English 111: A Course in Life

Taking English 111 with Professor Paul Gasparo was certainly an interesting experience. I learned important things to help me become a better writer, but more importantly I learned more about myself than I ever expected to. His teaching methods while they may have seemed unorthodox were very helpful for my learning process. The way in which he presented information created a different pattern of thinking for me. His course was not easy, there was a great amount of reading assigned, but even though it was a lot, everything he assigned was something that will be useful at some point during my life. Everything we talked about in class had some sort of possible application for our careers as students, or just for life in general.

While there were not many written assignments, the ones that were assigned were rather enjoyable. My two favorite assignments were the Diagnostic essay where we were given a choice of three personally reflective prompts, and the Rhetorical Analysis essay, where we were required to analyze the process through which we became the person we currently are. I enjoy reflective essays because I love to tell stories and in these two essays I was given the opportunity to do so. Our other major assignment was our Research Argument Paper, in which we wrote a paper about a specific topic, in an attempt to make people see our point of view, and take it as their own. Through the process of writing the Argument Paper I learned how to properly research a subject, and maintain objectivity while still making my point the most prominent in the paper and giving it the most weight. Overall I enjoyed working on all of the assignments for this class, while it may have been stressful due to my own lack of planning I did enjoy them.

The in class activities while sometimes slightly drawn-out were always helpful. Class discussions were always fun, and usually constructive, and watching films to discuss the merit that they held, did nothing but fuel those discussions to keep them going for weeks. The joy of the class discussions came partly from the topics, we discussed everything, from health reform, to the writing process, to why things in the world have happened the way have. Most of the enjoyment that came out of the class discussions came from the thought provoking questions presented both by the professor, and by the rest of the class. Questions about what is it that defines good writing, and what can turn good writing into great writing were constantly on the discussion table during these class discussions. The ability of our professor to play referee, and keep calm discussions from turning into heated debates played a key role in the learning process for all of the students in our class. Had these discussions gotten out of hand, none of the important things which were curriculum standards would have ever been covered.

It was through the reflective assignments and the class discussions that I was able to discover more about myself. I have learned that my creativity is not always birthed out of positive circumstances, but that despite this fact, my most well written pieces are written out of a place of joy and happiness. I learned that I am the only one who can fix my writing style, and that in order to do so I must take the advice of my peers, and my professors. Learning is a process that should never end, and I will use all of the things I have learned in this class in order to continue learning more throughout the rest of my life.