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Sha’Quayla Rankin

Mrs. Williams

Freshman English A

06 May 2019

Final Reflection

I have learned and improved much throughout English A. When I first started this class, I

came in without any writing skills and many grammar issues. Writing was one of my weakest

strengths. I hated writing until I first started college, but I knew that I wanted to become a better

writer. I was not as confident in my writing as I am now. At the beginning of this class, we were

given a syllabus with a list of goals and objectives that we were expected to meet by the end of

the course. In this reflection, I would like to provide you with specific objectives and evidence to

prove that I have achieved that specific objective.

Objective number one:

1. “Develop logical and thoughtful arguments in clear, effective, grammatically correct

prose, using credible evidence. Students will demonstrate the ability to:

a. Write in standard academic English

b. Identify major grammatical, stylistic, mechanical, and punctuation errors

c. Vary style according to the needs of various audiences, purposes, and topics”

Objective number two:

2. “Comprehend the importance of rhetorical as a means of communication, persuasion,

and problem-solving. Students will demonstrate the ability to:

a. Identify and analyze a rhetorical situation

b. Identify audience, purposes, persona, argument, etc.

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c. Write for audience

d. Vary style according to audience”

I honestly can say that I have achieved these two objective during project one because

before coming into this class I never wrote according to the audience, but to show that I have I

would like to provide you with a quoted piece from my work. “Looking around the classroom,

no one seems to be moving so I take it upon myself to go first. I grab all of my note cards, and

proudly walked to the podium. Once I finish setting up, I look out into the audience, and my

heart immediately begins to race. Once Mrs. Payne gave me that head nod to start I took a deep

breath, closed my eyes, and reminded myself to look above their heads. I opened my eyes and

read my title aloud. As I continued reading, going through every note card so smooth, I began to

smile during my speech because its only one notecard left. “Thank you,” I say unto the audience

while trying to organize my note cards. Hearing the handclaps of every single audience echo off

the plain brick walls as I walked to my seat melted my heart. I did it! I overly achieve my fear of

speaking in front of others. From my first speech to the last one, I made sure to apply the same

procedures as before to give me a stronger ending. I can honestly say, I defeated public

speaking” (Defeating Public Speaking). You can really see a huge difference from my first

project to my last.

During project two though four we had to picked a topic to research and I picked Body

Image Dissatisfaction because it was related to a situation in my life. From project number three

until project number four, I achieved objectives number three and four. I have never heard of

annotated bibliography until taking this class.

Objective number three:

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3. Understand that researching and writing about an issue is a way to contribute to a

larger conversation about that issue. Students will demonstrate the ability to:

a. Conduct research

b. Identify sources

c. Write a researched argument

d. Avoid fallacies

e. Evaluate for credibility

f. Cite/document source with correct format

Objective number four:

4. Critically analyze and interpret texts by discovering purposes behind writings and

understanding the different types of rhetorical devices used to carry out these purposes. Students

will demonstrate the ability to:

a. Summarize and analyze texts

b. Evaluate a given text using set criteria

Before coming into this class I knew how to conduct research but not so much as to using

the research properly in a paper. I will provide you with a piece of my writing from project two

below.

“Curtis, Cate, and Loomans, Cushla. “Friends, family, and their influence on body image

dissatisfaction.” Women’s Studies Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 39-56, doi:

wsanz.org.nz/journal/docs/WSJNZ282CurtisLoomans39-56.pdf. According to the

authors, family and friends affect the way a person feels about their bodies. They also

explain the negative consequences of body image dissatisfaction. This article is very

accurate being that there are many percentages provided by health experts.”
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As you can see I learned how to evaluate, summarize, and properly cite a source which came in

handy for the remaining projects.

Objective number five:

5. Engage critically, logically, and coherently with a variety of perspectives, cultures, and

worldviews. Students will demonstrate the ability to:

a. Recognize cultural differences

b. Evaluate the quality of an argument and counter argument

The objective above is one I do not feel like I achieved. I could not seem to understand

how to include counter argument, even after going to the writing center.

Although I started off not knowing much about proper writing, I feel like I have

improved and achieved the goals and objectives. I know about standard academic English, how

communicate among the audience, finding credible sources, and citing sources correctly. I am

confident about English B.