Williams

TO: Mr. Dev Bose

FROM: Tyrone Williams
DATE: December 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Final Reflection Memo

Throughout this tumultuous semester of learning, in between working full time, after
work duties, and school work, I was hit with an atom bomb (figuratively speaking) with this
English 101 class. Silly me, before the semester began I was subconsciously expecting this class
to be a step up from High School English, but It was more like a thousand steps up! I learned a
lot from this class, and a lot about myself and my ability to persevere, because thats what it took
to be successful. This class has helped me tremendously as a writer, reader, and overall
participant of the English language. Two learning outcomes that stood out to me include
reflection and revision, and rhetorical awareness. I will touch on each more in depth in the
following paragraphs.

Through the course of this class had to take feedback from not only the teacher, Dr. Bose,
but also my peers, for essays, as well as discussion posts and other writings I attempted. This is
where reflection and revision came into play, specifically, its subcategories E and F.
Subcategory E. being evaluate and act on peer and instructor feedback to revise their texts, and F.
being reflect on their progress as academic writers. I looked down on peer reviews at the
beginning of this class with my original thought being, how can someone at my level be trusted
to review my paper and me expect a good grade? But after my third essay, a genre analysis of the
Cross-Fit community in Tucson, my peer reviewer gave me criticism on par with that of Dr.

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Boses, in my opinion. I used that criticism to go back to previous peer reviews and realized I
had been overlooking suggestions, and realized that I could learn something from ANY of my
peers. It was this that led me to do my revision paper on my first essay, a reflection of a local
event, mine being an Air Force retirement ceremony I attended. Under the F. subcategory of
reflect on their progress as academic writers, this was important for me to do week to week.
Doing one final reflection, although my essay grades went from high to low, I learned more with
each essay. I think I just wasnt able to piece everything I learned up to that point together. But
the ability to be able to reflect is what I will definitely cherish.
For the learning outcome rhetorical awareness, helped me a lot with critiquing my
fellow class-mates essays, and discussion posts. Throughout this class I was able to recognize
the purpose the writer was attempting to convey, the audience he/she was writing to, and the
content of the text. With this knowledge, it was easier to determine any fallacies in whatever it
was I reviewed. In my own writings, for my 2nd essay profile on Cross-Fit, when I interviewed
my commander, Lt Trampota, a Cross-Fit enthusiast, I was able to take the information he gave
me of his viewpoints on Cross-Fit, and categorize the purpose of the message he was trying to
convey, and relay it to the reader in my essay.
In conclusion, this is by far the toughest English class Ive ever taken. I had to do a lot of
reading, research, and analyzing. I think the toughest part about this class was being able to
incorporate everything I learned into my essays at each point in time, and taking the constructive
criticism of my classmates and teacher, to make my paper better. Through all the hardships, I
enjoyed this class and will keep with me and use in my daily life, all its taught me, and hope to
have similar success at the next level of English.

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