Digital Portfolio

 I found the final unit's assignment to be both ironic and ingenious. After spending the entirety of the semester learning how to be effective writers and discussing what academic writing even is, we were asked to display our newly gained knowledge in, not a written essay that could also show how our technique and voice has improved, but in a photo essay. Due to this, I found the assignment quite daunting upon first thought. After all, I've spent the better part of three month trying to improve my writing skills, only to then be asked to show the fruits of that labor through a medium that denies me the use of the written word. Thus, I view this assignment as both ironic in the sense that is contrasts what I feel we've been learning all semester, but also ingenious in the sense that it forces us as students to think critically. Being forced to try and have the same effectiveness and voice of a well-developed four page essay through nothing more than images, while difficult, I feel was a very useful assignment to end this course. This shows that writing, while the focal point of this course's studies, was not the only thing we were learning. After completing this assignment and viewing my peers' work, I feel that all of us are now able to better express our individual opinions and ideas through a variety of mediums as opposed to just writing.

 During the course of this semester I have seen both a dramatic improvement and a drastic change in my writing. After spending the first few weeks agonizing over how to seamlessly incorporate my opinions and perspective into essays, I feel that I've finally come close to achieving that. No longer does it feel like I am breaking the rules, or setting myself up for imminent failure whenever I make the transition to first person perspective in my writing. This change has been a welcome one, seeing as I will be able to utilize it in my future classes as well. Another change I've noticed, upon reflection, is that I am now able to look just a eagerly towards essay writing as I am to the creative writing that I do in my leisure time. The ideas presented in this course's studies have shown me that all types of writing share similar elements and feature my unique voice in each sentence that I pen regardless of the writing's goal or content. I've gained a wealth of knowledge about writing and the role in plays in students' lives and their relationship to the rest of the world that I will continue to use throughout my college career. I didn't expect this first-year English course to be more than some necessary credit hours to me after I had completed it. I fully expected to simply trudge through the meaningless readings and assignments as I worked my way towards “actual” English courses that would help me in my career. However, I am happy to say that I've found my initial doubts about this course to be unfounded. The material was sound and thought-provoking, the coursework complimentary to our readings, and I do in fact feel that I have gained something from this course. Unit Four ending the study with the idea that writing is a process that takes time to reach the peak of its success has been very reassuring as I attempt these final assignments. I feel much more confident in my writing after finishing the readings and viewing the feedback on my past essays. This course has been a helpful and encouraging start so far to my college writing career.

 Throughout this course I've noticed the recurring theme of the relationship between the academic world and our personal ones, especially in regards to writing. Unit Four's content continues with that theme in Bishop's Suddenly Sexy. I found the ideas presented in the opening pages where she states that first-year writers shouldn't be looked down upon, or thought to be unable to analyze the events in their lives very refreshing. Writing is a process, thus it takes time and development to reach the peak of successful writing. I believe that fostering this understanding in first-year writers as well as the professors grading them would aid in the doing away with much of the discrepancies between the two groups in regards to essays and the grades they receive. After reading this piece, I can recall numerous writing assignments that I felt were the pinnacle of my writing career at the time, but that nonetheless received less than stellar markings. I'm able to recognize the shortcomings in my previous writings now, but only after having spent more time developing the skills in other English classes. Just as Bishop's daughter gained wisdom from each of her traffic accidents, I feel that every essay aids in students' understanding of writing. Improving your writing is a life-long process, one in which steps cannot be skipped. The encouraging feedback and held back comments from Bishop in the end demonstrate the opportunity all students need in order to be able to willingly move forward to their goal of improving their writing.

 I think that this unit and Murray's writing in particular have been my favorite so far this semester. I found his notion that all writing is autobiographical in nature quite beautiful upon further thought. The idea the even things as simple as sentence structure and diction, things that seem so meaningless when you're actually writing, are an expression of the author themselves is quite profound. I feel this reading manages to further build on the ideas presented in the first two units' readings while also adding a deeper meaning to what writing really is. It, regardless of whether it's personal narrative, creative writing, nonfiction, or anything in between, contains pieces of the author. An author's voice is present in all of their writing, even something as impersonal as a lab report. I find that Murray's assertion that not only is he a part of all of his writing, but that the reverse, all of his writing is a part of him is, in fact, also very true. I can remember earlier essays that I wrote and pick out phrases in my current ones that trend throughout most of my writings. I have dozens of fictional stories on my laptop that I've spent hours crafting that plague my thoughts, reminders of what I truly have a passion for writing. These past writings remain with me and influence my current writing in little ways because they are a part of me and journey as a writer. This new knowledge has brought to mind ideas presented in previous units about how past experiences, literacy sponsors, and discourse communities affect students even now as they move forward in their educational careers. I realize that past writings are very similar in the sense that they can affect students' writing and outlook on the subject as well.

