Hernandez 1

Nolan Hernandez

Rosario Jarrell

English 1301-211

03 May 2024

Final Reflection Essay

As the end of the semester came, my emotions and thoughts poured out, and I was

shocked to see the amount of progress I had made during this semester. This journey of mine has

been a mixture of emotions from not knowing how to begin essays, and struggling to write

efficiently. However, with the help of Ms. Jarrell, I have found many ways and rituals to help me

start essays, such as free writing, creating an outline, and creating bubble charts. Ms. Jarrell has

inspired me to continue to grow in my writing skills since I will be creating essays for my future

classes in college. Ms. Jarrell has presented me with a massive amount of help ranging from

PowerPoints, in-class assignments in groups, and creating conferences with each student to speak

with us one-on-one.

As I was getting ready to start a fresh new semester, I was coming in with a mindset of

failure. English has never been my strongest subject in school, and I have always dreaded doing

essays, just the thought of them had me weak in my knees. However, as the semester progressed

and Ms. Jarrell dived deep into the material of college English, I realized something had changed

about me. English 1301 isn’t just about writing essays, it’s about learning the little minute details

that are hidden in the semester. Some valuable ways that Ms. Jarrell helped me break the

unlovable trait of English was through the help of my peers, homework, in-class assignments,

PowerPoint presentations, and conferences. Being able to overcome fears like communicating

with others, has helped me be more open when it comes to writing. Having multiple ideas
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roaming around my head helps me be calm when writing. Being more relaxed will help when

writing any type of essay, all of the ideas will flow.

During the first week of classes, I was nervous about coming into English class. I knew

that I had to write multiple essays and meet new people for the first time. Dreading the feeling of

turning in horrible essays, Ms. Jarrell made the class do an assignment called “Shitty first drafts”.

The assignment is about how writers feel before and after completing a first draft. Not all drafts

will be perfect at the beginning, every good writer that comes to mind has also written a bad first

draft. I was also nervous to turn in my first draft during the semester, but reading the article has

opened my mind up more to writing whatever comes to mind and fixing up the tiny mistakes I

made during the first draft. Creating a “Shitty first draft” can help improve any writer's essay.

Looking back at the very first draft I wrote and the most recent one, I can see the amount of

improvement I have made. It’s amazing to see how far I’ve come as a writer, I want to keep on

growing as a writer because Ms. Jarrell opened my heart to English.

Submitting my first draft always had me on my toes, and I wanted to see the feedback

that Ms. Jarrell would give me. For each essay, I would check on the feedback to see what I need

to improve on. Each time, I would see Ms. Jarrell's notes and say that I have fragments, run-ons,

and comma splices. Since English has never been my strongest subject, I have always had a hard

time spotting the different fragments or comma splices I put in my essay. I knew my peers

around me in my class could spot the difference, but I was too embarrassed to step up and ask

Ms. Jarrell if she could explain and help me spot the difference to stop creating the same

mistakes in my essays. I never got the courage to ask Ms. Jarrell for help, but since some of my

peers had the same problem as me, she created a PowerPoint that would help me until the day I
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graduated from college. The PowerPoint was short but had details that would myself and my

peers create essays up to our academic level.

After taking in some information from Ms. Jarrell, who had taught me at the start of the

semester, I created my first draft. Looking back at it I was surprised at how badly I wrote, it

made me change my mindset, and I focused on learning to become a more skillful writer. There

are many other ways I have learned from writing essays, Ms. Jarrell created a unique way to get

feedback from not just her but also from my peers. It was an amazing way to see how my

classmates write and learn new ideas on how to start an essay. At first, I was not a fan of peer

review because I did not like others reading my essays and criticizing my work. I felt

embarrassed about what others thought of my work and how horrible my writing was, but after

looking at the comments my peers left me, I felt a wave of chills hit my spine. I knew that my

essays could transform and improve in each unit. After the first peer review workshop, I wanted

to work hard to leave an impression on my essays to my peers and Ms. Jarrell and show the

progress I had made in the last essay. During each of the workshops, I was anxious to see the

comments I got from my peers.

Getting feedback from my peers has opened my mind to many ideas that I would not

have thought about. Not only did Ms. Jarrell set a peer review workshop for the students for each

essay, but she also went above and beyond to help me and my peers in one-on-one conferences.

