Amber Koterba
Sabatino Mangini
March, 16, 2015
Reflective Letter
FINAL DRAFT
Dear Professor Sabatino,
When I was choosing my classes for this semester, I saw Sabatino Mangini and I thought that looked like a pretty interesting name so I chose this class. I came into this class as always, thinking it was going to be a joke like every other english class I have gone into. Boy, was I wrong. Throughout this semester, I feel as though I have picked up a significantly better writing style. The way you have explained everything in this class has helped me out a whole lot. In the end of the semester, we talked a little about citations and different styles of citations. I found that the MLA in text citation worked best for me and really brought my papers together.
We watched a documentary called “Food Matters” towards the middle of the semester. This is about how the foods that we eat affect our body and how the vitamin intake can help nourish our bodies. The arguers in this movie talk about how the government won’t look at how vitamins can cure a number of diseases. This touched me because I have always believe that the government found a cure for cancer, and basically the way we eat and the vitamins we take can cure and prevent any illness’. I believe it’s bullshit that the government won’t try it out.
When I first came into this class and I heard that we were to be graded on our website, it really freaked me out. I am very OCD with things like this, so I had to make sure everything was neat and clean. Knowing that people would be looking at my website at any given time made me realize that everything had to be perfect. Having a website on weebly made me think of Tumblr. Tumblr is a place where you can show your emotions, and that is how I felt about this website. This website also helped me to learn organizational skills, especially with the blogs.
The blogs that had the most impact on me was the reflection blogs. One thing that I learned while taking this course is how to get in touch with my emotions and how to reflect. Reflecting on my weeks throughout these few months had me actually writing in my notebook that I hide underneath of my bed. I always wanted to write in a journal and now I have that going for me all thanks to this class.
While writing my Creative Nonfiction Essay, I felt like it was flowing pretty well and I couldn't stop writing. When I turned in my first rough draft of my essay and you told me that it was a really good first draft overall, I’m not used to professors telling me that. I cannot explain how happy I was when I heard that. I even had my mom reread the final draft of the essay and she said to me, “Wow Amber, I think that this is probably the best essay you have ever let me read.” When writing this essay, I made sure I started it a week before it was due. Every other day after I finished the first draft I made sure I kept rereading it slowly, checking for more mistakes. While I was writing I noticed that my conclusion would work better as my introduction to make the story almost like the movie the hangover, a reflection of the night. I Went back into my body paragraphs and made sure that I had enough telling sections of my paper and that they were in the right place. I also did the same with my descriptions. Then after I checked for grammar mistakes, I made sure I went back and tried to fix my theme. Even now trying to revise my essay for errors, I find it very complicated for me to try to make the theme pop in my Creative Non-fiction and to this day I still cannot figure it out for the life of me.
Writing my I-Search paper was very complicated for me. I always suck at picking topics to write about. Once the paper was assigned, most people had already had their topics and thesis statement picked up and I was still trying to come up with a topic to write about. While everyone was starting their paper, I had finally picked a topic. Yes, I procrastinated a lot while writing this paper, and I completely regret it because had I started it when I was supposed to I probably would have gotten a better grade and had time to get more feedback on it. My first draft was all over the place. It had an entire paragraph that was completely irrelevant to my topic. I took that paragraph out and I elaborated on another topic sentence to make up for the loss of space from that paragraph. I noticed that I had a very good argument in my third body topic sentence. I elaborated on that and added more statistical information throughout the entire paper to my make my argument stronger.
I enjoy your class because you let us write about things that we can relate to. I feel like that’s what writing should be about, connecting to something in your writing. Expanding your mind to something is what it is all about. If I had to define writing I would say it a way to express your emotions. Expressing your emotions is a way to get in tact with your inner self. And how are you going to write a paper if you can’t get in touch with your inner self? My views on writing have changed tremendously throughout this course. I used to think that writing was extremely boring, and I couldn't even look at a pen and paper and write something down. Now, I can freely write about anything that I want and feel great about it.
I realized that the best writing process for me is picking one thing to talk about and expanding on it. That is when my thoughts are the most organized and flows much better when I do more elaboration. I also noticed throughout rereading my writing that when I am writing “showing” scenes that it appears to be very strong and descriptive. Before this class, I never knew how to do that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with making my writing flow with a focus and writing conclusions. That is something I have always had struggles with.
