letters

Dear Marlen,

I assumed you weren’t lying in that first email you sent us when you said that this class would be the most demanding course we have had thus far as students.  I feel like were being totally emersed in this whole new system that I was totally not ready for.  I recognize that that is probably the best way to learn the process, I’m just saying its miserable.

I am really concerned that I will fall behind in this borderline overwhelming work load.  I have a few other really homework intensive classes too, so that doesn’t help.  But, I’m committed to trying really hard to do well and get an A in the course.  I am an english major and I would be embarrassed to get anything but an A in an english course.

Another things that makes me nervous is those surprise tests!  I know we get to fail one and still be ok, but I’m confident in my ability to screw seemingly simply things up.  I would be pissed with myself if I failed this course because of that!  I think I passed the first two so far so I hope I’m off to a good start.

I think the thing that will help me most in this challenging course is that I do really have a passion for english.  Admittedly research writing may not be my favorite aspect of english I still look forward to the challenge.  I want to learn everything I can about english so I can graduate and be brilliant!  Thats the plan as of now.

Sincerely,

Dave

Dear Marlen,

This is my last reflective letter.  Basically, it’s just a thank you letter.  I have learned so much over the course.  The only reason I stayed in your course after you told us how miserable it was going to be was because I am an English major and I figured I needed to be prepared for anything that IUP could throw at me if I wanted to be successful, so i figured your course was a good test.

I have grown so much as a writer over the last semester.  Doing work that is usually done in later years of college has definitely put other smaller assignments into perspective.  I feel like I am a more confident writer and English student from having taken your course.

I hated the blogs all year, but now that they are finished I can definitely see why you had us do them.  They became a valuable resource by the end of this whole process.  Also, they made us do our work and learn everyhting we were supposed to as opposed to just faking our way through.  They were a lot of work, but I suppose learning and growing as a student does take work.

I am excited to move on in my English career here at IUP, and see what kind of challenges are to come.  I face them with a new confidence because of the learning that went on in our class.  Also, I loved how close our class became.  I made several new friends from the course, and that is a really rare thing.

Thank you for your hard work, and thank you for making me work hard!

Sincerely,

Dave Donovan