HENRY FORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
So far, college has been one of my favorite life experiences, even though I started off in a rocky place. My mom was a teacher in a school district that allowed teachers and their dependents to attend Henry Ford Community College at no cost. My parents gave me no choice, and told me that my only option was to attend HFCC. While I understand their reasoning for insisting now, I was very angry at the time. My brother had been allowed to come to Western, while I did not apply to a single university throughout my senior year because I knew that it would be useless.
HFCC turned out to be a great place for me, however. I had no idea what I wanted to do in life, and the free tuition was a nice bonus. In my two years at HFCC, I went from a nursing to education to culinary major, and I still wasn't sure where to go. My free tuition enabled me to experiment with majors and classes that I might not have taken otherwise.
My first college writing experience was being part of Dr. Christine Briggs' online English 131 class. I was in shock at what I saw when using the discussion boards to communicate with the rest of the class. Quite honestly, many of my peers were absolutely terrible writers. I looked back on my high school experience and mentally thanked all of my teachers for not allowing their students to slip through the cracks so badly.
Even though the class was online, I felt as if I actually knew Dr. Briggs. She was so incredibly friendly and passionate, and she somehow managed to connect with her students in a meaningful way, even if there was a computer screen barrier. Dr. Briggs had us submit our papers online, and she obviously took great care to leave comments that would make students better writers. She had a keen ability to notice patterns in my writing that needed improvement, and she actively worked with me to ensure that I was understanding the changes that needed to be made. Dr. Briggs has had the greatest impact on my life out of all the professors I have had.
In my sophomore year of college, I entered a Creative Writing class. I have always loved to write for pleasure, but college seemed to take away any time I had to do so. The professor was zany and fun, but she seemed a bit out of touch. At the time, I was only a year removed from a tragic death in the family that had completely altered my perception of life and death. Since I had so much going through my mind, I didn't feel ready to pour out my thoughts and emotions on paper. I didn't get much out of the class largely because of my personal issues. I would probably enjoy the experience much more if I am ever able to take a similar class.
Due to a glowing recommendation from Dr. Briggs, I applied to become an English tutor at the Learning Lab. I started working in the Learning Lab in the winter semester of my sophomore year, and I learned so much about the writing process and how to assist others. Frequently, students would come in mere hours before major papers in their classes were due, and they would expect me to write a paper for them. Of course, doing so was not permitted. Eventually, students seemed to get more of an idea of what the Learning Lab tutors were actually able to do, so I began to have students who would make appointments to work with me on a regular basis.
My experience as an English tutor while in college really deepened my understanding of how to help students make sense of their own compositions. I was able to develop my own personal "toolbox" of strategies to use with students, especially those with a poor command of English. Most importantly, I finally understood how life-changing it feels to know that you have truly reached a student and taught him or her something.
Western Michigan University
After two years at Henry Ford, I decided that it was time to move on to bigger things. I applied to Western because I finally knew that I wanted to be an FCS educator. Western is one of the only schools in Michigan that still offers the program, and my brother had a wonderful experience at Western. Therefore, I knew that I was making the right decision.
I loved the school from the start. While I was always very busy with work and classes, I enjoyed meeting new people and expanding my knowledge in class. So far, I have taken two English classes at Western: English 1100 (Literary Interpretation) and English 3210 (American Literature). My experience in English 1100 was fantastic. I had Professor Michael Lopresto, and he was a no-nonsense guy that clearly loved what he was doing. I wrote several papers in his class, and I managed to do well on all of them. Taking English 1100 enhanced my ability to connect ideas between different works.
American Literature was challenging because it only met once per week. I don't feel that I was able to learn as much as I should have about the subject because the class was like a mad dash each week to talk about each assigned reading. Furthermore, the class conversation was frequently quite superficial, and I never felt that my understanding of the subject was reaching a deeper level.
I have not yet completed all of my English courses. I am slated to take Adolescent Literature in Summer 2 of 2013, and British Literature 1 in the fall. I have high hopes for my experiences in both courses and cannot wait to continue on!
