Wendy Linares

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English 1A #
Professor Adler
May 6, 2015
English 1A Reflection Essay
Since elementary, middle, and high school, Ive always heard from former teachers,
Youre okay, but not that great. I already had that mindset that I was not a great reader or
writer, so when I started my first year of college I was ready for my English professor to tell me
the same exact thing. But surprisingly I didnt even need my English professor to tell me that I
wasnt just okay, throughout this semester and last semester, Ive realized that my former
teachers were completely wrong, I was not just an okay writer, I was a great writer.
I learned so much more than I ever did all my four years in school. In high school we
would only do one rough draft or sometimes we wouldnt even do any. Throughout this semester,
Ive learned that to write a good essay, you need to edit, edit, and edit some more. Its hard to
come up with a good essay without making some mistakes. Making mistakes does not identify us
as dumb, it just means we didnt try hard enough. And that is why rough drafts, peer reviews,
and editing my paper made me improve my writing skills. I loved all the criticism I received
throughout this semester because not only did it help me increase my chances to get a higher
grade, it made me realize how easy it is to make a simple mistake without even knowing. With
reading and writing comes with patience, thought, and time. It is highly unlikely to receive a
good grade without using rough drafts or peer reviews and I am more confident on my work than
I did last semester or what I did in my past high school years. That is why I think I received only
Cs in high school, because my teachers never taught us this technique and because I didnt have
the motivation as I did this semester.

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Ive also learned that I have a strong ability to be able to connect stories and concepts
within each other. Even if it may seem impossible, I try my best to find a way to connect them
and from the previous assignments Ive done, Ive done a great job so far. I never realized I had
this ability until I took English 100 and it helped a lot for my 1A class. I feel very accomplished
and proud to be able to find something I am good at. The goal I set last semester was to improve
my oral skills. But Ive noticed that this semester Professor Adler didnt make us do any
presentation in front of the class and in a way I was glad, but disappointed because it did not
make me meet my goal. Although we did have group discussions and shared altogether as a class
and it did help me practice my oral skills, but presentations would have been good.
While taking English 1A, I also took Philosophy and Sociology and I was so surprised on
how similar yet so different these subjects can be. While reading articles in 1A, like Critical
Thinking but Bell Hooks and The Banking Concept of Education by Paulo Freire I was able
to connect these not only in my 1A class, but also on Philosophy and Sociology. I never really
noticed that throughout high school I was expose to the banking concept. And that is why during
my high school years I memorized rather than learning because all the teachers cared about was
high test scores and didnt really care about our education. But college, its completely different.
Especially this semester. Like I said before, I learned so much more in one semester than I ever
did in my whole 4 years in high school. I like when my classes connect because it makes me
believe that the new things Im learning will benefit me in the future and it also makes me see
things in a different perspective, its actually really fascinating.

I was also able to write

analytical and rhetorical papers with no problem in my other classes which would have been
really difficult for me if I didnt learn this ability in English 1A, which Im thankful I did.

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This semester not only helped me become a better reader, writer, and learner, it has
increased my chance to become a licensed clinical social worker. And I have to thank Professor
Adler and English 1A for giving us the assignment to find our own discourse community. It was
a very, very, very complicated assignment but in the end it made me figure out what kind of
career I will be striving for in the future. The discourse community paper is the assignment that I
found most difficult because I honestly did not think we would have to do so much extra work
for an essay. But overall I am glad I was able to do it, it was fun and it makes me excited to
further expand my career as a LCSW. In order to be a great social worker, I need to be able to
analyze, find/ research statistics, articles, etc. about any case, and now Im able to understand
and communicate with other social workers without being confused or feeling like an outcast.
If I were to do this class all over again, I wouldve read, free write, and annotated more to
enhance and improve my writing. Last semester I annotated so much that sometimes I couldnt
even read the text because I covered it so much with writings, but this in the beginning of this
semester I lacked on annotating and it was so much harder so me to understand what I was
reading and I also lacked on reading the articles and books we were assigned to but when I knew
how much I was struggling I started to step it up towards the middle of the semester, which I
should have done in the beginning. That is why I received a C+ on my first in class essay. And I
never received anything lower than a B- last semester, so I was disappointment when I saw C+
on my English 1A class. But seeing that grade only motivated me more to do better, and it really
helped.
I really liked the books we were assigned to this semester than the ones we had for
English 100. Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher and A Place to Stand by Jimmy
Santiago Baca were very eye-opening and very interesting. Although both books were

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completely different, they still shared a lot of similarities. Writing can have the power to change
lives because if the reader can relate, they are most likely going to feel attached and comfortable
to follow in those footsteps. Most people are afraid to share their ideas or anything they have in
mind because they are afraid no one will relate or maybe even misinterpret the writing, but to be
a writer, like Baca and Pipher, you need to learn how to share stories and ideas to help change
someones life, but most importantly your own life. These books impacted me a lot and I was
very glad we got the chance to read and analyze these books. I enjoy books that make me
actually think and that I can actually relate to.
Overall I am glad I was able to take this English 1A class with former classmates and my
former professor. STACC is a class I encourage all college freshmen to take because it will give
them that connection and close comfort that no other English classes may provide. It was such a
great experience and it was an honor to be a part of Adlers STACC English 1A discourse
community.