Reflection letter

Andrew Morrison
Reflection Letter
111-49
Dec. 3, 2009
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Reflection of the semester
Looking back over my first semester of college, and Paul Gasparo’s Eng. 111, there are certain things that I liked the best. The rhetorical analysis really got me thinking, which is rare. For the first time I managed to write an essay without using Wikipedia. One thing I did not like was the argument essay, mainly due to the fact that it was a research paper that had many strict guidelines, not all of which I followed, including the restrictions on internet websites that we could use. I was indifferent on the other assignments, I did them, but really did not think much of how I felt when I was completing them. But all in all I will always remember this class and how it changed my view of school forever.
When I walked into that classroom on the first day of school this semester, I knew a lot of hard work would be involved in passing, but exactly how much work, I had no idea. I put more work into this one class than any of the others, combined. The overall classroom feel was probably one of the best ever for me, we seemed to have a lot of fun for that hour and fifteen minutes every Tuesday and Thursday. But it was the work outside of class that really got me stressed. Not wanting to seem weak, to myself, I continued through and now have made it to the end, finally. On the upside this was the first class where listening to music was a homework assignment.
The research, and then development that I put into every paper, every sentence, is what I would have called, before the semester, “empty wasted time” but now I realize that every moment was slowly expanding my overall knowledge. I have learned many things this semester, and one of them is time management. Last year in high school, and the years before that in school, I always waited until the night before, or even just before school started, to do homework. And while I did do that in the beginning with the first diagnostic essay, and later assignments, I have realized that that approach is not the way to go. That did nothing for my sanity, so instead I decided to try the miraculous new creation (well, it was new to me) of planning for assignments ahead of time, and that has made all the difference.
This class is not for those who just want to get an easy ‘A’. Those types of people will most likely not last the entire semester. I am sure that there are teachers who do that, but Mr. Gasparo is not one of them. This class is for those who want to write grand, intelligent pieces that they can be proud of for years to come. Those certain people who actually like to write, and want to be graded for how they write.
In retrospect, I enjoyed this class. Of course if someone were to ask me that question in the midst of me writing the argument paper, I would have said, “heck no.” I am proud of myself for, a lazy slacker, for finishing up my first semester of college, and surviving Mr. Gasparo’s college composition one class. His name will forever be carved into my mind, whether for good reasons or bad, I have yet to discover.