The conferences were only a short amount of time, like 10-15 minutes, each student would pick a

time that was available to their time schedule. I was nervous about entering my first conferences

since I knew all my first drafts would be horrible. When I entered my first conference, Ms.

Jarrell helped me calm my nerves and got straight to the point. I enjoyed the one-on-one sessions

Ms. Jarrell created; they have helped me see outside the box when starting or creating essays
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from the beginning. For each of the conferences I went to, I walked into the class knowing I was

getting massive help and becoming a better writer. Ms. Jarrell has helped me with every single

essay I did during the course of the semester, she has helped me figure out the small things I

struggle with in my essays. I will never forget each of the conferences as they helped me

progress through my journey in English 1301.

Throughout my life, I have never been a huge fan of reading books and writing essays or

any small paragraphs. When I was smaller, my elementary teacher made me read a lot since AR

points were massive back in they day. As I grew older, reading fell off for me, as if I would not

do it daily, but there was one assignment Ms. Jarrell had an assignment called “The Joy of

Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.”. This small story made me realize reading can contain

hidden messages, like an easter egg. Any book can contain a hidden message like a novel, comic

book, or even a kids' book, reading along and seeing the unique parts of each book can be

peaceful at times. I started to read more books as it passes by time for me and limited the use of

technology. I would encourage everyone to read a book, it can be any book, either long or short

as it resets and relaxes the mind with less stress that going on in the world.

Procrastination has been a big problem and role factor I had during this semester. It’s

been a terrible habit of mine, and I want to go past that bad habit. I want to move on from that

stage of my life and turn in assignments on time to relieve some stress on my shoulders. Ms.

Jarrell has helped me become a better student, with the help of an assignment that she posted

called “Critic’s Notebook: Struggling to Crack Writer’s Block.” This assignment has helped me

change as a person, as it talks about creating rituals to stop procrastinating and do the task on

time. I had always made terrible choices during this semester, and I wish I could go back and

change them, but all of the choices that I made have made me grow into a new person. I have
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now learned to start things on time and get the job done to have the rest of the day to myself. I

also found that different work environments can have an effect on the way I work. I have noticed

it as I’m less active when doing work at home because of the number of distractions I get when

I'm doing homework. I have changed the place where I work, and now I stay longer on campus

as the environment there is peaceful and quiet, which lets me focus on the assignment and get it

done quickly with no distractions.

Creating fun ways for students to learn will always catch my attention. Ms. Jarrell created

fun ways that helped me through my journey in English 1301. Learning Ethos, Pathos, and

Logos can be less interesting topics for myself and other students, but Ms. Jarrell came up with a

way to get all of my peers and me to get active during the topic at hand. She created a role-play

environment that had me and my peers thinking of scenarios to complete the task. This activity

helped me understand more in-depth of Ethos, Pathos, and, Logos. The activity had me thinking

of different ways to complete and finish the scenario Ms. Jarrell had put us in. Learning through

fun activities helps me understand more about how to use ethos, pathos, and logos when writing

an essay. Ms. Jarrell wants her students to learn, she cares about how she teaches and if it has an

impact on my peers and me, and she has empowered me to learn more as a writer.

As I look back on my journey through English 1301, I realize that I have accomplished a

big goal of mine. I am loss for words as I see the progress and growth Ms. Jarrell and my peers

have helped me and my adventure in becoming a better writer. Evolving from a person who did

not enjoy English into someone who realizes reading a book or writing an essay is not so bad. I

enjoyed learning so much from Ms. Jarrell, she has taught me and my peers how to be

outstanding writers. I am grateful to have English 1301 with Ms. Jarrell, I never knew how much

a professor can impact my life.

Work Cited

Hernandez, Nolan. “The Joy of Reading and Writing.” ENGL 1301: College Composition I,

Texas A&M International University, 2024.

Hernandez, Nolan. “Critic’s Notebook: Struggling to Crack Writer’s Block.” ENGL 1301:

College Composition I, Texas A&M International University, 2024.

Hernandez, Nolan. “Shitty First Drafts.” ENGL 1301: College Composition I, Texas A&M

International University, 2024.

Hernandez, Nolan. “Essay 1 Genre Analysis: The Wounded Warrior Project.” 18 February.

2024. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, student paper.