The Writer's Self-Assessment Directions: Review your papers and critical reading responses. It might help to print out these documents so you can read them with some slight detachment. Read them slowl

Liu 5

Chulin Liu

Dr. Walter

English 1C

5/24/2020

Self Reflection

The list of things and concepts that I learned this semester is much longer. I learned much about environmental ethics and myself as an inhabitant of the earth. Everything that I read in the Leopold case and other stories from the book makes me realize that we are doing wrong with the planet that is giving us much – above all, life. In the course, we had numerous topics to write about, and all these writing topics helped me to differentiate who I am and what I should be. The course was beneficial for me in two ways: first, it helped me to learn academic writing professionally and teach me how we can convey our viewpoint or experience through writing. Even though I delivered some bad works under this abnormal situation due to the virus, it does stress me out but I still learned a lot from this course. And the other achievement that I got from this course is my role as a human or earth's inhabitant. I attended many online classes before this one, but the experience that I got from here is outstanding. Learnings from this course help me to be a good human for my planet. Valuable experience that I gain in this course will be applied in real life. Writings in the course were two ways beneficial for me; I improved as a writer, and I learn my role as earth's inhabitant. The course inspired me because of its real-life application. It is a fact that whatever we learned in this course if practiced honestly, can make us a positive human towards the planet.

Readings and assignments make me realize that we are violating the rights of different species. Because I believe that like us (humans), every specie in the ecosystem has dignity, and it's our responsibility to respect and protect them. We read about the ecosystem, biodiversity, land ethics, moral duties towards the environment, sustainability, innovation, and much more. Another advantage that I gain throughout the term is to learn multiple concepts at once. The uniqueness of this course was that it didn't talk about one topic or focus consistently but covers a broad range of concepts and readings. Leopold reading and stories about the preservation of the environment were all informative and exclusive. There was a topic of assignment "our behaviors towards the environment reflect our actions" that help me to understand the importance of every single move we take might cause major harm to the planet. For example, technological innovation and modernization in human activities are affecting the earth's climate and posing a massive challenge for countries across the world. Innovation and modernization also affect biodiversity and the natural ecosystem, too much extent. These results of our actions are vulnerable now.

If I have to choose three paragraphs from what I write throughout the semester to put in a personal time capsule to open in 20 years, then I will choose my paper that I wrote land ethics. I want to choose these paragraphs because I want readers to understand evolution as well as the importance of land ethics. Every human wants to be treated with respect and care. Likewise, the environment and land want to be saved and secured too. This essay says much about the land ethics that are defined as conditions or standards to meet with ecological situations and conditions. Before enrolling in this course, I was also unaware of my responsibilities towards the planet or the preservation of the earth's climate. But the course helped me to understand what earth owe from us.

Throughout the course, I evolved as a great writer. To write this assignment, I compared the very first assignment and the last assignment that I did for this class – there is a huge difference. In the first assignment, I lack the understanding and deepness of the subject matter. Also, in the first assignment, I failed to use academic writing techniques appropriately. Comparatively, the last assignment conveys the required information in a professional tone, and the format shatters the view of an academic touch. Although it was a difficult journey, it was interesting and exciting too. One important and interesting thing is that in previous classes, I didn't read the complete book chapter. I used to read summaries and then write the required paper. But the book available for this class was much interesting and learning. I read every chapter carefully and learn the land, evolution, and the emergence of land ethics as well as its importance for humans. One of the most important chapters that I saved for my future classes is the one that describes types of ecosystems and the environment. In my opinion, the chapter is much important because it helped us to understand ecological principles and interesting facts of ecological concepts. The concept of community defined by Leopold was also exciting and unique. Leopold redefines the definition of community with context to land ethics, and I think it is one of those best definitions.

In conclusion, I would say that experience from this course is outstanding. Everything that I learned throughout the term (I learned to love the community, to be kind towards ecological species, I learned about actions and environmental reactions that latter become vulnerable, kinds of thinking, social conscience and much more) will apply in my actions and try to become a good inhabitant of the planet. I also evolved as a good academic writer throughout the course that will help me in the coming future. The course enables me to write thoughts into words. Another important thing that, like a good academic writer, I learned is to analyze the written text. In the course, I did assignments after reading book chapters; thus, I acquire this skill that is going to help me in future online classes. I will utilize all these skills in the future as a student as well as in my professional life. There are many writings from this course that are my favorite. Still, my paper on land ethics is my favorite one because, in that paper, I conveyed personal thoughts regarding the preservation of land and species. The course helped me to become a good and responsible human on the planet earth, and over time I will prove this claim. It was all great!