They say time flies when you are busy. Whether you realized it or not, we have completed one-third of the Spring semester. Good job, everyone, on pushing through! Our classes last week were all canceled due to wellness day and adverse weather campus closure; it was great to finally meet everyone in class again after a well-rested break.
In the Tuesday meeting, we continued our discussion on grammar, specifically on syntax and punctuation. I appreciate the opportunity that Mr. Blom gave us to ask our lingering grammar questions in class. We went over the questions that were posted by our classmates anonymously, for example, how to use a semicolon, a hyphen, an en-dash, and an em-dash, etc. I always thought that English grammar lessons would end by high school, and we are all expected to master English grammar from there onwards. This assumption created unnecessary stress in me, and being an English-as-second-language (ESL) student is not helping. After this class session, I realized that learning is not all about mastery or perfection; it is more about being humble, ask questions, and improve continuously. “Strive for progress, not perfection.”
The deadline for Unit Project one was approaching quickly. On Wednesday afternoon, I reviewed and revised my final draft using the proof-reading techniques we went over during the Tuesday meeting. I find that reading my writing out loud was very useful as it helped me to detect awkward sentences and missing words that would, otherwise, be easily overlooked. On top of that, I also referred to the grading rubric while editing my draft to make sure that I meet all the criteria and requirements of our assignment. During this process, I realized that many of my paragraphs did not have a topic sentence, and I was glad that I could correct them before I submitted my final draft.
Publishing my writing online was a unique and meaningful experience for me thinking about the wider audience, including my family and friends, are able to look at my work online. Unlike the previous writing assignments that I submitted to my instructor, and only my instructor could see them, I feel like I have more voice and can make an impact, no matter big or small, through online publication. For this reason, I am looking forward to the upcoming unit projects in which I will publish my work again.
On Thursday, we are officially starting our Unit Project two. Our discussion in that meeting revolved around writing in social health science. The main questions that we answered are: what are the differences between medical health science and social health science, what are the values and priorities of social health scientists, and what are the differences between qualitative and quantitative methodologies. I am very excited about Unit Project two because I can learn more about health disparities in the United States from my classmates and through in-depth research, and present my work at the end of the unit to address and fight health disparities with my voice.
When I was planning how to write this blog post, I did many self-reflection. I remember being so intimidated to register for this class because I was worried about my English level. However, all of my worries were gone after meeting such a supportive and helpful instructor and classmates. I am doing well in this class, in fact, better than what I thought I would be. Look how far we have come; we completed our first unit project, and we are going to do just fine in the upcoming projects. Again, good job, and keep up the good work!
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