Andrea Blake Blake I

Dr. Arini
English 101
Oct. 16, 2019
Reflective Essay

The Stirring of a Passion

I have always loved to read since I was a little girl, so falling in love with writing should not

be a surprise. I think the real surprise is how much I love my own writing. This past summer was

the first time I took an English class and saw potential in my writing skills. I always thought I was

good at writing, but I also knew that I needed help with punctuation. Upon taking my summer

class I found that there was more I needed to work on, such as, writing in first person and

staying in first person or writing about the past and staying in the past. Now, in English 101, I

have learned much more and have come even farther with writing.

I had never created a blog before and was kind of intimidated by the thought of doing it,

but like most things, it was all in my head. I read the assignment and extra material to help me

understand blogging more, then I went over the blog examples from different students. Finding

a topic was easy, Yoga jumped out at me and the questions too. I was already familiar with

yoga, so writing about it was not difficult. After putting together my first blog, the next two

were a piece of cake. I liked the creativity in blogging, and I kept that experience in mind

throughout the rest of the class.

I did have questions about my own papers and wondered if I should keep a word or

substitute it. The peer reviews came in handy because what is a paper without a bit of

analyzing, and another point of perspective, addressed my own concerns about my paper.
 Blake II

Giving feedback to other students was a good experience because it helps to know what to look

for in grammar and sentence structure; I hope my reviews helped them as well. I also liked

having the opportunity to read my classmates papers and many of them were interesting.

Researching and citing my work was something new to me, but once I learned how to do it,

it became easier. I chose Buddhism for my Ethnography paper and even though I knew about it,

I still had to do some research to better educate myself. I enjoyed adding pictures into my

papers; I believe the pictures made my papers more interesting and conceivable. I also, had fun

creating my slide for my Buddhism presentation. At first, I thought I would be doing it wrong or

missing information, but after seeing how beautiful it was and the positive feed-back I got after

my presentation made me feel good. Each slide was a creation in itself, from the blend of colors

to the organization of the pictures and words. I was not sure how I would feel presenting it in

front of the class, but when my presentation time came about, I believe it went well.

The Commercial Analysis paper was my favorite piece to write because it was fun and

flowed so easily. The commercial itself was funny and creative, making it easy to picture from

my writing. I relished in the feel of writing a short story and putting it in my own words. I felt at

home with that piece, as if I knew exactly what to do. It makes me think that I would be good at

writing my own stories or novels, which would be a dream come true. I would love to be able to

work from home doing something I enjoy and getting paid for it.
 Blake III

Reading, writing, studying and creating has taught me a great deal in writing. I have

enjoyed all the assignments, along with my own development in writing. I do not think I made a

final draft that was perfect, but that is okay because it has shown me what I need to work on in

order to become a better writer. I know I still have farther to go, but I am glad to have been

here in this class with Dr. Arini and am thankful for all her extra support in teaching this class. I

look forward to writing about anything in the future, even if it is just a letter, poetry, a blog, an

essay or in a journal. Who knows, maybe next semester I will take a Creative Writing class.