English 11-58 101

Nicolette Smith
111-58
Reflection
May 5, 2009


My journey through English III
Coming into this section of English, I never thought I would learn the things I
would learn. My first expectation was to take plenty of notes and read plenty of novels or
segments out of novels, but it was quite the contrary. In Mr.Gasparos’ class I believe he
gave us the option of learning as adults and that was the most important thing to me in
the learning process. Everyone was treated equally and I believed he conjured up a learning
plan to fit each and every person’s needs and especially wants. I (believe that a lot of students do
not learn too much from taking notes and Mr.Gasparo stepped out of the “ordinary
teaching box” to actually give the students a hands-on learning experience. Through the song
lyrics of Bruce Springsteen to the previous Student examples, Paul prepared us all in section 58
for all the writing assignment’s that we had to create. The assignments that we had to create, I
admit had caught me off guard because I was not prepared to write detailed papers in a short
amount of time.
Above all, the writing process was a journey. I enjoyed writing and conveying my
emotions into words and phrases. I also enjoyed arguing about a topic, in which I am passionate
about; Hip hop. Going back to our Diagnostic essay, our first assignment I noticed a lot of errors
and detail that I left uncovered. At that point I thought my essay was perfect, which it was not,
but I was very satisfied and comfortable with the structure. Until Paul gave us a chance at the
end of

our learning’s to correct these mistakes, I am glad we had that option. That option made
my time in Paul’s class more enjoyable and meaningful. At the end of this semester we
had an opportunity for extra credit, which was to review the movie; Wolverine, The
Origin. The extra credit paper was the best assignment yet, I had the chance to critic and
review a movie that I would never watch on the normal bases. That was very interesting
to me, I enjoyed watching the movie and giving the proper review. At first I wasn’t into
watching an action film about killing, mutants, and malicious violence. But, by watching
it I had the chance to really learn what it was about. It had an amazing storyline that kept
the viewer interested and Wolverine had an origin, basically a history that would
keep someone such as myself entertained. After doing the movie review, I wondered
why Paul never really gave our class the option to review or critique movies before.
But I noticed throughout the whole semester we were practicing our reviewing techniques
through samples of music, articles, and even YouTube videos. I probably would have
enjoyed reviewing stories and movies over writing essays, but I’m sure anyone would.
The adventure through Paul’s class had me wondering about what we would do next
even though he did a good job preparing us for what was in store by keeping the class’
itinerary up-to date. The structure of the class turned out perfectly despite that I had
a early passing in my family, close to the end of the semester. I had numerous papers
due and the stress of what was at hand, had me feeling overwhelmed and defeated.
Gratefully enough, I pulled it all together and tried to accomplish as much as I can
in a small amount of time. I am now triumphant because I made it through Paul’s
class by the whim of my spirit and I hope I made it through the criteria we all had
to experience. I want to thank Paul for having a understanding and kind soul
and putting up with late papers and absent day’s. Thank you Paul it takes only
a honest and respectable teacher to do all of these things.