Salazar1

Ceara Salazar
Professor Connelly
English 1
05 December 2016
Metacognitive Cover Letter
During this semester, I have had to complete many assignments in order to accomplish
my Student Learning Outcome. One goal was met immediately which was Reading Skills. I was
provided an article every class period to read and analyze before the next class. An example
would be the article, Rhetoric by Gary D. Schmidt and William J. Vande Kopple, the article
helped achieve this goal because it was not only providing helpful information, it was making me
actually focus on what I was reading. Underlining the helpful tips while trying to understand
what they meant when they would state something made me analyze the whole paper and create
the ideas of what I need to pull out from this article to provide for my own work by using textual
evidence. For Writing Skills: Critical And Analytic (Higher Order Concern) I really believe that
the workshops helped me achieve this goal. Every Time we were provided a workshop I got to
have different partners who would focus on different areas when they read my shitty first drafts
which helped me in my writing because they would provide me different information that I
needed to go back and work on and remember the feedback so that I do not make the same error.
It also helped that every paper assigned had a different prompt so I was able to explore different
writing skills that were always being looked over and given feedback on during a workshop
days. In Writing Skills: Control and Presentation (Lower Order Concerns), I had a little trouble
reaching this goal. I was able to correct my errors in my shitty first drafts to reach an appropriate
college-level paper, but there was always the trouble of trying to revise my introduction
paragraph. It was always interfering. My peers would not comment on the introduction but the
professor would and I would continue to try to edit so that it is an acceptable paper until I finally
reached out to my classmates and professor for guidance and I do feel like I approach my
introduction differently and make it stronger than it was. The last goal met is, Information
Competency. This goal took me awhile to understand what I was being asked but when I
understood, I achieved it. The last essay was about research, at first I was searching on Google
going through racism trying to break it down and go more into depth about the main cause of this
situation. I was not able to find any information that satisfied me enough to put it in my paper
until I started searching through the student database and found so much information. This made
me explore more into what I had in mind and once I collected all the material I believed would
be perfect for my paper; I typed the essay with no hesitation and with so much confidence.
My participation in class will definitely affect a good chunk of my grade. I always
participated in group activities and I would voice my opinion and suggest ideas to my group but
when it came to creating a discussion circle to talk about the book The Absolutely True Diary of
a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, I did not put in much effort. Whenever I knew
the answer or even when it was wrong but wanted to speak out, I never did. The thought of
speaking out in front of people and to have everyone focused on me is not easy to come to terms
with. Like an example when we got into groups and created a 5 minute speech about the book in
front of the class I was nervous and felt like I could not do it. Even when I knew there would be
three other people with my up there, I still got a little frightened but I managed to get my idea out
so that the class can understand what my group was focused on. I brought this example up
because I was nervous about speaking out loud but I still did it and moved on from it. I do plan
on conquering the fear of speaking out loud in front of people. Next semester I want to challenge

Salazar2

myself to raise my hand more and to actually participate in live discussions with the whole class.
Maybe even sit in the very front where my professor will see me and pick on me more so that I
may become more comfortable with speaking out loud. There are many things I can do to help
with my little issue but it really reflects on if I follow through with it and I feel that I can change
it. Being in this class made me realize how much I would love to be the one to speak up when no
one else is because this class had a lot of silence whenever there was a question being asked and
I know if I would have spoken out, I would have felt better about myself. That feeling of
disappointing me will be my determination to participate more in class.
Overall, I believe my final portfolio reflects my best work because over this semester I
have put a lot of work into my essays and free writes by analyzing, evaluating, revising,
correcting errors, researching, etc... I may have had some struggles and complications reaching
my goals that do show up on my grade but I still maintained an acceptable grade because I put
effort into my work which can be seen. My final portfolio contains two essay assignments that I
have had good feedback on and I feel very confident about. I spent good amount of time every
day trying to bring out the best in my work, even when I would write my shitty first drafts. I
enjoyed these two prompts whether they challenged me or was able to make me speak from the
heart; I believe that that is why I feel so strong about these two essays. I was able to become
passionate in my work which does not happen often with homework.