Reflection

To future students in English 110.01,

Feeling a bit hesitant about taking this English Class? It seems that feeling anxious is a normal reaction, especially when you remember that this class is almost two hours long. Falling asleep in lecture is nothing new to me and I can assure you that not once have I ever fallen asleep in my English 110.01 class; I did not even come close to it. It is helpful to keep an open mind, as you will learn in this class.

Writing has always been a challenge for me. I took AP English in high school and I learned how to analyze different pieces of literature. But even after that, I still was not able to think like a writer; I felt that I was only geared for science, which bases a lot of thinking on evidence. At the beginning of Spring Quarter, I was anxious about English 110.01. It has almost been a year since my last English class and I thought I forgot how to write a decent paper as in high school. However, the ARP project showed me that writing could be similar to Science reports. My ARP project was based on a film segment of my choice. Then I analyzed the film segment and made claims based on the message the film conveys. This class has reinforced the writing skills that I learned in high school and helped me improve as a writer, especially through the ARP project. The blogs served as great writing practices because they stimulated me to think more in depth about the class theme, which was the gender roles in film. The word requirements were helpful in other classes as well because most college papers are at least one to two pages in length, unlike the paragraphs in high school.

It was beneficial to be ahead with the writing assignments. It was easier to write and to think more clearly when I was not pressured about time deadlines. Having a rough draft written ahead of time gave me the chance to do some more thinking and to then look over my work again. Take advantage of office hours! I found it very helpful when I talked to my teacher about my papers. Sometimes, I thought my paper was good but after talking to my teacher I found out that I needed to do some more thinking. My teacher also encouraged me to be open to ideas and to look past my first impressions.

Our class theme helped me to look at movies from another perspective. Usually when I watch movies, I just take it in at face value; I do not pay attention to the implicit messages. However, I acquired more analytical skills from this class. For example, I would never have thought that Disney movies had subliminal sexual contents. I have heard some people say Disney movies were not as innocent as they seem but I never believed them. But this class provided me with the skills to change my beliefs and base them on the evidence.

I hope you benefit from this class as much as I did. Remember to keep an open mind. Good luck!

-Angela

Spring 2010