English is a class we take since we enter Elementary School and we take it up until college. It is always the same thing, reading, annotating, writing essays, submitting, and doing it all over again. This cycle can often get boring and tiring because you already know what you’re going to have to do when you’re taking an English class. The only difference is the professor, and I believe that depending on the professor is how your English class will go. 

English 110 wasn’t my first time taking it, I had previously taken English 21000 and before that I had signed up for English 110 but it didn’t end up working out due to the professor so I had to drop my class. As a sophomore taking a most common freshman English class I was scared and embarrassed because I knew most students were going to be in their first semester of college while I was in my third semester of college. Regardless of that I came into this class expecting essays back to back and endless homework. Although we always did have homework due before class it was nothing impossible nor hard. The structure of this class really helped me complete the big assignments at the end of each phase we had which in total was four. Each phase had different assignments and at the end it finished off with usually an essay that tied in together all the work we had done throughout that phase. 

Phase one consisted of an essay that we wrote about our language journey growing up, usually in English classes we get told to do research about a topic and then write an essay with a certain format or style as our first assignment. I enjoyed this assignment because it was more personal so it was a lot easier to write. I wasn’t counting how many pages I was at and it was more of an easy flowing essay where I could write endlessly about my language journey and while writing that essay it helped me discover and remember certain things from my past and my childhood. 

Phase two consisted of an essay we had to write about an interview we did with one of our classmates. This was another assignment that wasn’t challenging nor hard but more of an easy flowing essay where I didn’t have to do research but write about something I had recently learned about which was my classmate. By then this was our second major essay that we had due and by this time in other English classes we would have to do another research essay. As I wrote this second essay about my peer I realized that writing came to me easily when I talked about something I wasn’t forced to talk about or do research for. I also started seeing improvement in my writing when it came to formatting and tone. It wasn’t just quotes off an article or a specific format I was using but more of whatever I want to choose and do. 

As we approached the end of the semester we had a total of two final assignments and I had realized that I didn’t struggle in English, it was a class I only missed once and never had the intention of skipping or missing any work. It was a class I always remembered to do my work and homework because it wasn’t hard or impossible but it made writing more of a peaceful time for me. I got to show some of my personal experiences through my writing and regardless of my peers reading it I didn’t mind nor felt ashamed. 

Throughout this course I have learned more than just writing essays, but also about discipline and staying on top of my work without having my professor constantly remind us or tell us what to do, which I appreciated. We were not babies and we were treated like adults, we got the assignment and we did it, it’ll get graded and we would move on to the next phase. We knew exactly what to do before class and what we would do in class and it gave me a sense of independence which is not something you get in every class. 

English 110 was more than just writing essays about the topic you were given and submitting them, it was about learning and improving your writing skills as you go. It was also about learning how to receive feedback and implement it into your writing, and that is something Professor Anna always emphasized. She made sure we always got a good amount of feedback whether it was from her, or our classmates, or even both. And she always made sure we knew how to implement it into our writing and see how it would better our writing.

During each phase we were provided with multiple sources for any doubts or questions we had, and that was something we were also learning how to use. It’s very easy to just do things your way because you’re too lazy to look through the resources but she always made sure to go over them so we could actually make use of them to better our writing. With those resources came strategies and ways we could do our essays and we would be able to get some examples or do it also our own way as long as we met the criteria.