Throughout this first semester, after completing every essay and assignment I started acknowledging the progress in my work. Starting the class off, it took me days to find a starting point to even begin my work. I found it very complicated to plan out my ideas and organize them correctly in a way that would put my writing together. After I had already somewhat finished my first assignments, I would always go back, delete it all, and start from scratch. It wasn’t until after the first essay we completed that I grappled with the skill of effectively planning out my work. In a way, this was a goal to improve my writing and I do believe I have reached it. After every assignment, I was able to plan my work out a little better to help me create a solid foundation. I was able to organize what my paragraphs would be about and what specific pieces of information they would have.  

Overall, I do feel like I did better with each writing piece this semester, but the one I can say I am most proud of is my rhetorical essay. It gave me the opportunity to write and dig deeper into the meaning behind one of my childhood movies. It made me have an even more powerful connection with the film as I had already had a strong attachment to it to begin with. I was very passionate about speaking about the topic and I was pleased with what I was able to show the reader. As a result not only did this essay make me think deeply about the movie, but every time I watched a film after that I started making connections to the real world and some theories. I realized that there are many underlying meanings to movies that can be hidden between the lines until you truly take the time to dissect them. Additionally, they share many similar meanings as different movies that you can draw themes from. 

One piece of writing that was particularly difficult to write about was the essay about our own identity. That was the first time I tried to think back to what past events had made me and what was so special about my experience growing up. I never thought I would be able to dig that deep into myself. I met that challenge by being real with myself and not sugarcoating things, but speaking about them exactly how they were. Accepting myself and what created me even through both the positive and negative events. What strikes me is how I was able to acknowledge things I should have been realizing and embracing in the first place. 

Over the past fifteen weeks, I have noticed improvement and change in my work that I am proud of. As I continue to write I know I will be able to reach the goals I set, knowing I was able to achieve them in only one semester.