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Mayra Chavez
Professor Tyberg
English 100
3 December 2014
Fall Semester Reflection
Throughout the fall semester I have grown and learned more than I thought possible. I
have learned how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the
answers to the things that I don't know. My strategy and attitude towards reading, writing, and
learning at the beginning of the semester was not that great. I did not have a very good strategy
towards reading and writing; I often put off those tasks until the very last minute. Procrastination
was and I think will be an obstacle in reading, writing and learning. I enjoy learning, but I do not
enjoy doing the homework (like most students) I like finding new ways to do things and
improving on things I had difficulty in.
My writing skills have developed throughout the semester tremendously. I used to write
vaguely, I would leave the reader with tons of questions and confused because I did not express
myself with detail. I would introduce an idea but I would not expand on it. My writing kind of
sounded like a list rather than a critique. I have always struggled to put my thoughts on paper in a
manner that is logical and correct according to assignments. I remember being told many times
to "provide more support and examples" by my teachers in high school. My thoughts are now
able to be more complex because I have learned how to carry on a logical argument in an
organized manner. Another improvement is my ability to point out multiple complexities within
a text, instead of sticking to one-sided arguments in my papers. Furthermore, I learned how to

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find scholarly articles that can be found in PCCs library data bases. EBSCO has significantly
widened the possibility of my research, with credible references. My writing is so much more
interesting than it was before the semester. I know my ability to express my ideas, thoughts and
knowledge has grown stronger throughout this semester. The papers that I wrote when I first
started here at PCC were short and bland. I did not formulate my own ideas and support them
with the works of others. I feel confident that I could write a paper about most anything and
know how to cite and format it properly.
I feel that my reading process has evolved over the semester because at the beginning I used
to dread reading, I would always work around it and put it off. Now I really enjoy reading.
Reading helps you get a better understanding of things you once didnt know along with it
making you feel numerous amounts of emotions and gaining a better knowledge on many
different perspectives. Now when I am reading, I still maintain a positive attitude even when I
feel like I shouldnt, but I also approach the task differently rather than seeing it as an obligation
I see it as a learning lesson. I know that I will greatly benefit and improve myself by reading
constantly and focusing in the text I am reading.
The essay that I am most proud of this semester is my personal narrative essay. I am proud
of that essay because it was my first essay written in college, and I think I did a pretty good job
on it for it being my first essay in college. I am proud of the ideas that I generated, they were my
own ideas that I brought to life and experienced. I am also content about the way I organized the
essay. I feel that it was well organized, my ideas made sense. Although I liked the way the
narrative was organized theres always room for improvement, I could have organized my ideas
differently to give the narrative a better flow. My critical thinking process needed some work and
a more detailed explanation. I didnt really put much thought into that process; whatever came to

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mind first is what I went with. I could have explored my thoughts in more depth and better
developed them if I would have put more effort in the critical thinking aspect of writing. The
revision process of my narrative was not that important to me, and that was a mistake on my part.
It is an important step because it helps you see mistakes that you did not see when in the writing
process. It improves the understanding and flow of an essay, which in this case was my literacy
narrative.
Looking back at the semester at all the essays that I wrote in English 100, the essay that I
struggled with the most was the Madonnas of Echo Park literacy analysis essay. I struggled
writing that essay because it was an analysis essay and I did not understand the techniques used
in the novel very well. I had trouble identifying the literacy elements used and also knowing why
they were used. The author of the novel Brando Skyhorse had a handful of characters, each a
resident of Echo Park and each with their own story. Each chapter was a about a different
character and related back to previous chapters or characters. The chapters were written from
different perspectives which made it difficult for me to fully comprehend and grasp the meaning
of a chapter. If I wasnt fully engaged in the text, I wouldnt know who the narrator of a new
chapter was. I did not actively read the book, which was the source of the problem in my
judgment. Throughout the assignment I maintained a positive attitude even though I grew
frustrated because I didnt understand the book very well nor did I know what to write about. As
I progressed with the essay I reread the chapters that I was doing the analysis on and critically
examined them and the characters with in them. I also took notes while rereading the chapters
allowing me to connect back with my initial insights marked on the page.
Even though I have learned a range of things in this semester, my skills when it comes to
reading and writing still need improvement. Skills such as proper grammar and MLA format still

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need some adjustment. The sandwich method was helpful; it helped me weave in a quote into an
essay properly. I will continue to use that method next semester in English 1A.