 Rhetoric's various descriptions in What is Rhetoric? have added a deeper meaning to the word for me. Previously, persuasive writing was really the only definition I attributed to the word. However, the true depth of the word, both in connotation and denotation are sinking in after finishing this unit. The different argumentative approaches through which authors or speakers can employ their rhetoric skills have become more recognizable to me now. I've seen that no approach can suit every argument, yet an author who has a deep understanding of rhetoric and how to use it can be skilled in using every approach in their writing. This has further shown me that fundamental skills like rhetoric usage can determine how persuasive a paper is regardless of how great a writer the author appears to be. An impressive command over the English language is meaningless if an author is unable to evoke the desired emotion from their audience. In fact, it's arguable that being unable to do so, bars them from being a truly successful writer.

 This unit's readings have made me consider which argumentative approach I tend to use. Overall, I feel that I gravitate towards the logos approach most often; seeing as, prior to this unit, I viewed it as the most persuasive regardless of the topic at hand. However, I now realize that the argumentative approach's effectiveness is dependent more on the author's own rhetoric skills rather than entirely on how they choose to present their stance. This is most prevalently shown in Tan's Mother Tongue. In this reading, Tan is able to present global issues such as discrimination towards immigrants who struggle with learning proper English, and successfully persuade her readers to sympathize with her views through the emotional pathos approach by describing both her and her mother's plights in regards to the aforementioned discrimination. This serves to further show that the writer or speaker's rhetoric skills along with the content being present should be the determining factors in what argumentative approach is chosen rather than simply viewing one approach as a perfect solution to reach the desired end of each argument.

 You cannot take away a student's voice and expect them to be able to write a thorough essay outlining their thoughts or views on any given subject. The two shouldn't be viewed as separate ideas battling against each other, but as complementary essentials to producing effective writers.

 The lack of use of critical pedagogy in classrooms has become glaringly obvious after reading the course packet and power point notes about what critical pedagogy is. It seems that most teachers opt for a more catch-all approach and try to teach with a style that appeals to the stereotypical majority rather than tailoring their methods to suit all students. Just as Delpit and Bloom noted in their writings, minorities, or those who simply don't conform to the average teacher's white, middle-class, American values are usually left to try and scavenge meaning from teachings that don't account for their different backgrounds and values. I have seen numerous students written off as lazy, careless, or just bad, but only now realize that it could have been due to the discrepancies between them and the teacher. It greatly saddens me to think of the peers I too have written off over the years without having felt any sympathy for their plight as they struggle to learn from an educational system tailored to students like me. This course continues to be both interesting an enlightening as I progress through it.

 This course continues to show how inaccurate our secondary education was in regards to English classes, and writing specifically. Even with having read all of the reading, I still feel uncomfortable with the transition from what I view as analytical academic writing to first person perspective or narrative in my essays. I'm sure this stems from the years of learning that writing in first person is incorrect if you're writing an academic essay, but the past lessons still feel fresh every time I start writing. It's difficult to try and forget years of education and focus on what I'm learning now in this course. However, I'll continue to strive to overcome this discomfort since narrowing the imaginary gap between personal perspective and academic writing is clearly one of the main focuses in this course.

Couzelis, Mary J., J.D. Isip, and Tabetha Adkins. Problem Posing Readings for                       Democratic Learning. 1st ed. N.p.: Fountainhead, 2013. Print.

 I find the concept of discourse communities very interesting, especially in relation to literacy sponsors. I feel a bit naive though that I hadn't really thought of the impact people can have on something a crucial to life as literacy before having to write an essay centered around. The idea that through each stage of your life, as you're developing into a fully functioning adult, you become a part of new communities that share common interests and speech is really beautiful in my opinion. Your previous discourse communities are a crucial part of you and your literacy journey, but with each person you interact with, you have the opportunity to become part of entirely new discourse communities. It's amazing when you consider the scope of how many communities you can actually be a part of. The more formal ones of being a college student and having to communicate with professors and other campus officials, the specialized ones of the workplace that were discussed in Blue-Collar Brilliance, and the casual ones that vary depending on whether you're with acquaintances, close friends, or family members. I'm curious about if once you become a part of a certain discourse community whether or not you are always a part of it though. I've concluded from what the readings said that it depends on whether or not you continue to use the speech unique to each community. I've found the first unit to be very informative and thought-provoking, and am looking forward to the next.

 Having an entirely online course has been a mix of interesting and irritating thus far. I feel that the lack of face-to-face interactions between both the students and the professor and the students themselves leaves much to be desired in this course. Also, not having in-class meetings weekly only serves to make it that much harder to remember to allocate time for the assignments that are due in the current unit. However, I have found much of the material in the class to be quite profound and fascinating to read. The required readings from the textbook aren't what I was expecting, and I find the perspectives and ideas presented within each to be contrary to much of what I recall learning in previous English classes. I assume that's one of the main purposes of the course though. Making us consider ideas that have either not been presented to us prior to this, or that we simply haven't thought about before now is necessary to not only our success as writers, but to our success as college students in general. I'm enjoying this class so far and look forward to what's to come in the following weeks.