Letter to next year's class.

Hiiiiiiiiiii future students of 105E (or I guess you guys would be officially in class when you read this),

First of all, BE EXCITED for this semester.
Liz is a fantastic teacher, and I don't just say that about any teacher for insignificant reasons. I'm pretty critical of classes and teachers I suppose, but this class turned out to be one of my favorites. Most importantly I became a lot more confident in my writing and my ability to write because Liz really helped take me step through step in the writing process. I was so scared coming into college and having to write "real college papers" but Liz made that so do-able. It's not as scary as it seems, trust me. ASK questions, EMAIL Liz with any help you may need (she responds super duper fast and is always willing to help until you get it). I learned that writing a paper HAS to be done in steps; you really cannot sit down and do it all at once no matter how awesome you think you are. Quality in steps. Each step should flow into the next.

Second, don't B.S. (excuse my language) any papers just to get them done. There is a reason for writing each paper. For example, the three informal papers that I had to write REALLY helped me in writing my final paper; the prompts were similar so I was writing about similar stuff in all those papers. In fact, the three informal papers made writing the final paper 100x (seriously, no exaggeration) easier. Because I put quality work into those three informal papers, I already had a lot of writing done for my final paper by the time I started to work on it. This is what I mean by quality in steps...take a giant paper one step at a time, and you'll find that it isn't so bad at all.

One thing I would have done differently was talk more in class...(wait, maybe I already talked to much...) BUT seriously participation makes class SO much more exciting. Liz asks for a lot of feedback from you guys, and the BEST part is that she really listens and takes that feedback into consideration. Seriously, participate in class when it's called for because not only will you learn so much more by being engaged, you will also encourage others to talk more too. Don't be shy. This class is so chill, and it's so small. Take advantage of the fact that the teacher will not just know your name, but actually know stuff about you! Most college class aren't this chill, and rarely do you find professors who care this much about their student's success and are so passionate about what they do.

I wish you guys the best in this and all your classes! Hopefully I can come visit you guys sometime and see how much you all will be ENJOYING this class (:

Teresa