Songyun:
Writing is a process that takes lots of time, commitment, and understanding to really help us develop our ideas and put them on paper. Through our English Class I have learned about a lot of valuable topics which have helped increased my knowledge about world literature. I am a slow learner and English is not my first language, so sometimes I am not very active in the group discussion and class conversation, that is the one I need to improve, increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas. The writing process of paragraph form of four steps helped to organize my ideas so I was able to write in a more clearly and effective manner. I really love reading literature works, like fiction and drama, but I need to understand more deeply the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environment from which they spring. Also I need to increase ability to write a critical essay employing a strong thesis statement. I really appreciate Rebecca and Michelle every week’s assignment reminding, and Rebecca always put her assignment first in our group on Google Docs.
Rebecca:
English has never been my favorite subject, to say the least. But this semester I found myself actually liking the work I’ve been doing. I find that my favorite part, and the part that I see the most improvement in personally, is the analytical skills. I read a piece with a different mindset, mentally breaking down every phrase and interpreting it. I’ve also realized I’ve gotten more comfortable free writing and sharing with the class. Another thing that I realized I have been improving on, due to the setup of both the in person and online classes, is responding to other’s work. The way that our class discussions are set up both in person and online lend for me to have to respond to other’s work and comments, at first I found it more difficult, but I think that I have warmed up to it and become better at it. I want to improve on expanding on my arguments in essays, and making clear concise arguments.
Michelle:
Throughout this semester in English class I learned valuable skills that helped develop my writing skills. One of the most important is free writing. Free writing is when one is given a topic and is able to write whatever is on their mind with no restrictions or limits. This allows the writer to write down everything possible without giving them the second to forget it and allowing them to establish their thoughts. Another valuable skill is working with group members and being able to comment on their work. This benefits both of the writers because it allows one another to see mistakes we personally don’t see ourselves. It also allows us to view the story or topic from different perspectives other than ours which opens our “horizons”. One section I do need to improve on is summarization. When writing an essay, including information from the text is definitely important but sometimes I do get carried away and start summarizing.
5 responses so far ↓
m.santos4 // Mar 24th 2017 at 11:42 am
Songyun is a great writer in our group and is really active when it comes to wanting to start group work although she doesn’t believe she is. Although she is she is active in our group work, I do agree where she says she is not active is class discussion. We would love to hear what she has to say and her perspectives on different stories because everyone is different and have different views to everything!
Rebecca is another great writer in my group. I personally don’t see an issue with Rebecca’s writing from what I’ve read, whereas she says she needs to work on her argumentative section of her writing. The argumentative part of the essay is a very section of the essay which helps establish and support your perspectives. Finding points that help support your view is important and I believe free writing can definitely help improve this because it allows you to write down everything on your mind the second it’s there and you’re able to come back and view which points you’re able to use.
r.klamen // Mar 24th 2017 at 11:42 am
Michelle, I completely agree with you on the benefit of group work, and how it opens up our horizons. Well said! I also agree that free writing is a good skill that we learn in this class, and it’s interesting to me because I don’t think i really practiced it in another class. As for your goal to work on summaries, I think that you have to focus on making an argument, and not on summarizing the work. You may have to give a bit of context, but you do not need to summarize in order to do that. Good luck!
r.klamen // Mar 24th 2017 at 11:46 am
Songyun, I agree with Michelle that we’d love to hear your comments in class! I understand that English is not your first language, and I am super impressed by your determination and effort to succeed nonetheless. As for the confidence aspect, I’m sure whatever you have to say is thought provoking and interesting, so please do share!
Also, I think you made a fascinating point about noticing the connections between literature and it’s multicultural origins. That is a big part of what this class is about, and I love that.
sh125650 // Mar 24th 2017 at 11:54 am
Really grateful my lovely group members Rebecca and Michelle. Our group assignments always did very well and on time. Rebecca and Michelle are very active in our class discussion and always did well. Thank you Rebecca always put her assignment first in our group via Google docs and their assignments are very clear and to the point always.
sh125650 // Mar 24th 2017 at 11:54 am
Thank you my friends !
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