So far, college has been one of my favorite life experiences, even though I started off in a rocky place. My mom was a teacher in a school district that allowed teachers and their dependents to attend Henry Ford Community College at no cost. My parents gave me no choice, and told me that my only option was to attend HFCC. While I understand their reasoning for insisting now, I was very angry at the time. My brother had been allowed to come to Western, while I did not apply to a single university throughout my senior year because I knew that it would be useless.
HFCC turned out to be a great place for me, however. I had no idea what I wanted to do in life, and the free tuition was a nice bonus. In my two years at HFCC, I went from a nursing to education to culinary major, and I still wasn't sure where to go. My free tuition enabled me to experiment with majors and classes that I might not have taken otherwise.
My first college writing experience was being part of Dr. Christine Briggs' online English 131 class. I was in shock at what I saw when using the discussion boards to communicate with the rest of the class. Quite honestly, many of my peers were absolutely terrible writers. I looked back on my high school experience and mentally thanked all of my teachers for not allowing their students to slip through the cracks so badly.
Even though the class was online, I felt as if I actually knew Dr. Briggs. She was so incredibly friendly and passionate, and she somehow managed to connect with her students in a meaningful way, even if there was a computer screen barrier. Dr. Briggs had us submit our papers online, and she obviously took great care to leave comments that would make students better writers. She had a keen ability to notice patterns in my writing that needed improvement, and she actively worked with me to ensure that I was understanding the changes that needed to be made. Dr. Briggs has had the greatest impact on my life out of all the professors I have had.
In my sophomore year of college, I entered a Creative Writing class. I have always loved to write for pleasure, but college seemed to take away any time I had to do so. The professor was zany and fun, but she seemed a bit out of touch. At the time, I was only a year removed from a tragic death in the family that had completely altered my perception of life and death. Since I had so much going through my mind, I didn't feel ready to pour out my thoughts and emotions on paper. I didn't get much out of the class largely because of my personal issues. I would probably enjoy the experience much more if I am ever able to take a similar class.
Due to a glowing recommendation from Dr. Briggs, I applied to become an English tutor at the Learning Lab. I started working in the Learning Lab in the winter semester of my sophomore year, and I learned so much about the writing process and how to assist others. Frequently, students would come in mere hours before major papers in their classes were due, and they would expect me to write a paper for them. Of course, doing so was not permitted. Eventually, students seemed to get more of an idea of what the Learning Lab tutors were actually able to do, so I began to have students who would make appointments to work with me on a regular basis.
My experience as an English tutor while in college really deepened my understanding of how to help students make sense of their own compositions. I was able to develop my own personal "toolbox" of strategies to use with students, especially those with a poor command of English. Most importantly, I finally understood how life-changing it feels to know that you have truly reached a student and taught him or her something.
Western Michigan University
After two years at Henry Ford, I decided that it was time to move on to bigger things. I applied to Western because I finally knew that I wanted to be an FCS educator. Western is one of the only schools in Michigan that still offers the program, and my brother had a wonderful experience at Western. Therefore, I knew that I was making the right decision.
I loved the school from the start. While I was always very busy with work and classes, I enjoyed meeting new people and expanding my knowledge in class. So far, I have taken two English classes at Western: English 1100 (Literary Interpretation) and English 3210 (American Literature). My experience in English 1100 was fantastic. I had Professor Michael Lopresto, and he was a no-nonsense guy that clearly loved what he was doing. I wrote several papers in his class, and I managed to do well on all of them. Taking English 1100 enhanced my ability to connect ideas between different works.
American Literature was challenging because it only met once per week. I don't feel that I was able to learn as much as I should have about the subject because the class was like a mad dash each week to talk about each assigned reading. Furthermore, the class conversation was frequently quite superficial, and I never felt that my understanding of the subject was reaching a deeper level.
I have not yet completed all of my English courses. I am slated to take Adolescent Literature in Summer 2 of 2013, and British Literature 1 in the fall. I have high hopes for my experiences in both courses and cannot wait to continue on!