Your class taught me more then any other English class I have taken. I learned multiple new skills, some of which I will be using throughout my journey in college. Thank you for everything you taught me.
Sincerly,
Amber Koterba
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST DRAFT
Amber Koterba
Sabatino Mangini
March, 16, 2015
Reflective Letter
Dear Professor Sabatino,
When I was choosing my classes for this semester, I saw Sabatino Mangini and I thought that looked like a pretty interesting name so I chose this class. I came into this class as always, thinking it was going to be a joke like every other english class I have gone into. Boy, was I wrong. Throughout this semester, I feel as though I have picked up a significantly better writing style. The way you have explained everything in this class has helped me out a whole lot.
While writing my Creative Nonfiction Essay, I felt like it was flowing pretty well and I couldn't stop writing. When I turned in my first rough draft of my essay and you told me that it was a really good first draft overall, I’m not used to professors telling me that. I cannot explain how happy I was when I heard that. I even had my mom reread the final draft of the essay and she said to me, “Wow Amber, I think that this is probably the best essay you have ever let me read.” When writing this essay, I made sure I started it a week before it was due. Every other day after I finished the first draft I made sure I kept rereading it slowly, checking for more mistakes. Then after I checked for grammar mistakes, I made sure I went back and tried to fix my theme. Even now trying to revise my essay for errors, I find it very complicated for me to try to make the theme pop in my Creative Non-fiction.
I enjoy your class because you let us write about things that we can relate to. I feel like that’s what writing should be about, connecting to something in your writing. Expanding your mind to something is what it is all about.
I realized that the best writing process for me is picking one thing to talk about and expanding on it. That is when my thoughts are the most organized and flows much better when I do more elaboration. I also noticed throughout rereading my writing that when I am writing “showing” scenes that it appears to be very strong and descriptive. Before this class, I never knew how to do that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with making my writing flow with a focus and writing conclusions. That is something I have always had struggles with.
I look forward to learning new things in your class and I also look forward to seeing how you help me improve my writing even more.
Sincerly,
Amber Koterba
Sabatino Mangini
March, 16, 2015
Reflective Letter
FINAL DRAFT
Dear Professor Sabatino,
When I was choosing my classes for this semester, I saw Sabatino Mangini and I thought that looked like a pretty interesting name so I chose this class. I came into this class as always, thinking it was going to be a joke like every other english class I have gone into. Boy, was I wrong. Throughout this semester, I feel as though I have picked up a significantly better writing style. The way you have explained everything in this class has helped me out a whole lot. In the end of the semester, we talked a little about citations and different styles of citations. I found that the MLA in text citation worked best for me and really brought my papers together.
We watched a documentary called “Food Matters” towards the middle of the semester. This is about how the foods that we eat affect our body and how the vitamin intake can help nourish our bodies. The arguers in this movie talk about how the government won’t look at how vitamins can cure a number of diseases. This touched me because I have always believe that the government found a cure for cancer, and basically the way we eat and the vitamins we take can cure and prevent any illness’. I believe it’s bullshit that the government won’t try it out.
When I first came into this class and I heard that we were to be graded on our website, it really freaked me out. I am very OCD with things like this, so I had to make sure everything was neat and clean. Knowing that people would be looking at my website at any given time made me realize that everything had to be perfect. Having a website on weebly made me think of Tumblr. Tumblr is a place where you can show your emotions, and that is how I felt about this website. This website also helped me to learn organizational skills, especially with the blogs.
The blogs that had the most impact on me was the reflection blogs. One thing that I learned while taking this course is how to get in touch with my emotions and how to reflect. Reflecting on my weeks throughout these few months had me actually writing in my notebook that I hide underneath of my bed. I always wanted to write in a journal and now I have that going for me all thanks to this class.
