. I remember studying for the SAT and having to work a lot on the critical reading section. It has been tough for me to read something and then tell you what the writer was trying to say or what kind of message they were trying to send. I think the only way to get better at it is to practice and that is one of the reasons we go to school. I have never been much of a talker in class. Although my comfort level with regard to adding to class conversation has increased, I still feel a little shy and awkward when trying to present an idea to the class. I have gotten better since the beginning of the semester but much more improvement is still needed. I believe that this class has made me a better-rounded person because I have learned about a lot of things that I didn’t know much about. These include Ebonics and linguistics. Thank You for making this an easy transition from high school to college; not to say that this class was easy but you know.