Introductory Letter

            When I had originally registered for English 131, I was not sure what kind of English class or what method of instruction to expect. I had always enjoyed more of an open discussion like environment, which my prior English classes had provided and I felt as if this was how I learned best. The reason I actually chose English 131, was because it was one of the recommendations on an engineering track sheet example. I read the description, and saw that this course was going to be composed of many writing assignments. I have typically always been a decent writer, and I thought to myself that this would be a good opportunity to exercise my writing skills. I had taken almost two years off from school and my writing needed some improvement. Nevertheless I knew that after an essay or two the quality of my writing would be back to a scholarly, college level. I also told myself that this course should be interesting and provide me with a good grade to accompany my start to college.

            I had no expectations for this class and I told myself that whichever way it unfolds, I would still try my hardest to learn and give it my best effort. I began the quarter strong and was motivated to be an outstanding and successful student. I was relieved when I saw that we had a young, intelligent, and laid back instructor, as it was so important to me that I have a good teacher in order to succeed in that class. As time went on, I continued to work meticulously on my essays with all the effort I had. As a result, I rediscovered a passion for learning and writing that I once had before taking a break from school. This influenced to participate as much as I possibly could during the in class discussions, and to put much thought into my reflections, online discussions, and essays. As the course continued, we started to be exposed to a variety of writing methods. I now realized the potential in this course being able to provide us with new methods for writing, expressing, or presenting ideas, as we could ultimately be able to us this in future classes or even the professional world. I surprised myself with how easily I grasped and understood these new tasks and how I was also able to further improved my current writing techniques. Moreover, I was able to ameliorate my overall writing technique as once our teacher returned our reviewed essays we were often required to write a revision plan or perform peer review. Consequently, this caused me to critique my writing with attention to detail—something I had not done in the past. In addition, a certain period of time would pass from when we would submitted the assignments, to when we were required to review them. This time away from my work often caused me to have an alternate perspective as I reviewed my assignments and I found mistakes that I previously overlooked, or thought of an improved way to write something. In addition to all of this, I refined my writing techniques by developing my transitional phrases, practicing to produce complex yet clear claims, and being aware of the structure of my paragraphs and its topic sentences. Other than the overall enhancement of my writing, I went on to learn how to write a memo, developed my ability to create and perform a presentation, and experienced the process of interviewing people. Furthermore, over the course of the quarter I was exposed to some intriguing literature which discussed language and writing, as well as found new perspectives on images, advertisements, and news clips, influenced by well-known writers and philosophers.

            Once I returned from the Thanksgiving break I struggled to attend class and be able to submit assignments on time. This was due to multiple obstacles in my life that I was encountering such as my parents getting officially divorced and falling sick on several occasions due to various reasons. Nevertheless, in the midst of this crisis, I kept my goals clearly in mind, as I wanted to be a successful student and continue to learn, as well as earn a good grade for this course. I persevered and tried to catch up with the class in order to complete the entirety of the assignments, as well as perform a presentation on another day when our whole group was available to present. Finally when I thought everything was going to progress without problems, I became sick yet again, and this time I was hospitalized for four days. Feeling weak and having a cloudy and scattered mind, I was rendered unable to function. I was not able this time to push through my illness and work while I was sick. After discussing viable options with my teacher I was offered support as I was granted an extension, which assisted me in being able to complete the portfolio assignment. This extension made it possible for me to submit my final assignment and earn the credit and grade for this English 131 course that I strived for. The portfolio has proved to be a rich opportunity to enhance my already well done assignments into outstanding pieces of literature. In addition, it serves as a method of compiling together all the work I had done since the first week of the quarter, in an accessible and organized manner. This way, my teacher would be able to access and view the entirety of the multiple assignments and cover letters. This final assignment symbolizes the completion of this course. Hopefully the portfolio, my ability to overcome obstacles, and the constant effort and commitment I demonstrated throughout the quarter, will earn me a good grade. Overall I displayed that I was a successful student by always performing at my highest level, submitting all of the assignments and occasionally with additional content not required, and finally by participating as much as I could in class. I would like to thank you Leah for helping me this quarter and granting me additional periods of time in order to complete all of my assignments. I really appreciate you working with me, as otherwise, I would not have been able to meet all of the deadlines and my grade would have been enormously affected.