Alas, My First English Class

English 103 was my first English class as a college student. At first, I was prepared for a grueling semester with many papers and lots of critical analysis on novels and essays. I was prepared for the type of English class that I had in high school. Instead, I felt I was not being challenged as much as I thought I would be in college. I felt like the work was beneath me and I feel that is the reason I did not consider this class my top priority. I also was really disappointed when I could not read my scary Halloween story (it was an epic poem.) I think I would have enjoyed having an English class that did not just focus on papers, but also had some discussion. I felt like most of the class just sat there and did not engage, and to me that was very disappointing. Hearing my classmate’s views on subjects and knowing what my peers were taking out of the assignments would have brought us closer as a class, and would have improved the overall environment. Not to say that Ms. Britenburg did not try to break us out of our silence, it was just that only some people would always speak up in the beginning and that made it hard to get to know one another. A suggestion I would make for breaking this silence would have been to have us all read our papers in a circle and make everyone ask at least one question about another person. I think this would have allowed us to get to know one another and it would have created a closer and friendlier environment.

            Of course, I did not dislike everything about the class. Although we had a very rough and quiet start, after a while more people gained the confidence to speak up. The atmosphere changed and the tension in the room dwindled. I was always really excited to get a new paper assignment. I thought the assignments were creative and I felt like I finally had the option to write about anything I wanted. I especially liked the multimedia project; it let us explore other ways to get our arguments across, instead of just in essay form. I really liked the assignment at the beginning of the year as well. It made me rethink my Facebook page and since then I have tried to make an effort to occasionally have a funny status letting people know that I am still alive. Having Ms. Britenburg as a teacher also made it easier to get through the class, she always had really funny power points and a fresh outlook on life. Even if it was not her day, she came into class and was determined to let it not affect her teaching style.

            If I am going to take anything away from my first English class as a college student, it would be the art of writing a thesis. I have learned so much about one sentence that I could create a whole paper just on that. I also learned that going to the writing center and asking for help is not because you are admitting defeat, but because you are in need of a fresh outlook on a paper that you have spent six hours staring at. I am glad that I had Ms. Britenburg for a teacher, and that English 103 was my first college English class.