Dear Marlen,
In my autoethnography I wrote my introduction in a similar way to this letter. I wrote about my history of high school English and what I expected college English to be like. Rather than talk about my expectations of English 101, I am going to evaluate my progress of college writing throughout the semester.
Before the school year started I received something from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I had the option of sending in a portfolio of five of my previous writings or take a placement test later. I had four writings that met the criteria so I wrote one persuasive essay then submitted them. I found out at orientation that I was exempt from English 100 which was good because I felt I was at the level of English 101.
In high school I always got B’s in English. I guess I never got A’s because English was too boring and I never cared enough to give it the extra effort and try for an A. Having developed several writing techniques in high school I thought I was set to begin English 101 with ease. After we received our first assignment I responded to the prompt in a high school book report type answer. I was very confused and immediately noticed the great difference from high school, but I think is also could have answered the “What is I?” question right there. I was a very confused high school student about to begin college writing. I read my fellow student’s blogs and how they responded to the question. This helped me get a better idea of what type of answer and writing was expected from us.
Every assignment after that seemed to fly by. Not only was I fully completing the assignment, I was getting good grades on them as well. As I progressed throughout the year I became more personal with my writing using “I” numerous times in my paper; something that would never be allowed in high school. I felt very comfortable when given assignments that were very open to the student’s choice of how the assignment will be written and what it will be about. This allowed me to write in my own style, which I found out throughout the year is the most enjoyable way for me to write.
As for suggestions for future classes, I really don’t have any except to just keep doing what you are doing. This semester was obviously a success, so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If I do think of anything I will make sure to let you know since we will be seeing a lot of each other next semester.
I liked this English class so much that I just had to take English 121 next semester. I hope I will have the same enjoyable learning experience I had in English 101. I also hope to see some “English 101 alumni” next semester as well. I had never had an experience like that with my fellow classmates in English 101. In high school I would have no control over my English class and my classmates would be made up of my graduating class every year. In English 101 I did not know anyone in the room the first day, but now I have made a lot of friends in that class. Also, with every student even if I don’t spend a lot of time with them outside of the classroom, I can always say hi to them anytime I see them around campus.
For next year, I hope my writing further improves in English 121 and I help the next class of students in English 101 by volunteering to be a teacher’s aid. I hope they enjoy the class as much as I did and improve their college writing substantially as well.