Essay - Reflection In-class Essay
In class, we have been working towards preparation towards English 1a and successful college- level writing. In order to be able to successfully pass English 80, you must show that you have met and possibly exceeded the English 80 student learning outcomes: 1) Employ effective reading strategies for active, critical reading; 2) Apply the higher-order cognitive skills necessary for critical participation in the ongoing conversations and debates of our culture and polity; 3) Assess their own writing processes;
4) Compose intelligible, source-based, multi-paragraph essays that employ rhetorical strategies for situating, developing, and communicating a controlling idea (main claim); 5) Craft sentences for beauty variety, and effectiveness.
For this final in-class essay, you will be using mostly personal examples to help develop your argument. You should focus on creating an academic and professional tone that has a clear main claim (thesis) and sub-claims (topic sentences).
The Assignment
For the final in-class essay of the semester, you will write a reflection essay explaining how you have developed as a writer and what evidence shows you are ready for English 1A. More specifically consider explaining:
- What changes you have made to improve your essays. Describe your revision strategies with specific detail.
- What you have learned about the reading and writing processes and how you have progressed as a reader and writer over the course of the semester.
- How these two essays (the revision essay and your final out-of-class essay) demonstrate your reading and writing skills necessary to be successful at the next level (refer back to the student learning outcomes)
In order to pass a college class, it is not enough to just try. You must also show mastery for that class. This means that you should make sure to not just include evidence of trying and working hard. These are important elements of your process when becoming a skillful writer, but they are not always enough to pass a class. You must ALSO consider how you have displayed successful execution of the student learning outcomes and writer skills. To clarify this, I (a student) may have worked very hard to eliminate errors in my writing, but did I actually succeed in doing that? I do not just want to talk about what I did to improve in this area; I want to show evidence of this in past essays and writing of any kind. This could be in a quiz, a homework assignment, or it could be in an essay.
To fully answer this prompt, you should present EVIDENCE/EXAMPLES of your successful completion of student learning outcomes. You should pull evidence (by paraphrasing, summarizing, and/ or quoting) from your own completed assignments. Since this essay is focused on you, you are welcome to say "I" when you talk about your own experience but again don't let this tone become too casual. The final draft should have all of the parts of an academic essay: an introduction paragraph with a thesis, several focused body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, and a conclusion paragraph.