You have completed English Composition I! In as much as reflection is a genre, it is also an action—one of the most important actions of the writing process. Writing a reflection does not mean that you focus on what you would have changed or what you may have failed at doing; instead, a reflection should be a holistic assessment of an experience so that you can apply those lessons to the next experience.
You have written two essays for this course. Please reflect upon your experience in English Composition I by addressing the following questions. You do not have to address all of them or address them in order.
What was your most successful essay in this course? You may want to judge that based upon your instructor’s assessment, but it would be more beneficial for you to base this upon what you feel is your best work. What was it that made this essay so successful for you?
What kinds of elements do you consider when thinking about what makes a successful essay? After listing some of those attributes, how does your “most successful” essay match up with these elements? In what ways does it fall short?
What would you have done differently when writing the essay you deemed less successful than the other? In thinking about what you would have changed, did you really have the opportunity to make that change at the time? Why, or why not?
What have you learned about the writing process? How has the emergence or, at least, definition of that process changed how you write, if at all?
What was your favorite thing that we did in the course? Why? What was the least appealing thing we did in the course? Why? What revisions would you suggest for this course to make it more impactful?
Think about Part III of the discussion board in Unit I that asked you to consider your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a writer and to anticipate the greatest challenges you would face in this course. Now that you have completed the class, have your answers to these questions changed? If so, how?
