English 111 Experience

Kristy Barnes
Professor Gasparo
English 111-55
3 May 2009

What an experience. This English Composition class has been quite an eye-opening adventure. From the teacher to the peers to the assignments, it has been a positive, new experience in my life. This class has been the first class that I have ever taken at a college. Being a twenty-five year old freshman working a full-time job, I have had my moments of procrastination and despair. In the beginning, I was seriously focused on my academic goals of this course. Over a few weeks, being so focused turned into slightly focused and dismayed by the intensity of a few assignments, in addition to the warm weather inviting people to be more sociable and outgoing.
I would like to give appreciation and praise to my teacher, Paul Gasparo, and my fellow peers. You all have made my first college course immensely relaxing and enjoyable. First I had assumptions that it was every person for himself, students become loaded with work and are responsible to take care of every single aspect of each assignment without any help or input. I thank all of those who stayed to share opinions, give feedback, or just allow me to get to know you. Having the comfort of emailing peers, asking Mr. Gasparo off-the-wall questions and him allowing the use of dry sarcasm for the sake of laughter made this strenuous, dynamic class easier to follow and pass.
Through essays and student examples, I was able to follow and understand what was required for assignments. At times, I had a general idea of what exactly was expected for an assignment, but through reading essays and examples, I had gained a much clearer understanding. One main problem that I had run into during this course was meeting the deadline. By working a full-time job, having the occasional sick “bug” and trying to maintain a decent social life, procrastination was often a factor. Least to say, the essay on the topic of procrastination did not help me in the latter of the course. I should have made copies and posted them everywhere.
From this experience, I would definitely recommend taking this course taught by Mr. Gasparo. He treated all of his students with respect, was sympathetic to everyone’s needs, and his assignments were not demanding. If students ever needed help or more time to complete an assignment, he was always there to assist and give them more time on the assignment. Taking English 111 taught by Paul would be a smart choice if a student needed to take the course and complete it.