While writing my Creative Nonfiction Essay, I felt like it was flowing pretty well and I couldn't stop writing. When I turned in my first rough draft of my essay and you told me that it was a really good first draft overall, I’m not used to professors telling me that. I cannot explain how happy I was when I heard that. I even had my mom reread the final draft of the essay and she said to me, “Wow Amber, I think that this is probably the best essay you have ever let me read.” When writing this essay, I made sure I started it a week before it was due. Every other day after I finished the first draft I made sure I kept rereading it slowly, checking for more mistakes. While I was writing I noticed that my conclusion would work better as my introduction to make the story almost like the movie the hangover, a reflection of the night. I Went back into my body paragraphs and made sure that I had enough telling sections of my paper and that they were in the right place. I also did the same with my descriptions. Then after I checked for grammar mistakes, I made sure I went back and tried to fix my theme. Even now trying to revise my essay for errors, I find it very complicated for me to try to make the theme pop in my Creative Non-fiction and to this day I still cannot figure it out for the life of me.
Writing my I-Search paper was very complicated for me. I always suck at picking topics to write about. Once the paper was assigned, most people had already had their topics and thesis statement picked up and I was still trying to come up with a topic to write about. While everyone was starting their paper, I had finally picked a topic. Yes, I procrastinated a lot while writing this paper, and I completely regret it because had I started it when I was supposed to I probably would have gotten a better grade and had time to get more feedback on it. My first draft was all over the place. It had an entire paragraph that was completely irrelevant to my topic. I took that paragraph out and I elaborated on another topic sentence to make up for the loss of space from that paragraph. I noticed that I had a very good argument in my third body topic sentence. I elaborated on that and added more statistical information throughout the entire paper to my make my argument stronger.
I enjoy your class because you let us write about things that we can relate to. I feel like that’s what writing should be about, connecting to something in your writing. Expanding your mind to something is what it is all about. If I had to define writing I would say it a way to express your emotions. Expressing your emotions is a way to get in tact with your inner self. And how are you going to write a paper if you can’t get in touch with your inner self? My views on writing have changed tremendously throughout this course. I used to think that writing was extremely boring, and I couldn't even look at a pen and paper and write something down. Now, I can freely write about anything that I want and feel great about it.
I realized that the best writing process for me is picking one thing to talk about and expanding on it. That is when my thoughts are the most organized and flows much better when I do more elaboration. I also noticed throughout rereading my writing that when I am writing “showing” scenes that it appears to be very strong and descriptive. Before this class, I never knew how to do that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with making my writing flow with a focus and writing conclusions. That is something I have always had struggles with.
Your class taught me more then any other English class I have taken. I learned multiple new skills, some of which I will be using throughout my journey in college. Thank you for everything you taught me.
Sincerly,
Amber Koterba
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST DRAFT
Amber Koterba
Sabatino Mangini
March, 16, 2015
Reflective Letter
Dear Professor Sabatino,
When I was choosing my classes for this semester, I saw Sabatino Mangini and I thought that looked like a pretty interesting name so I chose this class. I came into this class as always, thinking it was going to be a joke like every other english class I have gone into. Boy, was I wrong. Throughout this semester, I feel as though I have picked up a significantly better writing style. The way you have explained everything in this class has helped me out a whole lot.
While writing my Creative Nonfiction Essay, I felt like it was flowing pretty well and I couldn't stop writing. When I turned in my first rough draft of my essay and you told me that it was a really good first draft overall, I’m not used to professors telling me that. I cannot explain how happy I was when I heard that. I even had my mom reread the final draft of the essay and she said to me, “Wow Amber, I think that this is probably the best essay you have ever let me read.” When writing this essay, I made sure I started it a week before it was due. Every other day after I finished the first draft I made sure I kept rereading it slowly, checking for more mistakes. Then after I checked for grammar mistakes, I made sure I went back and tried to fix my theme. Even now trying to revise my essay for errors, I find it very complicated for me to try to make the theme pop in my Creative Non-fiction.
I enjoy your class because you let us write about things that we can relate to. I feel like that’s what writing should be about, connecting to something in your writing. Expanding your mind to something is what it is all about.
I realized that the best writing process for me is picking one thing to talk about and expanding on it. That is when my thoughts are the most organized and flows much better when I do more elaboration. I also noticed throughout rereading my writing that when I am writing “showing” scenes that it appears to be very strong and descriptive. Before this class, I never knew how to do that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with making my writing flow with a focus and writing conclusions. That is something I have always had struggles with.
I look forward to learning new things in your class and I also look forward to seeing how you help me improve my writing even more.
Sincerly,
Amber Koterba