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Andrea Martinez

English 101

Professor Batty

31 May 2017

Reflection Essay

This is my second semester here at Los Angeles Valley College and even though it was

filled with enlightening moments, it was terrifying. College is completely different from high

school and I had to learn that quickly. There is much more responsibility that is implemented

upon college students due to the fact that youre not necessarily forced into attending class or

even doing the work, its more so your own dedication into pursuing an education.

Unfortunately, some students need a little push; motivation, someone to encourage them. Luckily

for me, I found my Puente familia here on campus and we became each other's support group.

Our professors; Andres Cruzalegui and Holly Batty made a tremendous impact in my studious

life. They helped me for the past year and were very understanding whenever I had concerning

problem. Andres helped us puentistas in the counseling department, he guided us in the direction

of our major and communicated with us the latest changes in education. Holly was our English

Professor for a whole year and through my journey in her classes I learned my strengths and

weaknesses as a creative writer. I gained knowledge as a writer due to the exercises we did in

class which included: writing essays, reading novels and articles, and thinking critically.

English 101 was overall interesting and full of creative writing. Occasionally at the

beginning of the class we were given about ten minutes to just write freely. We would be given a

topic to write about and we wrote uninterrupted. Every day would vary, it could be something

truly personal or maybe something vague. Along with the Free Write assignments I appreciated
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the essays we were given this term. The essays we were assigned included an: Ethnographic

Essay, Literary Analysis Essay, and a Visual Rhetoric Essay. Throughout my education I found

that my strength is writing and reading. I take passion in creating art through my words and Im

happy my educational career has given me such a privilege. These pieces of writing were really

captivating, complex essays. The topic of each essay had a deeper meaning that we were required

to bring to life. This semester I tried different techniques in my writing, for example; I tried to

incorporate more quotes and statistics in my essays. Last semester I really struggled with quotes

and citing and I would like to say I am progressing. I was always exceptional in staying on topic

and having my thesis detailed and this semester I tried new routines on how I worded my thesis.

I attempted to make my thesis more intricate and not as broad as I used to write them. Aside from

the essays, we were required to write 6 Stay Woke assignments. The purpose of this

assignment was to help us stay on top of the latest news in politics. We were required to choose a

reliable source and write a summary of what we read and what we thought about it. I truly took

pleasure in writing these quick summaries for the simple fact that in our current political climate

we found an outlet for our opinions. This semester was full of interesting writing assignments

and I hope I continue to advance in my writing throughout my time here at Los Angeles Valley

College.

This semester in English 101 I was lucky enough to be able to read the novel Still Water

Saints. This novel portrays the story of many unique characters who are all going through

difficult times and they all seek the guidance of Perla Portillo, Perla owns a spiritual center in the

Southern California Agua Mansa community: Botnica Oshn. She assists those in need, its her

persona and the reason she is where she is in life. Reading this novel put life itself into

perspective for me. While examining the characters obstacles I realized how no one truly knows
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what is going on in someone elses life. This novel was beautifully written and I enjoyed it from

beginning to end. We were also fortunate enough to be given a chance to read one another's

essays. Reading others work would give me ideas or make me realize if what I was writing was

off topic. Another way this class helped me was again, through the Stay Woke assignments. We

had to read credible articles and be able to analyze them and truly understand what was

happening. In this course we had to study a lot of exquisitely written pieces. I enjoyed every

article, essay, and novel we have read in this class.

Being able to think critically was one of the main factors in being able to pass this course.

Throughout this course we were expected to analyze different pieces of writing and be able to

interpret or say our opinion. One main example would be the Stay Woke assignments. We were

to read an article and interpret it into our own words and be able to thoroughly voice out our

opinion. With this being said when reading these particular articles thinking analytically and

acceptive is key. While reading Still Water Saints we were required to keep up with a reading

journal. The reading journal was meant to help us interpret what weve been reading in our own

words. Aside from the reading journals, we had to analyze our peers essays. We were given a

class period before our essays were due to do peer review and through this we were able to give

feedback to our colleagues. Now all these may seem like common sense but on the contrary, they

were difficult. Trying to view things from a different perspective is a tough task. However, this is

an important foundation to have in pursuing your education.

English 101 was a riveting course. Ive gained so much knowledge not only about

myself as a creative writer. In taking this course Ive gained so many different skills that Ill

carry with me throughout my scholastic journey. To me my strengths are reading and

comprehending. My weaknesses I would say would be staying on topic in my essays. I know my

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writing needs a lot of improvement but Im glad that this course helped me realize it and helped

me with different techniques.