Reflection Goin' Up...

This semester definitely flew by so damn fast for me. I think we can all agree that a LOT has happened these past four months. Am I right or am I right?

This blog post is quite different from the past blogs that we've done because we were asked to reflect on what we have learned about ourselves and our own invisible narratives. I skimmed through all of my writing assignments throughout the semester and compared it to my writing assignments in English 114 just to see how different both classes were. Don't get me wrong, my English 114 professor was great but I noticed that I didn't have as much freedom to express myself in my writing as much as I did in English 214. English 214 definitely taught me how to analyze things in a deeper sense while connecting them to the social norms and cultural biases in society.

In my diagnostic essay, I wrote about how education is vital, especially in this kind of society we live in today. I mentioned how my family, good friends, and past and current mentors have influenced me into getting the highest education as I can. I then specifically talked about three important people in my life precisely defined what education meant to them. The most important thing that I want to share with everyone is that getting an education can give you the opportunity to obtain the right kind of power to be advocates for yourselves and make a difference in the world.

Being in college and taking a diversity of classes has definitely changed my views on so many things and helped me become more open minded, it's fucking crazy and mind-blowing. The way that English classes in elementary, middle school, and high school were structured in a way that made it difficult for me to simply write a blog (in my own voice, however the hell I wanted) when I was assigned to do so in this class. I'm almost positive that all of my peers can agree with me that we were used to the whole five paragraphs, with an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion structure that had to sound "academic." Miss me with that bullshit. This class definitely made me think harder throughout all of the discussions that we had.

My writing style has completely changed after being in this class. I was given the opportunity to integrate my own dialect, as I mentioned in my third blog, with the material that we have learned in class, which I think is very important. It has always been difficult for me to start a paper because I tend to over-think about what my professor or peers would think about me if I wrote a certain way as well as the ideas that I have talked about. Back then I wasn't too confident in voicing out my opinions fearing that people would tell me that I was wrong and all that bullshit. Thank goodness I conquered that fear because people have their own opinions as well. It may be different from yours, but the fact that you have one matters. Integrating my own dialect also helped me communicate and strengthen my opinions on different types of topics in paper and in class. I'm glad that I learned something very different in this class and I'm content with the way that it changed my views on everything.