Ryan Clear 12/6/06 Reflective Letter As I look back at my experience within the class of English 1101 I am able to reflect

upon unique experiences and skills I learned while completing the course. My original expectations for this class were nothing close to what I would encounter. I was under the assumption that within this course I would be exploring different types of novels as well as developing my writing skills. However, as the course continued I found myself completing projects regarding literacy in the forms of narratives and ethnographies. Prior to taking this course I had a vague sense of what literacy was. I had the belief that the term literacy meant having the ability to either read and write. Throughout the course I learned that there were many more meanings than just reading and writing. Through multiple projects regarding literacy that our class was assigned, I was able to learn that literacy is spread out over wide range of areas. Whether it be in cultures where symbols are important as well as societal norms or literary sponsors who had played important roles in shaping how you interact with literacy. Without these projects I probably would still be under the belief that the term literacy was a simple and bland term. Now the simplicity has taken a turn toward a plethora of different meanings. Literacy is not the sole component that defines my experience within the class. Within the class I was presented with a number of choices each yielding a different outcome. For projects I had to choose genres to work with and topics to go with these genres. In hindsight I feel most of the decisions I made within this course helped me to produce the best work possible. Some of the choices that I believe held me back are the topics I chose for projects.

Choosing to not plan for some of the assignments also earned me lower grades than I could have received had I planned well. Once I started learning from my mistakes and began planning I found it much easier to create a consistent flow within my assignments. By making smart decisions I was able to set myself up for success. For example, I went through multiple subcultures for my ethnography until I found one with which I had access to the most information. Doing this allowed me to write with a basis of knowledge rather than writing without facts. While I picked genres and topics that set me up for success I also made sure that I would get something out of them. Initially for my narrative I had planned to write an essay however, upon realizing that doing so would be taking the easy road I chose to create a Wikipedia page that was incorporated with a blog. Exploring areas of literacy I had never encountered before helped me to broaden my horizon and learn different techniques and styles of writing. It was hard to broaden my horizon given the fact that all my life I was told that good writing had to be in a specific format. This class helped me break away from the belief that all good writing had 5 paragraphs and must have a thesis located at the end of the introduction. I was able to recognize when I had finished writing a paper not by reaching the page length requirement but by reaching my purpose. For me at least, with page requirements came a wordy, poorly written essay with a lot of filler. After realizing that all I needed to do was reach my purpose I started producing well structured, focused, and streamlined pieces of writing. I will definitely admit, I struggled during a large portion of this class. The heavy workload combined with large projects would creep up on me frequently. Sometimes I had even wished I was in a different English class. However, I feel that without this course constantly challenging me to better myself as a student and a writer I would still be writing the same 5

paragraph essays by the end of the semester. I cant say that I have noticed monumental changes within my writing but then again writing is a slow process. I will continue to work hard in future English classes while using my experience from English 1101 as a strong building foundation. On a more personal note, I would like to thank you Tony for being a great teacher throughout the course. I appreciate all the help I received from you and as much as it hurts to say it, I also appreciate your efforts in making our English class one of the toughest courses.