Dear Mrs.

Coco,
This course and college in its entirety has seemed to fly by. We are already
halfway through the semester, as Im extremely proud of myself for making it this far.
My proudest moment in English 1001 has been taking the time and effort to analyze my
GAP text. I am very interested in the painting American Gothic. Grant Wood, the artist,
has implemented a strong message in the piece, one that I am extremely intrigued about.
The only problem with the GAP is that I cant seem to formulate my essay as a whole. I
know the bits and pieces that I need for content, but I cant develop/connect them in any
way.
I feel as though my writing quality has improved mildly. By participating fully in
our class revision activities (minus my absence for the GAP revision), I have been able to
get solid feedback from my peers. For example, in the notecard activity for our PLP
Discovery Draft, Fran helped me related my story more to my own personal experiences
rather than solely the book series I was discussing. She gave me numerous helpful hints
for future narrative writings.
My overall writing process has also changed for the better. Prior to entering this
class, I did not do much revision to my writing. In high school, I would simply write a
rough draft, change a few sentences, and then copy the revised rough draft as my final. I
did not use any type of brainstorming process prior to my rough draft writing, nor did I
use notecards. These activities would have been very helpful for my writing process in
high school.
The attitude I had about writing before I took this class was extremely negative. I
had a strong disdain towards analyzing other peoples writings and having to write
rhetorical analysis essays about them. It was extremely pointless, considering my teacher
made us write two to three a week. I was never fully able to discover my writing in any
previous English class. This class is one of my favorites because there is no right or
wrong answer, just discovery.
As it was previously stated, your teaching style has been the most helpful quality
in the classroom. I feel free to write how I really feel, not writing just to get the grade. I
can discover new ways to write, new ways to organize my writing, and helpful hints for
development. Overall, I enjoy the minimal essay writing tat we do. Only writing two
essays, then further developing one of them is an excellent way to keep the class goal of
bettering our writing style alive. I suggest that you keep up your teaching style, for not
only our class, but for many classes to come.
Three personal goals I have set for myself for the remaining half of the semester
are keeping up with my open prompts, brainstorming fully prior to writing my discovery
draft, and trying to give as much helpful feedback as I can to my peers. Keeping up with
my open prompts in my safety goal because I feel as though it is easy to sit down every
Sunday and complete them adequately. Brainstorming fully prior to writing my discovery
draft is my somewhat challenging goal because I am not used to it. This class is helping

me slowly progress in that subject area of the writing process. Trying to give helpful
feedback to my peers I my stretch goal because I usually cant give much helpful
criticism. I typically only give grammatical rebuttal instead of contextual.
The plan I have devised to achieve these goals is to keep up with my work in the
class and turn everything in on time. I feel as though using my time wisely will allow me
to get the full experience of discovery in this class. Your help will also be greatly
appreciated in this path towards my goal. You can assist me by continuing to implement
your current teaching style. It is extremely important in keeping my interest in the class
as well. Also, your sense of understanding is highly honored throughout the process. You
are a very understanding, considerate teacher (I praise you for that). By keeping that up
as well, there is not way that I wont achieve my goal and earn my A in the class.
Your English 1001 Student,
Victoria Tori Kraft