Final Reflection

ENGL 1117 Reflection

Whew! Finally done with English 1117! Overall, I did quite well in the class. I was very much engaged right from the beginning, but that may be due to English being one of my favorite topics in school. Overall, the class was very engaging. However, there were some issues I struggled with. I’ve mentioned them in my “Finale Ultimo” blog post, but for those that didn’t read it, they are timing, myself not doing too well in online school, and how I view homework. I’ve never done too well in online school, primarily due to motivation. I just can’t get motivated enough to actually do online school, which made homework a pain in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I also view homework and schoolwork as two separate things, schoolwork being done at school, and homework being done at home. So, when I am assigned an assignment in class, my mind automatically thinks it is schoolwork. Lastly, the timing just wasn’t exactly the greatest. Between everything that’s happened in the world, it just didn’t feel like I had enough time to get all my work in. I put in the effort, of course, but it also didn’t help that I started up a job online that also has weekly tasks that I must get done on a week-by-week basis. Now, with these challenges, it required me to approach things differently. For example, I had to have a forced lesson in prioritization, as I had to decide what needed to get done first, then focus on my other subjects in order of importance. However, performance-wise, overall, I did well.

While I did have strong reading and writing skills before starting this class, since I always have, the class did help me socialize more through our workshops in class, as I’m normally an introvert.

An area I feel more confident about at the end of this class is, without a doubt, writing in more detail. Before starting this class, I struggled writing out a paragraph beyond 5-6 sentences. I think the biggest example of this was in my “Mentor Blogs” post, especially in the section regarding PCGamer. Here is a small snippet: “Lastly, we have PC Gamer. I used them a lot for mod listings to one of my favorite video games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, specifically, their top ten listings. In fact, I’ve even installed mods that I normally wouldn’t install just because PCGamer made them sound cool! For example, the mod “Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul” overhauls the game to make it more challenging and deadly”( https://gamersuinte.game.blog/2020/04/07/mentor-blogs/).

My proudest moment was when writing my Blogosphere assignment, especially since I got to explore both sides of the “video games are bad for you” argument. Yes, there are bad video games out there, but there are also good ones as well. Here is a couple of paragraphs that I feel best show this. According to an article posted to the website Atlanta Blackstar by Ricky Riley, there are a multitude of video games that portray offensive stereotypes. One of the examples Riley gives is Grand Theft Auto, which we all have seen. This stereotype is that African Americans are more criminally inclined than white people. According to Riley, “For example, Grand Theft Auto has many gangsters, thugs, and hookers. White video gamers may see that white characters are doing the same exact thing as Black ones, but they still hold the white ones in higher regard.”

However, not all video games are bad. In fact, there are some video games that encourage more positive traits, traits such as kindness, love, and friendship. A key example of this is the Kingdom Hearts series. One of the recurrent themes is that our friends help us be who we are. One of the most commonly spoken lines is “My friends are my power.” It goes even beyond that. The first video games series I truly got into was Kingdom Hearts and I have learned far more about friendships from the series than I have in real life(https://gamersuinte.game.blog/2020/02/18/imagining-the-blogosphere-assignment/).

Overall, I’ve learned quite a bit from English 1117. These include, being myself while writing, learning to lean on others for help, and, how to structure my paragraphs and word choice to have a better impact on the reader. Through being myself, I can show a side of myself that not many people would see normally. Through leaning on others for help, I can ask for guidance when I need it. And by structuring my paragraphs and choice of words properly, I can instill a more emotional response in the reader, all while showing them who I am. I will continue to use these lessons throughout my life, even in my job as a quest writer, something that is already starting to show. I wanted to thank everyone for being with me throughout this course, including Bonnie, for putting up with my endless questions and emails, haha. It’s been fun, and I will miss all of my classmates and new friends that I’ve made. Thank you everyone, it’s been quite the journey.