Dear Mr. C.

Man, what a semester. I came into college thinking all teachers wouldnt care about

how their students learn and would only give information with no intention of truly teaching

their students something, but I was wrong. The first class that I ever attended in my college

career was Mr. Campbells University writing class, a class that I will never forget.

When I first came into your class room I was a little iffy about it. Even though I wrote

you a letter informing you about me which helped me a lot with my transition into college. I felt

like writing was very pointless because my major was math intensive and I felt I could write

good enough so whats the use of wasting my money on a class that I wouldnt need later in

life. But as the semester went on I realized how much I love writing and your class really opened

my eyes.

First, I would like to talk about my daybook. I remember getting an entry asking: What

does it mean to be educated? my answer, To be educated is to have knowledge on more than

one subject. I believe I am an educated person and so is everyone in 1104. I dont think a degree

means your educated I think education is much more than a degree. Its your ability to

implement your knowledge in a productive manor. For example, when I was younger I was very

hand on and always making objects out of everyday household items. To be educated is to have

the overwhelming sense of what it means to be educated. Even now I feel this way more than

ever. Being in 1104 helped me be more open minded about life in general. When I first leaned

about the daybook and what we had to do with it I believed that it was one of the most pointless

and tedious things ever. But as the semester wet along I was actually looking forward to coming

into class and doing my daybook. I felt it was a good way to start the day and express my
feelings on a structured free write. Also using the daybook out of class seemed pointless at first.

Then, as the semester drew to a close, it helped me put all my thoughts from the beginning of the

semester into my final EIP. It felt good seeing what I wrote from the beginning of the semester.

It took me back to the time I wrote the work and reading them made me feel exactly how I felt

when I was first writing it.

Next, the Blog. To be completely honest the blog was something I really liked to do.

Watching informative videos that I could relate to was very valuable. Then, reflecting on what I

just watched helped me put all the main ideas just expressed in the video into my own words for

my understanding. My favorite was the Ted Talk about Body Language. I try to implement what

I learned from that ted talk in my everyday life.

Onto the studios. The studios that we did in class were very helpful to me especially

studio one. It helped me better implement my information in a clearer way. It also helped me get

better with my topic transitions, in my paper you can see that from paragraph to paragraph how I

try to make each paragraph lead into each other. What I also like about the studios is their timing.

I could tell that they were purposefully placed throughout the semesters schedule to correlate

with what we were doing in class.

Now, I would like to talk about my annotated bibliography. Doing my annotated

Bibliography was a very helpful experience that would help me for years to come. Learning how

to correctly site my sources was something that I will use for the rest of my career. I learned a lot

about my topic by doing my Annotated bibliography, having to go through all the sources that I

had and pick the best ones for my paper was very eye opening on how much writers go throught

to do their papers.
 Peer reviews were very cool to me because it let me be a part of someone elses work and

see how they were structuring their paper. Not only that but it allowed me to give input on

someones else paper. I liked reviewing Ahmaris paper because not only am I reviewing it, but

Im learning more information on a topic that I dont know much about. The review process

helped me and my paper immensely. I was able to make my paper more reader friendly and

create a more concise paper that didnt drag one point forever. I also liked having another pair of

eyes looking over my paper making sure I got a good grade and I would do the same for him.

My most important work in UWRT was my final paper What Drives Racism. I feel like

this is my most important work because I really feel deeply about what I wrote and want to

create non-profit organization to combat racism and prejudice. The paper also helped hone my

writing skills a lot. My writing at the beginning of the semester was kind of everywhere with no

structure. I never had the ability to stay focused when writing at the beginning of the semester.

Now that I have taken UWRT Ive gotten better at staying on topic and not rambling too much

on my papers. Ive also gotten better at evaluating my writing from a readers perspective. Other

than that, I would say Im very good at everything else. I know how to research very well and

make sure that I have the correct information for all research that I do. I have also been able to

develop flexibility in my writing, for example, the beginning paragraph in my paper was a story

the I transitioned smoothly from and into the main points of my paper. At the beginning of the

year, I wasnt able to achieve that sort of transition. I was also able to improve my composing

process. By taking Ahmaris critiques on my paper I was able to revise and rewrite my paper in a

way others can clearly comprehend the information I was trying to convey. In re-writing my

paper I also strengthened the message I wanted to convey and draw the reader in more with
transitioning from research information to then engaging the reader by asking questions they can

respond to.

Then comes the EIP aka the Big Boy. Man, the EIP was harder than I thought it would

be. Especially finding information to make my paper 8 pages, but instead, I went back and added

more information on things I didnt add enough information on. Putting things together from the

beginning of the semester onto my website was fun, I was able to see my journey and how much

Ive grown as a writer. My final paper is something I treasure because of how much work I put

into it and how much the topic means to me. I made sure that I tried absolute best to make sure

my paper conveyed the information I compiled the best way possible.

My e-portfolio was bitter sweet to create. Just seeing all the work that I did this semester

and then realizing that this semester was ending was aweing to me. With that being said, putting

together my portfolio was easy. I already had everything that I needed to finish my e-portfolio so

all I had to do was transfer everything I had onto the website. It was kind of fun to see everything

come together. From a semi-blank website to a full and complete website. Then viewing the

finished product was very fulfilling to me. I dont think I would change anything about my the

process.

All in all, this class taught me to push through even if you want to quit. There were

multiple times that I wanted to go to bed and push my paper back and do it later but I never did

I stuck with it. I know that persistence will be very valuable for me throughout my life. I also

will take away the writing skills that I sharpened this semester, I got exponentially better in my

writing, clarity, and Im able to think in a readers perspective as I write. This class was not only
a class that I made good friends in, but a class that I made lifelong experiences in. All these

things are something this class gave me, and I am truly thankful for it. Thank you, Mr. C!

Sincerely Yours,

Chidi Osakwe