Garo Demirjian

Professor Tyberg
STACC English 100
11-29-14
Reflection Paper
Before I was introduced to the STACC program I did not have a clear mindset of my:
literary and education for reading, writing, and learning. My mindset was to attend Pasadena
City College, get my general education classes, pass all my pre requisite classes, and then
transfer to a four year university. I did not put much focus or interest in what literary classes to
take or taking advantage of the many different tools and services the campus has to offer. It was
my high school graduate mindset that made me believe that I was done with school and class
work, which quickly changed when I started my first day in my STACC English 100 class. The
STACC program helped me achieve/develop certain goals and skills to improve my learning,
writing, and reading. That skill that the program helped me on was teamwork, improving in
literacy, and using tools provided for me.
One skill that the STACC English class helped me work on or achieve is teamwork.
Before STACC I would rely only on myself. I wasnt really a team player, though I would
consider myself as a leader in a group; I most of the time work better on my own so I believed.
It wasnt until the first week of the class that proved otherwise. The STACC English class
primary goal/tool it uses is teamwork or collaboration; which means the whole semester is
focused on group work rather than working alone. So most of the time we are working with other
classmates. I began to let go of my old style of working alone and started to collaborate with
other students. It was then I realized that I work so much better in a group/team then I ever did as
an individual. With everyones effort and support I achieved better and faster success, I also got

feedback from my mistakes. The STACC English class introduced me to a new way to study and
work on assignments through group work. Though we are in groups it is an individuals
responsibility to do their share of the work assigned by other group members. So the program
has thought me to be able to work well in a group as well as an individual. Learning to work
proficiently in a team has helped me improve my skills in learning, reading, and writing.
Another thing that the STACC English class has thought me is to use every resource
available to help get through college. Our STACC English professor thought us the importance
of any resource available provided by the campus. He thought us to use his office hours as many
times as possible, in order to have one and one discussions about things that we had trouble
understanding in class. He also thought the importance of time management by putting main
priorities first and uses every second to get things done and not leave it to the last second or day
before the assignment is due. Learning about time management and using the campus resources
for my education advantage has increased my skills on learning, reading and writing.
But the most important thing that the STACC English class has thought me is improving
on my literacy itself. Every day at class we would take a quiz based on the chapter of the book
we were supposed to read for homework. We take the quiz primarily to see if we truly read the
chapter and understood it. We then discuss the chapter itself and review it. We give our
feedbacks whether we liked that specific chapter and give our reasons why or why not. That is
another thing I learned from the STACC English class/ program that you must always provide
evidence to support your thesis and also think beyond your own thoughts. I learned that it is best
to think as a devils advocate so that all loop holes are covered which strengthens your thesis
and makes it better. We sometimes also are assigned projects to complete, due on a specific date.
It is those projects that put the teamwork skill to the test. We are assigned to groups (every time

its different so we can socialize with different students). It helps to socialize and collaborate
with other students, not just to meet and greet new students but because in the STACC English
class we are all going to be together for 2 semesters. In the group projects every group member is
responsible to present his/her part of their work and each member must participate in a way. We
are also graded as a group so if one fails everyone suffers from it in a way. Beside group
assignments there are also assignments we do individually such as essays. We also do essays
which are also due on specific dates. We write essays either about a book we are reading as a
class, reflection essays, reviews/ articles, and even just free writing. During the process of
creating our essays there are checkpoints we reach in between getting to the due date, which is
called peer reviews. The days of peer reviews we are set in groups of 2 or more and review each
others papers and give feedback about it. We also have peer reviews where we sit in a circle and
pass each others paper around so everyone in the class has a chance to give their feedback on
the individuals paper. But no matter which peer review version were doing we always give
feedback as a class on how we should format the essay and other specific questions we have on
the assignment itself is discussed as a class.
In the end the STACC English class/program has helped reach an educational peak that
I thought I would not be able to reach. The class helped me increase my skill as a learner, reader,
and writer. I learned how to manage my time effectively, use the resources provided by the
campus for my advantage, being able to work both as a group and individually, and how to
improve greatly in my literacy itself. From my classmates I learned how to be more cooperative
and how to give/receive feedback from our work; and from my Professor I learned many ways to
work and improve in my literacy and my education path.