One last reflection.....

 A Time to Reflect and Move Forward

                Anytime you are trying to improve yourself, it will be challenging.  Most people I have meet this semester at Pulaski Tech are juggling school, work, family, life in general and the new normal due to Covid. I had no idea what life changing events I would experience within a semester.  I had no idea how English Composition would be a welcomed distraction and provide tools to move forward.

                I have enjoyed and utilized the Labor Log spreadsheet.  Keeping track of how many minutes you spend with each task, makes you aware that it really doesn’t take that long.  Those minutes spent on college work is changing your life.  Most of my time was spent late at night, while the house is a little less busy. Sometimes. It helps you balance work life, home life and school life. My graphs ended though after week 11 so not sure how I measured up the rest of the time. If I would have included personal moments on the spreadsheet it would have included: Lost a friend to cancer, buried my Army Veteran step-dad, gained a daughter, lost a brother for the daughter and learned how cruel a person can be when jealous. I’m still here though, so I keep moving forward and keep filling out the log.

                Making lists and checking them twice is very important.  I mean, if Santa does it and can get around in one night, it can help a person write a paper.  Going by a brainstorming list keeps you focused on the items you want to cover.  My favorite part of lists is, marking things off of it! It is so satisfying! If you go get groceries and don’t make a list, you are sure to get off task. Same goes for writing a paper.

                Once you have your list, you can make an outline of what you want to cover and when.  You might want to cover the topic from the end back to the beginning to mix it up a little bit! Starting from the middle and working your way back around works too! I sit in on all of our audits at work.  When an audit is planned, we are always provided an outline of what will be covered in the audit and at what time.  Having experience with those outlines within the course of my work, makes me realize even more that you just never know how a course is going to help you later.  I just became an auditor myself so I will be creating my own outline agendas. Pray for me!

                Ms. D should get an award for her feedback on papers.  I can hear lots of patience in that audio feedback.  I’m so thankful for the review by Ms. D and the other students.  It really does help to get a fresh set of eyes on your work.  You can look over it again and again and not see what they see. I certainly would not have done as well as I did without the knowledge of others.  I sincerely appreciate the time that was taken to read over my work and tell me what to do over! Reviewing others work is easy and hard for me.  One of my jobs, within my position at work, is document control.  I’m always telling people what to fix.  For school though, it seems different.  I don’t like for it to seems like they did not do a good job but I keep in mind…they might work for us some day!

                My husband is my biggest cheerleader in everything I do.  Luckily for me, he likes for me to read to him. I would read my papers to him out loud and he would tell me if it made any sense or not.  He actually told me that he learned a lot within my last paper so that is a win WIN! Each time I was writing, I was writing with him in mind.  He is a guy that works in the technology world, so if my work could move him, it should move others.

                Getting back into blogging was fun.  I was really into blogging until I met Facebook.  Blogging is so good to just type all your thoughts out, post pictures and receive back comments.  Covid has kept us all a part so much the past 2 years that it is nice to share on a blog what you have been working on. Sharing our work on the blog can help others when that want to learn more about taking an English Comp class.

                I’ll be honest, my thesis, introduction and conclusion writing needs a lot of work.  I certainly believe that this semester has provided me with all of the tools to learn these skills.  I just did not have the brain power to completely wrap my mind around it.  I’m sure that will be a reoccurring task to fine tune in Comp 2 and beyond. 

                Using many sources for your papers is important.  This gives you the opportunity to get different points of view and writing styles.  Gaining your research from different time periods can provide certain insights as well…could just throw you waaaay off too so be careful. Providing a Works Cited page helps you stay organized and keeps you in check! Can’t just keep saying “Hey Google”!  Lots of people are writing in blogs and legit publications.  You must make sure that you know is it a credible writing supported with facts.

                Learning the correct formatting for your paper is 100% a must.  If your formatting is off…so is your grade.  Make sure to know what is expected of you up front and follow through.  Different teachers and bosses expect certain formats.  If you are not sure or don’t remember, just ask. Working with MLA 8 format has been a learning experience that I will use in my other classes and work.

          In conclusion. I’m sure you are not super excited for my conclusion since I said I know I need work in that area but here it goes….In conclusion. This has been by far the most challenging 4 months of my life.  In between all my life events, I have kept going.  I have logged in and got my work done, and not just halfway I have tried hard. This class has truly been a saving grace. It has given me new skills to put into practice right away within my current position and will no doubt, provide me opportunities for advancement.  I just need to fine tune everything learned by using and not losing.  Thank you for proving us with different tools, methods to keep it interesting and lots of patience.  

Checklist of the journey provided by Ms. D:

• ·         managing your time
• ·         brainstorming with webs, doodling, lists
• ·         generating ideas from brainstorming by reading, writing, discussing with others
• ·         organizing ideas with outlines
• ·         revising your writing from suggestions given in my feedback
• ·         proofreading and revising your own work with a variety of techniques (reading it aloud, looking for specific things each time, etc.)
• ·         paying attention to the audience (who you are writing for) Are you writing for your peers, your grandmother, your English teacher, etc.? How would these be different?
• ·         learning how to review the work of others, giving constructive feedback
• ·         creating a blog to showcase your work and ideas
• ·         using a blog to reflect upon your work
• ·         writing strong thesis statement
• ·         writing strong introductions and conclusions
• ·         considering “high and low order concerns”
• ·         using good transitions
• ·         research using a variety of sources
• ·         citing sources in Works Cited page and in the text
• ·         learning how to paraphrase and summarize
• ·         how to find a credible source
• ·         formatting a proposal
• ·         MLA 8 formatting
• ·         using databases
• ·         creating an annotated bibliography
• ·         writing a review