I began this course with an open mind, a bit of anxiety, and a clean sheet of paper. I was unsure of what I would learn or what my writing style would develop into. While I was excited to write, I was unsure of the formalities of the English language and the structure of academic writing. Eight weeks later, I have filled multiple pages of paper with ideas, words, and sentences. More importantly, I spent multiple hours dissecting, editing, and re-writing those ideas, words, and sentences in an organized and mature manner. I now have a better appreciation of the language and skill set required to write in an academic environment. During the Week 1 discussion, I publicly admitted that I had a habit of foregoing the pre-writing process. After
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When I began this class, I was ignorant of the formal rules that govern the English language. Although I am an avid reader and I have always been confident of my vocabulary skills and comprehension ability, I knew that I was not a skilled author. I was unsure of the proper placement of colons and semicolons. I was unable to define a pronoun-antecedent agreement. I consistently wrote in the passive voice. I read and wrote with more of an instinctual feeling of what was and was not correct, depending on how it sounded in my mind, rather than with structure and grammatical correctness at the forefront of my consciousness. Throughout this course, however, I gained knowledge of the technical aspect of the English language. I particularly enjoyed the format of the Communication Fitness exercises, in which the concept was first introduced and an overview was provided, the student was able to define the concept, and then, finally, the student was tested on their skills. With each grammar lesson, I was forced to study the different parts of speech and immediately apply the skills learned. I found myself defining and understanding terms that I had previously taken for granted. Even when I had attained a satisfactory score on the practice tests within Communication Fitness, I would repeat the exercise a few more times to ensure that I had in fact mastered the specific period of instruction. By acquiring a
When I began this class, I was ignorant of the formal rules that govern the English language. Although I am an avid reader and I have always been confident of my vocabulary skills and comprehension ability, I knew that I was not a skilled author. I was unsure of the proper placement of colons and semicolons. I was unable to define a pronoun-antecedent agreement. I consistently wrote in the passive voice. I read and wrote with more of an instinctual feeling of what was and was not correct, depending on how it sounded in my mind, rather than with structure and grammatical correctness at the forefront of my consciousness. Throughout this course, however, I gained knowledge of the technical aspect of the English language. I particularly enjoyed the format of the Communication Fitness exercises, in which the concept was first introduced and an overview was provided, the student was able to define the concept, and then, finally, the student was tested on their skills. With each grammar lesson, I was forced to study the different parts of speech and immediately apply the skills learned. I found myself defining and understanding terms that I had previously taken for granted. Even when I had attained a satisfactory score on the practice tests within Communication Fitness, I would repeat the exercise a few more times to ensure that I had in fact mastered the specific period of instruction. By acquiring a