Final Reflection Essay

English 110 class taught me significant lessons which are time management, how to write down the formal essay, understanding the format and following the rules and regulations of each type of assignments and finally, I got one lesson that is revising is the best way to get a better outcome. I did a lot of reading, watching a video, doing worksheets for reading, brainstorming worksheets, writing Language and Literacy Narrative, Research and Synthesis and Final Reflection. We did one presentation about our Language and Literacy Narrative.

I still remembered that our first day of class was online because of the snow storm. In our 2nd lecture class, we had to introduce ourselves to the classmates and professor to break the ice between the classmates. I believe that ice breaking is the most important thing to do to create the comfortable learning environment. Early in the course, we worked on readings like “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, which explores how language shapes identity and how people with non-standard English face discrimination. Another reading on “Black English” discussed racism, language inequality, and the lack of recognition of marginalized voices. Both readings connect to the experiences of international students who may be judged based on their English proficiency.

For my Language and Literacy Narrative, I brainstormed using a worksheet to develop my main ideas and outline. I learned the format from Brightspace posts and my professor’s slides. Reading, watching videos, and discussions helped me understand my purpose, identify my audience, and think about how my story could motivate people with similar experiences. I wrote about my English learning journey, especially my high school life, and expanded on the memorable moments that shaped who I am today, Hnin Eain Dray. First, I wrote the first two pages and participated in peer review. At that time, my essay was messy and lacked detail. After a one-on-one meeting with my professor, I received useful feedback that helped me improve my narrative. I then polished my conclusion with a stronger reflection on my purpose and what my experience means to others. The translation process forced me to change my mindset and I began to focus on how to explain my experiences so that someone else could truly understand and feel them. I got some ideas from other people’s presentations also. After that, I used my new idea which came when I made my translation 1 and feedback from you to make a better version of my Language and Literacy Narrative. To be honest, I love to create this beautiful Language and Literacy Narrative based on Asian because I can appreciate my high school language journey because it became a bridge for me into a stronger, more determined student who is committed to using education to create a better future for myself and my family and who is ready to begin the next chapter of my life at a college in New York. We can transform difficulties into stepping stones for progress.

The second major part of this class is a Research and Synthesis essay. To be honest, I did a lot of worksheets and discussions but I was still unfamiliar with researching the quotes and linking the quotes with my personal views and experiences for a research and synthesis essay. I used CCNY library and ChatGPT to approach the format. To be honest, my first 2-3 pages writing is totally different from this essay’s format. I didn’t properly credit the writers also or make it obvious where those ideas came from. Because of this, my writing resembled a narrative essay rather than the typical structure of a research and synthesis essay. I noticed it when my professor gave me the essay’s format sheet and peering review section. So, I had only 5 days towrite down the whole essay which also included the first 2-3 pages again. But, I knew that I made a lot of mistakes in a research and synthesis essay again. When I had a 1on1 meeting with my professor for this essay again, I got incredible guidelines, useful comments and suggestions. After that, I knew what do I needed to do and I spent enough time to revise this essay again. I edited my introduction to become stronger, combining the paragraphs which are under one main idea and put the quotes in the essay with writer name, published time, publisher and page number. Also included my personal experience and correct work cited with the following MLA. At first, I was bored to write down this essay which is really strange for me and I didn’t want to learn it because I felt the format was too complicated. In the end, I was on the right way to write it because of my professor’s feedback and AI tools. I can also show up our country’s complicated policy and system which link with the discrimination on language barrier.

To sum up, English 110 helped me to become a standard writer and familiar with google and AI tools. I learned how to organize the time, the ideas for my writing, revise my work effectively and discuss with people to get good suggestions and feedback. This course also helped me to show my identity, my difficult and hard language journey, my culture and the complex situation in my country because of language barriers which have negative impacts on education, healthcare and the economy. I am more confident in my ability to continue developing as a student and prepare for my future college experience. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy writing before this class. Now, I enjoy writing much more than I used to.