Final Reflection Essay

In the this first semester of college, there are many things that I learned about both

composition but also about myself. For composition, some things that I learned throughout the

year was the process of revision or reflection and how to approach a topic of writing that is not

common. Revision and reflection were things that I never really had to do in high school so the

process of writing a reflection essay after each unit really made me think back on the process that

I used and what I learned throughout the whole ups and downs. Some examples of this were

when I wrote my profile reflection essay about our podcast that we recorded. It allowed to think

back on what we could have done better such as split it into more segments, instead of just

recording it all in one session. By doing this we could have fine tuned our expressions and the

transitions between conversations would have been more natural. If I would have not written a

reflection essay about this assignment, I probably would have never thought twice about the

process of recording a podcast about a fire hydrant and its daily life, but since I did I thought

deeper and more to the point than if I would’ve just submitted the project and moved on to the

next. This is something I would strongly encourage you to continue doing because it changed

how I view my writing process and allowed me to look back on projects and find ways that I

could have been better throughout. The other thing that I really found impactful was the process

of writing in ways that were not common. Examples of these were the profile of the fire hydrant

and writing from a perspective of present and then transitioning back into the past. Composing

these pieces of literature were very difficult for me because it was not just as simple as sitting

down and start writing a story like I had done in the past. Instead, it truly required me to plan out

my paper before I even started writing it, which made me more direct with what I said instead of

just rambling on about minor details that really didn’t matter. In writing my memoir, I had to
make a physical outline which at the time I didn’t enjoy, but in the end helped me in the process

of writing from a perspective that is changing. I wrote about my best friends from high school

and our spot that we would always go to, so I was constantly transitioning from speaking in the

moment of going there with them and the experiences we had to talking from the present about

how those moments changed me and made into who I really am today. What I have talked about

so far is how I have grown as a writer, but where I see more growth is as a person and the results

that I have seen throughout just my first semester. Often times people will say that they grew the

most in their entire life throughout their first year in college. I can completely agree with that

statement, and this class has shown me that to an even higher degree than what I would’ve been

able to see for myself. In this class, I started out by saying I would focus on the academic habits

of mind of perseverance and responsibility. Looking back on my first semester, I can one

hundred percent say that if I would have not focused on those things, I would be in a much

different place. I would not have been as responsible for going to my classes, or about me

staying on top of my assignments and getting them done early so that I was not stressed about

them later. In this class, I did my best to be responsible about getting to class and not using the

“grace” period because I felt that I should be on top of my work rather than putting it off until the

end of the assignment period. For perseverance, this was something that I really had to focus on

to ensure that I would not fall into a trap of becoming lazy or complacent. Early in the semester,

I went through some tough things with pledgeship and just finding a new friend group after

losing my friends when we left for college, and I could have just sat back and stayed in my dorm

without like really putting myself out there, but because I decided to focus on perseverance this

semester, I really applied myself and fought through the little tough things that were going on so

that I was able to enjoy the incredible benefits of college and all of the new opportunities. All in
all, this year was an incredible chance for learning and growth and this class really added to that

for me. I wish I was able to take you again for English 102 but 8 am would just not be possible

for me to be in. I’m so thankful for this great semester and all of the outside work you’ve put in

for us to succeed and grow!