Reflection Letter

I can’t believe I am already writing a reflection letter about this past quarter. It seems like just yesterday when we were all just trying to get used to discussion boards. This is my 2nd year at EvCC. I am hoping to be accepted in to Paramedic school within the next year and start a new journey towards the road to a career. This quarter has been the most challenging of all for me. Not only did I take this English class but I took chemistry, and had to move in the middle of the quarter. This made for a rough couple of months trying to find the time to sit down at the computer and be able to relax and just write. Plus I thought taking an online class would be more convenient with my busy schedule, but I found out online classes probably weren’t the best
choice for me.

Although enligh isn't my favorite subject, in this class we explored many different topics that weren't in your average english class. I enjoyed the different sections about identity, community, and tradition. I also thought it was great that we had two weeks where we were given the opportunity to watch a movie and discuss and analyze it. After taking this English class I feel more educated about the people I am constantly surrounded by. I never stopped to think about the identity of a person or mine for that matter.

My thoughts on identity have grown throughout this quarter tremendously. The different readings and posts from peers made me realized how important one’s identity is. Identity is influenced by so many things such as society, different communities your involved in, and your family. You express it through the clothing you choose to wear, piercings and tattoos, and the communities you are involved with. Without identity people might all be the same and our world wouldn't be very interesting.

Community was another topic we explored. I didn't realize that a community is basically a group of people that have a common interest. A person can be included in so many different communities. When you go to work that is a community or when you go on Face book that's a community. I learned a lot in this section because I knew very little about communities until I realized just how many I was involved with. When I work at the fire house, go to the gym, and even being involved with this online English diversity class have proven to all be communites.
Then there was tradition which I thought was the best one. This was my favorite because most of the traditions I have are with my family. Family is the most important thing in the world to me so the traditions linked to family are just as important. Although I do realize some traditions are being influenced by society so much that the actual tradition is being altered. This section challenged my thinking on the idea behind traditions. In my last essay I wrote about the traditional family dinner being challenged by pop culture and the fad to eating out.

For my first piece of writing I have chosen Essay #3(this may change after being graded and viewing my comments). I feel this essay really demonstrates how much thought I gave the topic. I gave specific examples of how the tradition I chose was being challenged by popular culture.

For my second pieces I chose essay #1. I think my essay on identity has great potential. The first essay is always a warm up for the rest of the quarter so I will be revisiting this one with revisions and changes.

My next piece will be the blog on food and traditions. I feel the audience is clear in my blog posting and I give my opinion on the importance of a traditions and food.

Finally writer’s choice, I chose a timed write. I really enjoyed the intermission week and my chosen movie. I feel this timed write shows the improvements I have made as a writer so I included it.

Even though I struggled in this english class, it was a great learning experience. I learned a significant amount about myself through the topics of identity, community, and tradition. Not only did this class teach me a lot about myself, but it gave me a sense of how different people are and how accepting society can or cannot be.