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1. During the semester, I was a present part of the class discussions. Some days I talked more than others, but I always contributed to the large discussions we had as a class and the smaller group discussions as well. I gave my opinion and interpretations about the texts we read and also tried to give thoughtful responses to the comments of other students who were part of the discussion.

I also gave my thoughts to my partners during the discussions of our essays each week. Every time except for once I was able to read their papers before class so I could give advice about their writing or just tell them what I got out of their essays (if I wasn’t sure what advice to give). These one on one discussions about my writing and my partners writing during class were very helpful and reading their papers helped me be able to read my own papers better. I found that I am now more able to step back from my writing and analyze it from a more distant perspective.

2. I enjoyed the activities that we did outside of class and felt that I got a lot out of them. The field trips were especially educational and I learned a lot during out trip to Herriton House and our geological tour, and the botanical tour that the other class gave us. I have always learned better by doing something as opposed to reading things or listening to lectures. I could also see how I progressed during my site sits. The first few site sits I was a little uncomfortable and self-conscious that people might wonder what I was doing just sitting outside alone. This self-consciousness seemed to gradually subside with each sit.

Looking back, I realize that I enjoyed most of the reading we did from this course and learned from pretty much all of them whether I agreed with the author’s argument or not. I especially liked William’s book An Unspoken Hunger. Reading her stories got my to think about my own relationship with nature but also how different types of literature are used to give messages. William’s stories were sometimes fiction and were mostly personal narratives and I was still able to see the argument she was trying to make. I feel like I am better at not only analyzing the content of texts, but after this class I also can analyze the style of the writer and how they wrote to their audience.

3.  I think that my writing has really improved over the last few weeks of the class the most. A major change for me has been the revision of papers. I used to think of rough drafts as simply editing the first draft; now I know, however, that I can take the best ideas from my first draft and write a completely different, better thought out paper from them. Or (as I did with my 9th and 10th papers) I may realize that I don’t agree with the first paper and write the next draft using the first draft’s ideas to explain why they don’t work. This has really increased the fluidity of my thought process and led to deeper and more thoughtful paper topics that I also tend to be more excited about writing.