Final Reflection
From the first day of this class until now, I have learned so many more things than I thought I would have. I have always thought I relatively excelled in English and writing. After being in class for even a week, I realized those statements were false. Yes, I am still confident in my writing. But, I have so much more to work on that I didn't even know was important in writing (since when was passive voice a thing?). Mat helped immensely in clearing up my confusions. He has put so much time into perfecting my work, and I am so incredibly thankful for that. For the things he could not help with, the Bedford Book of Genres was put to great use. The common struggle of buying a textbook and only using it once was definitely not what happened in this class. I read it pretty often, and it made a decent amount of sense. I remember reading chapter nine, in order to learn more about revising my paper after each draft. There were many questions I would have never thought to ask in order to improve my writing, like characterizing my own voice in addition to tone and writing style. This improved version of a tried-and-true method to editing and revising definitely helped me, and I am glad I read that chapter early on in the class. I also read chapter seven pretty early on for a blog post, about citing sources. I have always been a fan of using the basic parenthetical citation, or an in text type citation. Then I began to read about other options such as how to do so after quoting, during paraphrasing, and while summarizing. I didn't realize there were way more options to choose from in difference to the usual one I always use.
Once the first draft of Project 1 was finished, conferences began. After meeting with Mat at the Sweet Shop, I got some vital information to help improve my essay. First of all, I was concerned that the way I used two pieces of text was not how I should have done it. He assured me that I had done it correctly, there were just ways I could incorporate them into the piece a little more smoothly. We also discussed the difference between "white savior complex" and what I was doing with my mission team, which is building relationships with people in Haiti. He also recommended that I add more physical description to my personal story. I changed some things around, and was satisfied with my final project 1 grade. With little time in between, project 2 began. I have never written a research project, so this project was quite a challenge for me. I was not very happy with my first draft, and wasn't necessarily looking forward to my conference. The conference did help, however. After meeting with Mat, I got a good sense of what my topic should be and how I can change it. In order to tie everything back to my mission team, I planned to use my own church's mission statement/personal goal. I planned to have it reinstated frequently, especially after a lot of information is given. I wasn't satisfied with my as is grade, but luckily I had the opportunity to go to the RWC and turn it in again for a better grade.
I had quite a bit of fun doing project 3. It was fun to think of different genres for my multimedia project. I really enjoyed making a Pinterest board especially. Pinning everything that pertained to long term mission trips was very interesting. I also used a map in order to show the top ten places missionaries travel to, then lastly I made a photo gallery. The project 3 guidelines were very interesting and fun, considering it was for an English class.
Even though this class was very early in the morning, and very demanding, I had a lot of fun being a part of Mat's ENC2135 class. I was stimulated intellectually time after time, and my peers and professor taught me very valuable lessons that I will be able to use for the rest of my college career, wherever that may take me.
