1. Goal Reflection (Two paragraphs) During this quarter, I believe I accomplished all my goals. First, I took one-two hours a night Monday thru Thursday and threefour hours a night Friday thru Saturday to do homework and studying. Second, I gained a lot of refreshers from being out of school for sixteen years and achieved a 92% and above in English 085 with better writing skills at an English 101 level so that I could advance at the end of the quarter, which I did.
Third, was to focus in the middle of this quarter on what I needed to do next to achieve my steps over the next two quarters: what classes I need to take and which classes would be smart to take each quarter so that none of my classes clash and put me behind, which I have done. Looking back on these goals that I made at the beginning of the quarter, I know I will still work towards my future goals the same way, but without being so hard on myself and by starting to just go with the flow of things and not get so stressed out on the things I cannot control.
Writing out my SMART goals helped me out I think a lot, because writing them made me look at them, which made me want to achieve them. While I was making my SMART goals, I found out how much I was actually ready for college again and how excited I was to be back on the path of getting closer into my career choice, and also how proud it actually made my children to see their mommy making good accomplishments, which makes me happy because I am showing them a proper path to success and achieving their goals. I think I will use SMART goals again in the future, especially with my children and helping them make their future goals.
2. Active Reading Skills Reflection (Three paragraphs) In Active reading skills in the “Before Reading,” I think I have mastered, knowing the background information. I have also mastered looking for questions I need to get answered, skimming the titles and looking at the pictures with subheadings before reading and looking at the vocabulary. I need to improve on breaking the texts into manageable texts the first time I read it, instead of the third time. I also need to improve on making predictions. I tend not to comprehend anything the first and second time, I always have to read it a third and sometimes a forth.
Therefore, in the “During Reading,”T have mastered the majority I think especially the re-reading for understanding or read ahead for deeper understanding, which normally takes me up to four times to do so. Also, taking notes, underlining, and highlighting are my best friend, because it helps me to go back to comprehend what I need to know about what I am reading and looking up words that I do not understand helps also. I need to work on a couple of things while into the reading. I do not give complete attention while I am reading unless I am really interested in it, and that is the biggest one I need to work on.
Meanwhile, in the “After Reading,” I have mastered always reading it again. I have also mastered reflecting on how the new knowledge changes or adds to what I already know or what | need to know more of. In this section I really need to work on evaluating what it was that I think I comprehended, and summarizing what I read so that I can better comprehend it or to look into further depth of additional information that could help me better understand or get better involved in what I am reading, without boring myself with something that doesn’t interest me.
3. Writing Skills Reflection (Three paragraphs) During this English class I feel that I have advanced a lot as a writer. Not as much though as I probably should have. I think I could have done better if I had a little more time to focus on my papers. Working full time (12-14 hours a day), being a single parent of two little ones, going to school at night and not getting enough sleep because of not having enough hours in a day can distract you from writing the best papers possible. I do know now though that my focus in my next English class will be a lot better because I have changed my schedule around a bit to better focus in school.
Before I took this English class, I don’t think I ever did prewriting activities. Pre-writing was not required when I was in school before that I know of; and if it was, I never used it. I was never the best English student, that was both my sisters’ interests; they took after my mom. I was always interested in math and science like my dad and brothers were. I was always the one, along with my brothers that had to ask for help from our sisters in the English department. I learned this quarter how to properly edit my papers better.
I think I went through them at least twice maybe more, one | understood better how to write with proper English in my papers. When I wrote my papers I always had the same three people edit them, two of them the majority and the one only a couple times. I did not use any translator program while completing any of my assignments. I am already an English speaker, just not a previously correctly educated English paper writer till now. Now I can write better because I know and understand what is expected of me when I am writing. 4. Assignment and Class Reflection (Three paragraphs)
I think the two most difficult assignments this quarter for me were my RPF and my OHTWF. These two papers were the most difficult for me, because in the RPF there were a lot of compound and complex sentences needed in every paragraph, which was hard. In my OHTWF paper, what I found difficult was all the sources I had to read. It was hard staying interested in what I was reading in order to write my paper. This of course made it hard to comprehend all that I read. Which then made it hard to remember what to write in my paper. I probably should of chose a different event.
My two favorite assignments this quarter were my Smart goals and also my PPP. I loved doing my Smart goals because it made me set goals for myself to succeed in college and to get to the achievement of them to get to the career I want to be in. The PPP was also a favorite because I love doing power points. I rather do power points then to write a paper. I feel that I was able to express myself more in these two assignments The three assignments that I felt were the most beneficial in making me grow as a writer were; surprisingly, my RPF paper, my OHTWF paper and also this paper I am writing now, that you are currently reading.
I chose my RPF paper because of all we had to do to get this paper right. It took a lot of editing and proof reading and re-writing to make it perfect, which indeed made me grow. My OHTWF paper made me research and better practice comprehending what I read, even though at some points was difficult. And last is this paper because it had made me realize how much I have actually grown this quarter in English and in writing and also in understanding more about history, and has made me realize that yes you can learn something new every day.