Henderson 1

Sara Henderson
Ms. Weaver
Rhetoric I
5 December 2014
Reflection
Honestly Ive always thought of myself as an awful writer. I just kind of write a bunch of
sentences trying to express my thoughts and it probably just looks like a five year old was trying
to write about their favorite color. I dread papers; I never want to start them, I never want to put
any time into them. Any writing assignment instantly stresses me out; getting assigned an essay
can easily destroy my entire week sometimes it feels like my entire life is crumbling in my
hands. But that being said ironically most of the papers weve had this year Ive done pretty
decent on I didnt really score below a B on any of them, which was good in my mind. I really
only did poorly on one and it was actually our most recent one, our rhetorical analysis. To really
get a good idea of the type of writer I am and a beautiful reflection I should probably start with
our first assignments.
It was the first day of school and it was my second ever college class, Rhetoric. I was
about as hype as any freshmen could be on a Monday on the first day of school, but needless to
say I was pretty swag and ready to go. You introduced us to the curriculum and explained the
writing assignments and quizzes that we would have around three times a week. I didnt really
think the writing assignments would be an issue for me because you said it was usually only 200300 words and I was like I can definitely write 200-300 words easy. Ive never been so wrong in

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my life. I didnt really account for having work in other classes, or lacrosse practice, or my
insane amount of laziness to do any homework. The first writing assignment went well for me
though I read the sections of the book that was assigned; I even took notes and highlighted
important facts. Keep in my mind though I was still in the hey its the first week of school,
homework isnt that bad stage of college. So my writing assignments started off pretty well, I
always got 100s and I would turn them in with a positive attitude. But towards the middle of the
semester they got progressively worse I would barely have free time to read the sections of the
books that were assigned which made me skim the sections and Id never really get a good
understanding of it. And that really reflected in my writing assignments because they would just
come across uneducated and not thought provoking in anyway. They were boring and not put
together well at all. I would say my weakest writing assignments were six through ten. Towards
the end of the semester lacrosse was done with and I learned how to manage my time better, so
my writing assignments got better again and the grammar got better, and they were more thought
provoking overall. I was able to give a better opinion on the topic questions because I had time to
really read and understand the reading sections. I would say my strongest writing assignments
were one through five and then ten through nineteen. Overall with the writing assignments I
think they started off well but then slipped through the cracks but they quickly recovered back to
glory towards the end.
Were now to that beautiful moment in the semester where we got assigned our first
essay. It was honestly a glorious day, if Im recalling it right I think it was raining a stupid
amount, I was a tad bit late to class and didnt get any coffee or breakfast that morning. Our first
essay was a literacy narrative and it was basically on how we became the literate individual we
are today through our sponsors and anything really that we felt was important on our journey to

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literacy, as I called it. I tried to focus my paper on the four main sponsors I had throughout the
years that helped me become the literate individual I am today. Those four sponsors were my
brother who taught me how to read at a young age and kept me on the right track in school. My
first grade teacher, who put drive in me at young age to do well in school. Finally my eighth
grade teacher and then my senior lit and film teacher. I talked about them and gave specific
examples of how each of them helped me through the years. I talked about how well they did
with forming me into the literate person I am today because Im in college so they had to do
something right. I got an 80 percent on that paper which is a B so I mean I thought I did pretty
well on it, especially for it being my first ever college essay. You could definitely assume that I
called my mom and told her about it.
Life was good after our first essay in my mind for some reason I thought we would never
have another essay that was the second time that I have never been so wrong in my entire life.
We got our second essay assignment it was on a discourse community. It could be a discourse
community that you were not in and just wanted to know more about and observe, it could be a
discourse community that later in life you were going to join, or it could be a discourse
community you were already in. I chose for mine lacrosse because I felt like it was a prime
example for a discourse community. Honestly it was favorite essay to write and I was really
proud of it when I turned it in. I think its easy to write about something that youre passionate
about or about something that you love, and when your write about something you love I think
you can never really have a bad outcome. I got an A on that paper, which shows my progression
from the last paper which I scored a B on. I think I progressed as a writer from the first paper to
the second paper, I realized what was expected of me and what needed to be done to have a
successful paper.

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Were now at the end of the semester where we were assigned our final essay which was
our rhetorical analysis. You had to pick a commercial or any form of an advertisement and then
write a rhetorical analysis on it. All my progress was lost when it came to this paper. I picked a
great commercial but I didnt really understand or know what to write about or how to write
about so everyone would understand what I was trying to say. Needless to say I did poorly on it
but I did rewrite it and scored better on it. So great tip of advice always rewrite your papers if
you do badly the first time, so you can do better the second time. Overall I feel I have developed
as a writer and I feel more confident with my work now then I did at the beginning of the
semester.