Running head: REflection

Reflection on Revising My Expository Essay

Martha McNeil
University of St. Thomas

REflection

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Reflection on Revising My Expository Essay

As a graduate student in Educational Research and Scholarly Writing, this class started
off with me feeling like a student in high school learning how to write effectively and for a
purpose, all over again, however, I had to first realize that I had never learned how to write in
APA style while in high school nor college, it was always MPA, nonetheless, this was something
we has to learn and I was determined to learn it.
I thought at first, this class would be difficult and time consuming, but the first night in
class, my thought process changed a little, even though I thought it would be time consuming, I
also felt that I was going to be challenged to learn a new concept or learn how to become a better
writer and I must say, I truly did.
By meeting us where we were, asking and answering questions, taking the time to
explain, and having the ability to listen and to show compassion, you really made this class easy
and fun. I have learned how to be specific when choosing a topic, supporting it and providing up
to date information, because in my occupational field the law and best practices are always
changing. In revising this expository essay, I had to use more current research and to correct my
references. Im really glad you noticed the old literature review because if not, I would have
never been able to discuss a very important issue in special education and that is the
overrepresentation of African Americans in special education programs. In addition to, the data
which revealed that while some elementary students with LD in full-time inclusion classrooms
made significant educational progress, a majority of students made very little academic progress,
even when extraordinary resources were used to develop the programs. These two topics, in my
opinion, requires more study and research to find out why are the CWD not learning and why are
African American males being placed in special education at a rate higher than other male races.