Dear Ms. Henze Some friends I have made in this class who Ididn’t know before are Part, Harmeet, Sarwat, Joey and Navdeep. Some people Ienjoy working with are Sarwat, Part and Harmeet because these guys are my goodfriends and they understand me very well when I try to explain my ideas.
Inassignments and class works too, these guys help me out when ever I am confusedabout something. Some of the classroom routines I enjoy are the self-reading, asthat is the time when we can read any kind of book which we want to read in theclass. Therefore, it helps us to improve our reading and writing skills. Groupwork or discussion is another thing which I enjoy because it helps us todiscuss about our ideas about the text or the story by this way we come to knowmore about the text and its deeper meaning which the author is trying to tellus. Reading to myself is enjoyable because It makes me a better person in somany ways, like to develop my verbal abilities, improve my focus andconcentration, improve my understanding and I get to read about the otherpeople’s mind. When I read the first story “TheMost Dangerous Game”, I felt so disappointed because I did not fully understandwhat the writer was trying to say.
I switched frequently between my dictionaryand the story to look up tons of new words. Sometimes even, there were two ormore unfamiliar words in one sentence. In addition, I did not have too muchtime, because some upcoming discussions were related to this story. I had tofinish reading it in almost one week. That week was tough for me, butfortunately I was so happy that my reading improved a lot. After that, readingthe next story “A Rose for Emily” was easier for me. After reading it, Ilearned how to use quotations from other credible sources and MLA citation. Ialso read some texts which helped me write my Second Paragraph.
“A Rose forEmily” is my favorite one, because it made me think deeper in meaning and indetail. Reading really helps me be a critical writer. When I am reading, I maystop to think why the author writes in this way, what his main purpose is andif there are any others better ways. Just like I learned in “The Tell-taleHeart”, during the reading I made notes on a piece of paper, which helped mehave a better understanding. Now, when starting my paragraph,I write drafts before my final paragraph. This really is helping because I canwrite whatever I want on the first draft instead of being stuck looking at anempty paper.
I still have trouble starting off my paragraph to grab the readersattention and I also have trouble with the conclusion. I’m having a lot ofsuccess with is being able to write down what I want and turning it into a goodwriting piece while using drafts to pick out the bad parts. I would probablyhave to say my best piece is the 2nd critical paragraph that we have done inthis class. I feel like my writing is starting to mature and transform into agreat piece. The worst writing that I have done in the class so far would haveto be the first paragraph. Furthermore, my first weaknessis word choice. Word Choice is crucial for writing a good paragraph.Inappropriate word choice gives readers wrong information and misleads them.
Ithink I need to read more books and learn more words. Second weakness is sentencedin the paragraphs are sometimes too simple. I try to write some complexsentences, but doing so only increases my grammar mistakes which make my paragrapheven worse. But the writing work in the class made me more conscious of the useand purpose of language, punctuation, word choice, vocabulary, readability orsentence structure. Writing is just like talking to people. Think about what tosay is just like writing an outline. Writing teaches me that I should doeverything step by step.
Just like using quotations to support my argument, atfirst, I need to introduce them as we do in our critical paragraph, specificclaim, introduce context then it’s evidence and at the end linking sentences. In terms of my personal awareness andresponsibility, a few areas where I want to improve are being on time in theclass usually when there is a change in the block orders, I usually get latefor the class. Participating in class because I am a bit shy type person untilI’m comfortable with the surroundings. I think I may be at the B level in thiscourse, because I finish any assignments and turn them in on time. I do nothave any late assignments because I always check what is going to due next weekand start early. Another reason is that I learned many writing skills in theclass and used them in my critical paragraph.
Although I may not be very goodat using them, I believe it will get better with practice. All in all, I thinkI may get a B.Sincerely,Navneet Sidhu
