Author: Avery (Page 6 of 6)

Now that we have finished our first English-110 essay and we begin our second one, there are a few things that I want to do better. My first essay was decent but I think it could have flowed and been organized better. I also think that I could have gone more in-depth with certain aspects through my writing. For the second essay, I plan to organize it better so that it flows well. I also want to push myself to do more in-depth into my writing so the reader has a better understanding of my argument.

When/how often are you without a device for a prolonged period? What is the effect on you?

Last April, 2019, I went on a mission trip to an impoverished community in Mississippi. One of the requirements to this trip was that we were not allowed to bring our cell phones with us. Before I went, I thought two weeks without my iPhone was going to be very hard. However once I got there, I was so emerged into the community and helping them that I forgot all about my phone and the need for it. Ever since that trip I have felt less need for my phone. Everyday I spend a certain amount of time without my phone; I spent an hour away from it daily as well as when I am at hockey. I don’t have a hard time letting go of my phone for awhile because the easiest way to let go is by doing something more fun. I like to use my time to go outside or play sports, so, when I am doing those things I don’t feel the need to use my phone. I think if everyone found something that they enjoyed and did that thing without their phones they would be much happier. 

Before English 110, I did not have a lot of experience peer-reviewing as I had stated in my previous blog post. After peer-reviewing my own essay as well as the essays of my classmates, I have figured out many ways I can improve my peer-review skills. In the future, I plan on, while reviewing my own essay, to read it out loud to myself or a friend. To help my other classmates I plan on being more attentive while reading their essays and giving more in-depth feedback than just grammatical corrections. I plan to push my peers more so their work shows how much effort they put into it. By doing these things for myself and my peers, I believe I will become a better peer-reviewer

Before starting at the University of New England, I had done maybe two peer review edits throughout my four years of high school. Due to that I was hesitant to actually peer review. I was worried my classmates would take my comments too harshly. Luckily, they did not nor did I with theirs. I think the peer review benefited me greatly because it allowed me to see things that I may not have seen if I had just reviewed myself. Laura and Renee helped me reorganize my essay, making it flow much better. I would recommend peer reviewing in every class that asks you to write essays! Now that the first edits were made, I am going to reread my essay and make more corrections. After that I will ask others to peer review again! I am really glad we peer reviewed. 

So far in English 110, we have read the introduction of Emerging by Barclay Barrios, Reporting Live from Tomorrow by Daniel Gilbert, The Moral Bucket List by David Brooks (an article), and What Makes a Good Life by Robert Waldinger (a Ted Talk). Through all these pieces we were asked to annotate and reflect. Before English 110, in high school I was always told to annotate and use sticky notes to mark pages. I have brought these concepts with me to English 110 because I feel as though annotating is very important as well as having an exact page number for discussions. Although I already knew the key concepts of annotating before beginning this English class, I believe my skills have evolved. We were given a handout that highlights the best ways to annotate works of literature and I believe it helps to keep you on track and focused. I have used this annotation paper with each piece and used it to broadened my critical thinking and ability to compare and contrast work. I also believe that being given different opinions has helped me create my own. Gilbert’s outlook on happiness is a very dark look compared to the article or the Ted Talk. Being given many different pieces has helped me create an opinion based on ideas from both sides Although my annotation skills have gotten better I still believe they need more work because I tend to stray from the reading and focus on other things around me. I hope after this class I will be able to stay focused on a reading and think more critically about the piece.