Dixie Smith Smith1

Dr. Jan Rieman

English 1103

20, October 2010

things came smoothly. Making my sentences read easily was my main problem when writing this

paper. Also at various points during this paper wish I were able to give better details and

descriptions about what I was trying to say, but I really had difficulties figuring out what else I

needed to say. Overall I feel this is a good quality paper.

Experience the Change

Looking Back
Seven weeks ago Iambled into my first college English class. I had always achieved

well in my high school English classes, thus I wasn’t too nervous about my performance in

this class. Honestly, I expected to comprehend most of it easily. My professor, Dr. Jan

Rieman, seemed pleasant, so I was basically just relieved that I hadn’t gotten another crazy

English teacher! However, what really got me was when Dr. Jan began encouraging us to

disregard what our earlier teachers instructed us was the “wrong” ways to write. Rather

we were to explore new ways of writing that we hadn’t been given the opportunity to in the

past. Frankly, being told to do something in my own way was a pretty shocking notion, but

in anagreeable way. Hence, I ran with the idea. When I wrote for my Writing to Explore

papers, I ejected more of me into my papers, than I had in my papers in the past, anddoing

so was definitely an appealingconcept.I was becoming, and still am becoming, the writer

that past teachers had blocked me from becoming. There were also other appealing ideas

as well, such as our daybook. Dr. Jan introduced us to our daybook on the first day of class.
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Each day as we come into class, we are to pull out our daybooks and jot down our thoughts

on the prompt that Dr. Jan has posted on the projector. On some days the prompt will be

about the current reading assignment, other times it will be based on something more

personal, such as our experiences since we came to college. This was a beneficialpractice

because it is nice to occasionally sit down and put you thoughts onto paper and simply

release your thoughts. There was also one other helpful thing we did that really boosted

the quality of my papers: peer workshop. Each time we would finish a draft of the current

paper we were working on, we would come to class and pair off in groups of threes. In

these groups we would exchanged papers, then each person would read the paper they had

been given. After we had finished reading we noted what we thought need revision in the

paper. When everyone is done writing, each person takes their turn explaining their

revision suggestions. This process has been extremely beneficial for my papers. Having

other people read my paper and give me their take on it has really aided my papers. Also,

often times when I am told what someone else’s thoughts on my paper, I realize other

issues along the same line that might could use a little work.

However, not everything came as easily as writing with my own style and putting

my thoughts on paper, some new things presented challenges that I hadn’t faced before.

Foremost, was when I was faced with academic reading assignments. Looking back I

remember the first time I tried reading Sponsors of Literacy, the task was daunting. I was so

intimidated by the intellectual words and phrases. It took more determination and

willpower to get through that reading assignment, than any other reading I had completed

in my entire life. On the other hand, each time I read another assignment like that, the

reading got easier and my comprehension of what the author was trying to convey
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improved. Despite the fact that I still haven’t got to place where I enjoy reading text like

that, I have obtained a better appreciation of it.

Looking Forward
Even though I have conquered a few challenges in English class, I realize there are

further challenges in the path before me. I’m facing one of those challenges right now. In

English class we are currently writing what is referred to by Dr. Jan as Inquiry papers; also

known as a research paper. Research papers are a formal style of writing, and I find writing

that way to be difficult, mainly because it’s all facts, and very little personal opinion. I’m

using this opportunity to investigate a topic that has attracted me for quite some time,

rhetoric from the Holocaust. However, it just so happens that this semester I’ve had two

classes that have dealt with and pertains to this topic. My inquiry paper will explore Nazi

propaganda, examining the methods in which the German Nazis used propaganda to

influence and manipulate the people of Germany. In the back of my mind I have always

wondered how the German population didn’t see through the guise of Hitler’s savior façade

to his deadly intentions. Thus I intend to utilize this paper to study how Hitler achieved

this, in essence, national brainwash. Nonetheless, writing in this mode is going to be a

learning experience for me, luckily I’ve access to a lot of guidance when needed. One other

great factor of writing my inquiry paper; I’m learning how to conduct research and find the

information I need using all the many sources I have access to. Along with that, I’m

discovering some neat material. So far my understanding writing this research paper has

been pretty successful and interesting. I’m excited to see where this Inquiry paper takes

me!
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Lastly, if I had to indicate one thing that I think I’m most eager for, it would be what

the next chapter is going hold? In other words, what new concept are we going to learn

next? From the very beginning this English classroom has been a whole new literary and

classroom environment. Consequently, I’m ready to see what Dr. Jan is going introduce us

too next. Also at the conclusion of the class, I’ll be eager to look back and see how far, and

how much, my writing style has grown and changed. And how much my way of thinking

has changed with it.

Dixie,

I’m glad to hear that you were finally able to get a good grasp of what you wanted to do in

this paper. Since you have an idea about content, what this draft needs next is some

attention to organization. It needs a clear introduction for certain and then you need to

figure out the best way to craft each paragraph. You can make an outline of what’s in this

paper now paragraph by paragraph to help give you a sense of next steps.