Course Reflection
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Ryan Hermansen
English 1010
Reflection
This Issue of Exploration as well as the English 1010 course have been a process of growth and progression all throughout the semester. Each of the new ideas and concepts presented in both will only add to a myriad of tools in furthering my education here at the Community college as well with other life situations which might present itself.
In our class we have been challenged to push the envelope with the information we already knew, and burrow deeper into sources as well as familiarize ourselves with alternative perspectives. We were able to accomplish and practice these tasks through reflection and analysis papers we were assigned, some of which were our own topics and others formally designed. I liked this approach because it had the ability and effectiveness to show us the ideals by way of issues that were our very own and likewise go out of our way, or comfort zone in the topics we were assigned. Another important realization I had during the semester was understanding these tasks were much more than writing papers, it was being able to put our personal voices into words on paper to logically and properly portray our thoughts, exercising necessary critical literacy qualities.
Another way this class helped me improve in my overall communication skills, was the structure to know how to organize my thoughts. Often times it is difficult to say what you would like, in the most efficient and powerful way, but through use of the course textbook and the teachers knowledge, this helped me improve greatly in this area. This is not something that is only beneficial on paper, but a tool that can be applied in other aspects such as oral presentations or public speaking. Once again, the bounds are not limited to just there, on a shorter term, I can use this organization process in classes, as well as in the work place. It will help to showcase the abilities I already have in a new and brighter way.
One thing that I found to be surprisingly helpful was the institution of working in small groups in the class. This way we were not in an open discussion forum with one person taking all of the speaking time, but we were allowed to, on a more personal level, receive and contribute ideas that might not have been heard otherwise. It made each of us students put ourselves out there and engage ourselves with the aspect of teaching what we knew to other students, taking a more active role. Likewise in these settings, we did peer reviews with one another on the various assignments that we had. I liked this because instead of having a teacher grade it, and get a certain type of feedback in return, we got the critique of our fellow classmate. This helped us know what to look for in our own papers when writing as well as apply the techniques learned during class.
Lastly, the teacher did a very good job telling us what resources we as students had available to us. It was very good to know that we had reliable places to get information that provided accredited material and credentials to their authors and sources. Many times, have I come to realize, that I need to further investigate where I am getting my information from to fully trust it. I will be able to use all of the new search tools when doing projects in my other courses, and be able to credit the good work and strategy back to this class.