Zulueta 1

Brandon Zulueta

English 101

Ms. Batty

May 31, 2017

Reflective Essay

English 101 has increased my academic skills which are reading, writing and listening. I

wouldnt have gotten far without those three skills. I started improving my writing skills when it

comes to essays or written assignments, my listening skills is fairly decent but I get distracted too

easily, and my reading skills became more clear for me to understand. When I first started this

semester, I became more focused on passing my general ed classes like English and Math.

After English 28, my writing skills were fairly improved, and that includes my reading

skills and listening through instructions. My writing skills were better and I can tell they changed

a lot from before, back in English 28. I am more organized, focused and concentrated hard about

each thesis for every essay I wrote from the past couple of months since February. My reading

skills is still the same as before. I stutter while reading in between or middle of a sentence. My

focusing skills still needs a bit of work because when you have friends sitting next to you and

they talk to you in the middle of lecture, I get distracted too easily.

After the English 101 class, I still think I improved but just not enough. Surely, my

writing skills on essays were the same but they improved over time. All I need to do is pay

attention more on the thesis of what Im going to write about and all. My reading skills improved

after reading a book called Still Water Saints by Alex Espinoza. They improved by just reading a

chapter again so you could understand the plot carefully and briefly. My focusing skills
 Zulueta 2

improved when it comes with group work with other classmates. We all share creative idea of

what to do and each topic are about characters from Still Water Saints.

During one of my assignments in class, the Literary Analysis Essay, I had to talk about

one specific character from the book Still Water Saints. I talked about one of the most iconic

characters and her name is Perla. Perla is one of the protagonists in the book because she helps a

lot of characters in the book, either cheering them up with hope, or just medical assistance since

shes a healer. The essay assignment requires 1,125 words and approximately 4-5 pages long.

This assignment helped my reading and focusing skills because I had to look through the book

re-reading the passages and summarizing each plot in the chapters about Perla. Before I

submitted this assignment, I had my tutor check my essay if it sounds clear for her to understand

my thesis or topic sentences. I had some mistakes or confusion on the essay, but I still managed

to fix them.

If I were to use those skills from what I learned in English 101, I would use them for

anything in the upcoming future. This is my last English course to take because Im not required

to do later courses like 102 or 103. My English would probably be still in use if I were to do a

research paper about something, for example. If I were to get a career later on, I will still do my

best to proceed on for what comes in my way. I want to finish my education, but I still have a

long way to go to reach my career which is enlisting and serving to the United States Air Force.

Right now, Im still having my education as a first priority than anything else and thats because

I have a lot to learn.

In the Air Force, youll need a handful of skills that youve learned, mostly listening and

reading through instructions. Listening to the instructors and do what he or she tells you, and
 Zulueta 3

reading all the basics of what you need to do before enlisting. This is my passion that I have

wanted to become ever since I was little: to serve. My major will come first before any of that

because I need my education to conduct and learn more skills before I move on to the next level.

Even if it would take years to finish college, I would still have plenty of time to plan and to learn

harder to improve my skills.