reflective essay

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Jennifer Crumpler Tammy Frailly ENG 233 IN1 8 December 2013 Reflective Essay My reflective essay is all about me. When I started this class I really did not know how I would do as far as writing about literature because finishing English 113 the semester before, I was very nervous. Unfortunately, my background is not very strong in vocabulary or reading comprehension. First, I will give you a piece of my family history. My mother was only a GED graduate and my father has only an elementary school education. So, with that being said, I am a long way from being educated. Secondly, all of my brothers and my sister only have a high school education, so, when I graduate, I will be the first in my family to have a degree. I know I have came very far. Being married at a very young age and finishing high school through Stanly Community College at eighteen, was not the life I wanted. I decide to go back to further my education in 2009. I barely passed the reading placement test, but like some, I started at the bottom. With my General Ed class behind me now, I am focusing on my associate degree. I am better now since I started English 233 because I look back at the paper I wrote just last semester and I could not pass a single one. Another thing I have learned is that no matter what you are going to writing your paper about, if you do not have the research and the resources you are in trouble. I think sometimes I have the writer’s block and I know sometimes I actually do. And I go back to the research every time. I like to write reflective essay because I feel the words flowing out. “It gives you the opportunity to explore an event or topic in any way that interest you, without having to prove anything to your reader” (Montante). I love this point, because when I write about something

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other than an argumentative paper, I just can without hesitation. Maybe it is interesting to me. Another great point I need to find interesting subjects to write about. Montante said “It’s easier to write than a personal essay because you don’t have to analyze yourself, and it’s often more fun because you get to incorporate other people thoughts and ideas.” Yes, I like my thoughts and write them out on paper is not a problem with me. However, a interest I received was last semester when our instructor introduced us to Literature but in an poetic way, William Shakesphere along with Walt Whitman and Elizabeth Bishop. I thoroughly enjoyed reading poetry and I purchased a book last spring called “William Shakespeare Complete Plays” which I have not got to read, yet. I will sure have a dictionary present when I do. If there is a different to your have your strengths and weaknesses as a thinker and writer I will say my strength is a writer more than a thinker, so my thinking skill is my weakness. I feel it is the whole idea of thinking critical, I cannot. Maybe I am too soft. Can you give me some ideas? Is there a way to be more critical or does it come naturally? And I am one of the few that is does not come natural. I look back on my processes as a thinker and the writing. When I started SPCC in 2009, I was taking reading 070 and my instructor’s name was Mrs. Smith. And now, I look at where I am actually my last English at SPCC, what I great feeling. But, what I know is that I still have a long road ahead and still so much to learn about literature, poetry, literary analyzes, argumentative papers, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and the list goes on and on. I want to keep learning until the day I die. So, I am not going to stop. When it comes to English the only thing I do well is learning the subject more because from this day forward I will continue to work on English, which is by far my greatest challenge. My father has a very big speech impediment and is illiterate. Growing-up with him and hearing

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the mispronunciation of words and a very small vocabulary did not expand my horizons, so today I still suffer the consequences. And I did not do what I needed to do at sixteen in other words, for practically for a decade. I did not use my mind at all. I did not read a book. Honestly, there will always be areas that still need improvements. And I am doing just that, when I complete my associate degree in 2015. I will have been in school for six years and after that I plan to receive my undergrad from UNCC. I can bet that in 2020, I will be still improving in a lot of areas and I hope that I am.