Reflection of this Class

This class has been a very different English class from the ones that I have been in before. I feel that my grade in this class at this point is not a true reflection of my writing abilities and willingness to learn.

   The first assignment was supposed to be a reflective piece about different issues that are important to us. I feel that there was not enough guidance, and for an introduction class there should have been more explanation. Some of us have not taken English classes in a very long time, and it would have been more helpful to make it more of a progressive learning class instead of immediately expecting us to know what to do. I feel that if the entire class does poorly on an assignment, it is not a direct reflection of the student. Also, if the entire class does not understand the directions, I feel that it was unfair to grade the assignment that harshly.

   The second assignment was turned in only a couple days after the first assignment, and it followed similar suit. Since we did not receive the first assignment, I did not see how exactly what was expected of me. By the prompt, I felt many of the questions were meant to be rhetorical and there was little to no guidance clarifying that issue. Because of this, I felt that it was graded quite harshly, especially for one of the beginning assignments. My grades on the first two assignments really discouraged me in this class, and created a more negative learning environment. I felt there should have been more of a progressive way of learning, instead of immediate expectations.

   The third assignment was better because we had more direction. The rough draft was helpful because I saw what I needed to work on in my paper, and there was more guidance. Because of this, I felt that I hopefully did better on this assignment than others. It was interesting to research different sides of an argument, and helped me see different perspectives. Even though this assignment was better than the others, I still feel that my writing has become more unnatural. I feel that directly answering the prompt word-for-word makes the writing forced, and makes the argument lack personal connection. I also think it would help if we had rubrics for our essays. I hope to only do better in my journey  in this class, and hope that I can improve so that my grade can reflect my effort.