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Caroline Cater

Dr. Rieman

English 1101

May 02, 2010

The Last Look Back

Looking back on the semester for one last time before my freshman year is completely over, I

think of how I was at the beginning and how I’ve been impacted and changed through the months in this

class. In the class we were given many diverse opportunities to explore and analyze written works of

others, which expanded our horizons and made us think in different ways. We also had the task of

creating an online website that house certain pieces of work we have done over the semester as a

creative way of taking a look at everything we’ve done.

When I look at my final writings as a whole I see it all as being the same, the same style, length,

and language. It is that clearness that comes from the final drafts that were not present in the beginning

ones that I can really only see change. I also notice that I make less drafts for papers which I think keeps

me more on task and less likely to get lost in the change that I’m making. Though in some papers my

voice can be heard louder than in others I think that that is one of the most important things I’m going

to have to keep working on the most.

From day one we expressed our opinions in ways that didn’t have to be heard by anyone, we

wrote in day books and were free to share anything we’d like about them. Over time I really believe that

this idea makes sharing things easier because there is no pressure and it can be seen that you did have

an opinion. In our daybooks we also wrote what came to our minds about cartoons, videos, pictures,
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quotes, and overall questions. I hadn’t realized how much more dynamic these pieces made my

classroom experience until I had started this paper. Earlier in the year when we were working on our

Jean Anyone papers still we went online and created our own cartoons that were to be related to our

papers, this was a fresh, fun new way of analyzing things that I had never known of before. Utilizing the

technology available like this was a great way of creating a more interesting English experience.

Creating an online portfolio is something I’ve never done, nor have I ever heard of until this

semester. I was convinced that this was going to be an incredibly challenging task but in the end it really

wasn’t that bad. It took a fairly good amount of time but nothing that couldn’t be done in the time given

for this project. In the portfolio we had five sections that represent works we’ve done this semester in

the class, we also had the option of adding other things we’ve done in the class that could support our

pieces better. Doing this project during class and being able to take it home or anywhere you have a

computer and a connection to the internet really made this task a much more convenient and

environmentally friendly project.

So comparing my present self to myself three months ago I believe I‘ve changed without even

knowing it, until just now that is. When I view things and analyze I can think of multiple different ways of

going about evaluating. I know that becoming a well rounded writer is not something that will typically

happen overnight but can happen over the course of many if enough effort and commitment is put into

it. I feel like I am in this transitional stage of writing and I am definitely in need of a positive change like

so. After all, there’s no better time than the present.