Portfolio Metacognitive Essay
By Ana Barrett
The concert is coming to an end, but I am not just quite finished rocking out. The crowd is anticipating an encore, and I myself consider this to be my own personal encore. Looking back, I feel accomplished about what I have learned through this first semester of composition. I had always considered writing to be one of my strongest points in school, but I was still hesitant for this course to begin. As the semester progressed, my writing did as well.
Listening to the students from previous years that had taken this course made me apprehensive to take on such a big load of work. Our first assignment in the class was to write about a significant place, and naturally music was the first thing that came to my mind. It is a strange thing, having to look deep inside yourself and document every thought and feeling you have about a certain subject. That is what I enjoyed most about this semester, having to dig deep to produce something from my own personal thoughts and feelings. Initially I was nervous to hand in my papers because I felt like my thoughts were being judged, and that is scary if you have not ever had to do that.
In all four years of high school I simply got by in my writing classes without having to put much effort or heart into my writing, but this class was immensely different. When I received my first paper back, I was thoroughly disappointed with my score. It was frustrating to revise time after time because at a certain point I just got sick of looking at my papers. Everything started to blend together, and I wanted to discard my thoughts completely. But then it finally happened. My final revision came back with a close to perfect score. I began to feel much more optimistic about where I was heading.
The Essay on Goals For English Writing Reading Semester
... for English next semester and I would like to accomplish all of my goals. Writing, thinking, listening, speaking ... essay then the essay is useless. Thinking: The thought process is a very important process, therefore ... due to the assessment with rhetoric devices and class discussions, however I still have a lot ... could improve this by taking more notes during class. Taking notes will also help me listen ...
One major difference in this course compared to the previous courses I had taken was the full complete process that we went through on every paper. I was used to writing a rough draft, having a friend or two fix punctuation errors, and then handing in what I thought was a finished product. I learned that what I had been doing for so many years was insufficient compared to what we did in this course. Five of my peers edited and gave me their opinions on every rough draft I had written before I handed it in. Initially the peer evaluations were not beneficial, but as we got more comfortable with each other the editing days became very helpful. Editing was helpful because my peers pointed out issues that I could not see. What I thought made sense did not always make sense to everyone else. Having other people read my papers made me realize what I needed to focus and change.
Writing is a complete process, and in most of my papers before this year I winged it most of the time. I never really worried about my organization or transitions from paragraph to paragraph. What I enjoyed about this class was how we broke down every component in writing, focusing on different aspects in every paper that we wrote. One paper we worked on dialogue, and the next we worked on descriptions. I enjoyed having to broaden my horizons because it finally gave my writing the variety it was missing.
One major component that I struggled with was switching tenses and having parallel structure in my writing. What I thought sounded normal and grammatically corrected was completely wrong. I also shifted from first person to second person frequently in my writing; it was tough to write without referring to the reader as “you”. Besides the small grammatical issues, I think my writing improved by having to write about different subjects. Like Mr. Kuhle always says, you do not really know what you think about a subject until you write about it.
The Research paper on Readers Occasionally The Reason Why I Confuse Writing Write Pre
There are many steps that one must take to write a paper. Throughout my years in writing I have always had problems trying to figure out what it is that I am going to write about. Writing an essay isn't as easy as it may seem. No matter how perfect I may think my final draft come out, something always out wrong and I have to go back and fix my errors. These are the steps that I must take so that I ...
One phrase that was often repeated in this course was to “have heart in your writing.” At the beginning of the semester it was extremely difficult for me to do just that. I was often discouraged when I received my papers back with a less than satisfied grade. My heart felt like it would never come out in writing, no matter how long I sat at the computer and stared. With enough revision and time, my heart slowly warmed up and came through in my writing. Above all things that I have learned this semester, putting my heart into my writing was definitely the most important. It’s a new ability that will help my writing improve, a trait that is valuable in writing in any course.
The first day of class I felt extremely overwhelmed by the weight of this class. I took it one day at a time, and it has paid off. I now feel much more confident in my writing and myself. I always felt like I had to hold back in my writing because I was timid to show my thoughts and feelings and my teachers. Writing with my heart has taken my ability to a whole new level because now I feel like I can write about anything I want to. Before writing about a subject, I outline what kind of tone I will be using and whom I am addressing. I organize my thoughts chronologically through the whole essay, which is something that I have improved on over the course of this semester.
I never knew I would be capable to be where I wanted to be in a college course, but with enough hard work I have made it through this first semester with many new skills. I can effectively use dialogue, descriptions, figurative language, and many other tools to take my writing to a new level. I am pleased with the work I have done in this course and I look forward to using these skills in the future of my writing courses. The concert has ended along with the semester, and I feel pleased with the response I have been given from the crowd.
