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Arionna Crispin

Marisa Enos

ENG 111

20 April 2018

Critical Reflection

It is safe to say I have made a considerable amount of progress with my writing

throughout the ENG 111 course. The major improvements I have noticed are with synthesizing,

problematizing, and incorporating my own unique voice into my essays.

This is my first semester at Mid Michigan Community College. When I started taking

ENG 111, I had never heard of synthesis or synthesizing; it was a completely new concept to me.

My skills with synthesizing are still developing, but they are far more advanced than when the

class had first begun. After learning what synthesis is and the overall objective, I had plenty of

room to practice during the semester. One of the journals I had completed was completely based

on practicing synthesis, and I used Jack Mezirow and Paulo Freire:

Mezirow teaches his readers not only what transformative learning is, but also how to

facilitate it. He makes it well aware that communication is key, “Transformative learning

is rooted in the way human beings communicate and is a common learning experience

not exclusively concerned with significant personal transformations” (Mezirow 91). In

order to get a proper education, there must be exceptional communication happening in

the classroom. Paulo Freire wrote The “Banking” Concept of Education where he

presents the idea of problem-posing education, which can relate to the theory of

transformative learning, especially in the means of communication. “Through dialogue,

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the teacher-of-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and new a term

emerges: teacher-student with student- teachers . . . they become jointly responsible for a

process in which all grow” (Freire 7). Students and teachers must join to create a place

for authentic learning to take place. Mezirow and Freire have different theories when it

comes to effective learning, but they have very similar concepts. They both conclude the

importance of communication between students and their teachers to have learning thrive

in the classroom.

When considering the fact I had never known of synthesizing, I am proud of my new ability,

though it is still in progress.

Another major improvement was adding my own unique voice into my essays. At the

beginning of the semester, my introductions needed some major improvement. The hook I wrote

for the first draft of my very first AMS essay was not very personal, “‘The idea that the only

reason for study is to pass tests might seem a peculiar one to teachers, but that conviction comes

naturally to freshman” (Leamnson 77).” Instead of making it unique, I started off with a quote.

By the end of the course, I feel that made a great deal of improvement with adding my voice,

especially in the hooks of my essays. When I came to my second AMS draft, I was able to start it

off with a more individual approach:

There have been many times throughout the last 20 years of my life in which I sat in a

classroom, surrounded by students of all learning styles, where we were taught in one

distinctive way. Thus, disrupting and harming the education of my peers and myself. I

remember thinking, “This is not getting through to me. I am going to have to teach it to

myself when I get home”. I am a very independent learner, and I must practice, use and
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apply information in order to learn it. But, I often find that is not the approach of teachers

and professors. Education is evolving, and there is incredible diversity in the minds of

those trying to learn.

I went from simply using a quote to being able to relate to the problem at hand in order to make

it more personal. I thoroughly believe I made astonishing progress with adding my unique voice

into my essay, particularly in the introductions.

In addition, this course has also helped me to develop the process of problematizing. As

with synthesizing, I had little to no experience problematizing, and found the task to be difficult.

My first attempt in my AMS 1 Proposal Journal did not turn out well, “The problem I would like

to address in my essay is how students have difficulty learning because they are treated as

depositories and cannot relate to the information being presented.” Needless to say, instead of

problematizing, I restated Paulo Freire’s article The “Banking” Concept of Education. I spent a

lot of time practicing, and I made a substantial amount of progress. In the draft of my second

AMS, I was able to produce a higher quality essay with upgraded problematizing, “A major

problem in education is standardization – all students are expected to learn the same way.

Because of this absurd expectation, students become discouraged, cease to pay attention,

memorize facts instead of acquire knowledge, and do not have their educational needs met.” I

feel that I was able to proficiently problematize while still using the sources in our textbook to

support my thesis.

When I first started the semester in ENG 111, I struggled with adding a unique voice to

my essays. I also had complications with synthesis and problematizing, as I had never heard of
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them, let alone practiced them. My essays are proof of the amount of progress and improvement

I have made throughout the course.