Dear Professor Rodrigo and my peers,
I remember starting my writing career here at The University
of Arizona very worried that I would not produce college level work. Although I
had a very funny, intelligent, and caring English teacher in high school, I was
still worried that it would not be the same. My high school English teacher was
a graduate from Stanford University and Harvard University and he basically
taught me everything that I know. One of the most memorable experiences I had
in my English class during my senior year, was performing “Othello”, which is
a play written by William Shakespeare. This not only helped me with my writing
skills, but it also improved my public speaking skills. I really admired my
English teacher because he had a very unique teaching style that was very
effective for me. He probably learned this from his experience at Harvard and
Stanford, which makes him special and stand out from the rest of the teachers I
had. He knew that every one of his students had a different learning style so
he taught in many different ways that truly helped every one of his students
succeed in his class. He knew that some of his students were visual learners,
some were auditory learners, and many were kinesthetic learners. He
incorporated every student’s learning styles to ensure that every one of his
students did well in his class. To be honest, his way of teaching is much
better than a lot of teachers I have had. He didn’t make students suffer by
having them teach themselves the material because some teachers are heartless and
do that. I have had classes that were basically self-taught, which I did not
appreciate at all. That was one of my successes in high school but I know that
I will have many more successes in the future.
Taking my first English class here at The University of
Arizona boosted my self-confidence since I had an amazing professor and he enjoyed
every one of my essays that I turned in. I ended up getting an “A” in ENG 101,
which made me feel less insecure. In fact, Professor Toso was one of my
favorite professors so far here at The University of Arizona. The transition
from ENG 101 to ENG 102 was not difficult for me since I had many teachers in
the past who have made me the writer I am today. Although I did not do as well
as I did in my ENG 101 class, I still learned a lot in this class and I got to
write many essays that were in different genres such as controversy analysis,
rhetorical analysis, public argument, and reflective portfolio. Many of these
genres were outside my comfort zone but I was still able to write well-written
essays for each of them.
In the beginning of the semester, I stated that I was a Heavy
Reviser but like most people, I can sometimes be a procrastinator. I believe
that I became both a Heavy Reviser and Sequential Composer. Being a Heavy
Reviser may not be the best one but I find it to be the most effective since I
am used to that writing approach. I really like this writing approach because
it allows me to write all of my ideas down before editing my essay. This makes
it a lot easier to write an essay and it makes me feel less frustrated. But by
the end of this class, I realized that being a Sequential Composer is very
important and is an approach that is very beneficial. Sequential Composer is a
very clever approach in writing because these types of writers spend the same
amount of time for each draft. Planning, drafting, and revising are very
important when it comes to writing a well-written and meaningful essay. I
believe that using the approach that I’m already used to which is Heavy Reviser
and being a Sequential Composer, will help a lot in the future as well.
Especially when I start my career after college because writing is an essential
tool that is needed in basically every job in our society. (See Blog Post)
In conclusion, I learned a lot in this class and I was able
to write many essays that were outside my comfort zone. For example, I learned
about QRGs, which was very helpful since I did not know anything about QRGs
before I started this class. Writing a QRG was definitely out of my comfort
zone but I am glad that I was able to do it. Being able to write my own QRG is very meaningful to me since The Tony Robinson Case was a controversial topic I was very passionate about. It felt really good to write about this case, since I knew that the final decision was unfair, wrong, and just heartbreaking. (See Project #1) Also, I was able to write a rhetorical analysis essay that was actually well-written. This essay got the highest grade out of all of the other essays that I wrote, which says a lot. I wrote about how men are also victims of sexual violence, since most people think women are the only victims. I find it unfair how women are always perceived as the victims and men are always perceived as the perpetrators, which is the reason why I chose to write about this.I believe that I successfully got my message across to the audience since I used many credible sources and statistics. (See Project #2)
Finally, I was also able to write a Public Argument, which is a genre I was actually familiar with. I chose to write about the same topic as Project #2 because I wanted to make my argument even more persuading. Also, I wanted to make people understand that women being the only victims of sexual violence is just a misconception. I believe that I did a pretty good job with this essay since I added more credible sources and statistics. (See Project #3)
I am very thankful that I took this class because I learned
a lot about writing and this course strengthened my writing skills. I am very
proud of myself because I was able to write well-written essays even when the
genres were out of my comfort zone. I also had a very nice professor who gave
me great feedback on my essays, which really helped me become an even better
writer. This class has truly prepared me for the future and I am confident that
I will succeed in life, especially when it comes to writing.
Sincerely,
Anthony Saito
