Morales 1

Mark Morales
Professor Batty
English 114A
14 December 2014
Reflection
My first semester in college was a very different experience then I had imagined.
The time you think you have to do something is actually a much smaller window. In
Professor Battys class I saw a new dynamic of teaching, one were experience is not
something that was earned long ago, like all of my grade school teachers. Having a
professor that understands the mind set of a student and also can share her experiences
with the struggles of writing and rewriting, gave me a sense of realism. The comments I
received on my skills in particular, as frustrating as it maybe at times, are honest.
When I write, I tend to over think my point until I end up writing about something
completely different. I do have grammar mistake; I also have a small problem with
misspelling easily spelled words, or not always putting then in the correct tense, but my
biggest problem I think was getting off topic, or not elaborating enough on my primary
topic.
In my last two essays, from Progressions B and C, my theses were both marked
down. One because using a fact has no argument, and the other because my thesis was on
a wider problem; the prompt asked to focus on one particular piece of evidence for that
problem. In hindsight, after revisiting my essays, I do not always understand why I have
so much trouble explaining myself. So after revising, it looks like making more roughdrafts would be helpful for me. In class we are taught different steps to writing, and the

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different type of ways to get thoughts out of ones head with free-writes, bubble map,
clusters, outlines. I use all those techniques, but I think if I write more, ill be able to be
more agile with my writing.
As I continue with my education, advanced writing will have to become second
nature to me. This class I am in, English 114, is a message from the university telling me
I have to pay more attention to my weakness in English. The only things I can get myself
to read are comic books; majoring in television production, comics are not going to get
me anywhere. So learning to change the literature I base my mind off of I feel will be a
necessary step if I am going to improve my English comprehension skills.
Aside from writing and reading, I did learn a little about looking deeper when it
comes to visuals. In class we looked a multiple picture, many of them can be seen in
everyday life; most of the time one can look at these pictures at a glance and continue on
their day without giving it a second thought. Having spent a few hours overall looking at
pictures I found the great link between art and language. A color car represent a whole
realm of interpretations, exactly how words can do the same. Art and language are
thinking tools. They steer us in the mindset of the author or artist. Lets take for example a
painting we looked at where a farmer stood near a barn filled with animals while just out
side their reach is a cat being playfully petted on the head; as the farmer, with a bloody
apron, has his large knife pointed at the farm animals. This picture was then related to the
chapters we were reading from the book some we Love, Some we Hate, Some we Eat, by
Hal Herzog. In class I made a comment that the animals we love we treat as children or
family, like the cat; the ones we hate are nowhere to be seen, and the ones we eat are in
the painting, they are the farm animals that are all facing the knife. This thought just

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occurred to me; maybe the artist is suggesting people consider the farm animals
Halflings, because only half their bodies are in the frame.
Since my orientation we have been told to start looking at the world out side the
box. To rethink what I think I know, and to learn of what I have never thought of before.
Ultimately, no matter how flawed my English skill can be, for me this class was more
about getting out of the rhythm I am accustomed to, and open my eyes to see what is
really happening behind the glamour of a pretty face, like ads of today or looking a the
contradictions of human activity that claims to be for the greater good.