In the following reflection, I will be analyzing my personal experience in English 371-01 this fall semester through the Zone of Proximal Development concept. This particular assignment is in my ZPD because although going into it with zero knowledge on what the Zone of Proximal Development was, through the articles and descriptions on Canvas, I was able to not only understand it, but compare it to the class in its entirety and conduct an analysis on it through this assignment. Some assignments in this class that allowed me to learn within my own personal ZPD included all five of the discourse analysis assignments. No two were the same and they all required a unique form of expression through signs in the world most commonly sources in the media. Each of the analyses of this course were different from one another which pushed me out of my comfort zone. The firm and scheduled due dates of each assignment in this class big and small also allowed this. The broadness of a lot of the prompts made the individual project parts challenging as an indecisive person, but not impossible as critical thinking became an absolute must. Although the use of a course calendar was useful and kept assignments organized and visible, a lot of the discourse analyses felt a little rushed in the time given to complete them. Therefore, handling instances in which I was forced to work outside of my ZPD became a bit challenging when the completion of analyses were set on a strict schedule aside from other assignments for the week in this course and others as well. This led to some deep thinking, research, and even procrastination at times due to the fact that I did not know how to get started or which direction I wanted to take the assignment in. Working with peers on the third of five discourse analyses was one factor that helped in the completion process within my ZPD. This allowed me to do an individual section of research on a social media platform and collaborate findings with a few other classmates. This pushed me out of my comfort zone working with others on a large part of my grade, but also led to some great collective research and findings overall. All in all, as a non-education or english major, this course allowed me to expand my horizons when it comes to my writing abilities through discourse analysis and beyond specifically when it comes to finalizing a career path. Therefore, the potential benefits to considering my Zone of Proximal Development in learning within both formal educational and non formal settings are to be aware of where I struggle, have potential to grow, and have improved on as an active learner. Considering this concept also reminds me that it is ok not to know how to go about foreign things and situations of all kinds that are asked of us. Asking for help is another part of the learning process that I need to be more willing to do and accept, especially in areas I am confident or strongly passionate in.