Lindgens 1

Jennifer Lindgens
Mrs. Pettay
English 112
June 8, 2015
Dual Enrollment Decisions
Just as we sat down in our seats, Mrs. Pettay handed out a writing assignment and all of
my fellow students looked around the room in a combination of confusion and resistance. I can
admit, I chose to take this class because someone told me we wouldnt read a lot. I also took into
account that the former student mentioned how much writing would be involved; however, Dual
Enrollment with Mrs. Pettay has proved to be exponentially different than I had originally
imagined. The class is difficult but it makes a student grow in several aspects of life, often
focusing on concepts that apply to the real world, dramatically improving a students writing
skills, and all the while, listening to a hilarious teacher.
While a bit difficult, writing assignments ranged from response, argument, informative,
and research papers and each paper had a specific purpose. Diverging from the papers original
purposes were real world impacts upon all the students. Its essential for students to know how to
respond eloquently and organized to a reoccurring issue, argue a point in a way that isnt overly
dogmatic, inform others of important topics, and research information for a students own
personal benefit. Topics we discussed in class were current and engaged my fellow students and
I, making us more informed and educated about what was going on in the world around us. Our
argument essays were on controversial topics that we researched, evaluated, and argued a
decided side. These papers reinforced the real world aspect to writing and drove us to discover.

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Getting back to the original purposes, each paper had distinct writing skills that had to be
achieved in order to be successful in execution. The only way to get a good grade in Dual
Enrollment is to use the writing skills Mrs. Pettay teaches, whether a student does not want to or
not. This forcing of learning taught me the correct organization of essays, proper pronoun
usage, active sentence usage, and to not use dead words. Mrs. Pettay as a teacher is extremely
funny in a dry sense of humor way and exceedingly nice which helps when a student receives
feedback on their essays. I have found that myself and many other students get attached to their
essays simply because they wrote them and this causes it to be hard to receive criticism. With
Mrs. Pettays personality and sense of humor, I found it to be easier to receive criticism and I
could take everything in that she was telling me to further help my writing.
Dual Enrollment is a class that a student will have to put effort into; however, the class
will make a student grow positively in many different directions. Real world concepts, writing
skills, and Mrs. Pettays sense of humor drive Dual Enrollment and the students to really learn.
Even though my fellow students and I reluctantly began the school year writing the essays she
assigned, I can say that they have helped me in many ways personally and educationally.