Jeffrey Gauldin
Karen Morris
English 1102-HHH
29 April 2011
Karen Morris
English 1102-HHH
29 April 2011
Semester Reflection
As this spring semester comes to an end, I’m honored to say it’s been a roller coaster ride, but that’s exactly what I expected. This semester was filled with fun and laughter, but it was also filled with a lot of assignments that made the entire course worthwhile. English 1102 was my favorite class by far. I had the chance to experience met a lot of goals during these last few months. As time passed by, I really didn’t dread any particular assignment. Mrs. Morris, who was the instructor of this course, did a marvelous job teaching and interacting with the class. She took her time to help each student personally, whether it was in class or in her office, she was always willing to lend a helping hand. Looking back at what I’ve done this semester in English 1102, I clearly gave it my all from the beginning. I made sure I purchased all the needed materials for class as soon as my schedule was confirmed on banner, so I was definitely prepared for class. I was even prepared to write the rigorous essays that were assigned to the class. The first essay assignment in this course was a compare and contrast essay. This essay required a lot of research and consumed a lot of time. The second essay was a human interest story. I definitely enjoyed writing the human interest essay. It opened my mind and soul by showing me not only the literature side of the essay, but the business side as well. I learned how businesses write human interest stories to capture the hearts of their audience, in hopes that they will donate money to their respective charities or organizations. The human interest story was by far my favorite essay to write. The third essay, which was the last one of the semester, was a research essay. This essay became a bit of a challenge for me at first, but overall it turned out to be a masterpiece after a lot of hard work and determination. I completed the task in about two weeks with most of my help on the assignment coming from writing good wiki postings; also one of my wikis was chosen by Mrs. Morris as an example that was displayed on the front page of blogger. This proves that I definitely have learned the proper way to do a wiki. The research essay did end up being easier than I anticipated, but it was still a bit of a challenge. After writing three essays, each student was required to put together a final project for the course, which was a portfolio. The portfolio was a place that displayed our finest works. Such works, ranged from wiki posting to reflective writings that were assigned throughout the entire course. Included in my portfolio were several amazing assignments. Each assignment in my portfolio is very well developed. They express the things I’ve learned while taking English 1102. Not only did I learn how to craft my literature writings, but I also learned how to become a better man, by being able to interact with my classmates during peer review. Each time I participated in peer review I learned something new. It was definitely an eye opening experience as well as a great educational moment listening and understanding my peers. Overall, this course helped me become a better listener, communicator, student and most of all a better person. In closing I would like to thank my instructor Mrs. Karen Morris for guiding me throughout the course and also believing in me as a writer. She helped me gain confidence and determination about my writing capabilities. I hope that one day I can pay her back for all she’s done this semester, but for now, all I can say is thanks and I promise to exploit all my talents that I’ve learned from your and this course in my next English class.
