Maybe I do Like Writing?
One thing the college application process taught me was that writing is not something that comes naturally to me. In this process, a lot of self reflection was required and I was just not ready to do that. It was not that I did not know how to structure the sentences (it probably is), but I just felt like there was always a “formal” structure to it. This changed until I started taking class with Professor Gloria. We were in class one day when Professor G encouraged my peers and I to write and speak with our native, home, and “other” languages we feel comfortable inI found that very different because no one ever told me to “Write how I speak”, but once I did that, I really liked writing. One of my favorite assignments this semester was the “Personal Narrative” because it felt therapeutic in a sense. I really got to tell the professor everything I wanted to say without anyone hearing us and it was a great way for her to get to know me. Thus, with everything we did this semester, ranging from main assignments to the class activities they all included at least one of the course learning outcomes.
One of the CLO’s that we did in almost every class session was “Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process’ ‘. We were able to accomplish this as we did so many class activities. For example, especially for the research paper, we all collaborated as a whole class when we sat in a circle and passed around our thesis. We all collaborated in a group to peer review one another’s thesis at the thesis workshop. I found this to truly help me as a writer because I was able to get confidence in my writing, but also know where I need to improve. I was able to get confidence in my writing when they told me that my thesis was well written and they also told me I can edit it by concising the length more. It really helped me because I was able to strengthen my thesis when I got home. It also made me realize that I rant a lot when I write. Another way I achieved this CLO was by generally speaking to my peers and bouncing off of one anothers idea. This even helped us make friends as freshmens.
My favorite assignment, the “Personal Narrative” made me realize that something I need to improve on is that I need to actually answer the prompt instead of ranting. To go into further detail about that, in my narrative essay there were many instances where I did not explain many things. At one point, I spoke about my dream school which is The Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program at the Cuny School of Medicine, but did not explain what exactly it was. After I got the feedback from my professor, I was able to use the “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing” learning outcome. I was able to revise to fix my issues by adding more details and adding more transitional phrases. I tend to write by jumping back and forth causing my writing to be disorganzied, so adding trnastional phrases allows it to flow more nicely. After turning in the assignment and I got my feedback, this learning outcome was able to allow me to learn from my mistakes. Whether that be fixing the comma I did not include analyzing further attributes of what I wrote in the essay.
One of my least favorite assignments was the “Rhetorical Analysis” because I did not have pro-money to pay for all the features on Canvas. In that assignment, I was able to use many course learning outcomes. One being, “Explore and analyze (in your own and others’ writing) a variety of genres and rhetorical situations”. I was able to incorporate this CLO by exploring rhetorical situations and genre’s I wanted in my argument. I decided to use humor as my genre in my argument because humor always brings light to a dark experience. I also find humor to be a nice way to digest information easier. In class, we were also able to explore this CLO more, since we were given an example of the assignment and as a class analyzed it. In that assignment, the student also decided to do a meme and use humor as a genre, so that’s how I was able to analyze another writer’s work. Being able to analyze another writer’s work is important because not only can it benefit me as a writer by expanding my creativity, but also if I can identify something in someone else’s writing, I will be able to do it in mine.
Within this assignment, another CLO used was “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and develop strategies when engaged in writing situations”. I was able to “practice key rhetorical terms” because we had to explain how we used rhetorical strategies and appeals. For instance, in my analysis I explained how I used imagery, humor, and appealed to pathos. I decided to use pathos in that assignment because emotion is always a creative way to engage an audience. Writing with pathos is a good way to connect with my audience, so my message can be conveyed. In this case, I decided to go with a more humorous tone by choosing a meme as my rhetorical piece.
Additionally, when writing the research paper this semester we used multiple CLO’s. In the research paper, the learning outcomes we used were “Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation”, “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) using the library’s databases and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias”, and “Practice systematic application of citation conventions”. I used the CLO “practice systematic application of citation conventions” by making sure to cite every source we used in APA citation. Whether this be in the work cited portion or in-text citation we still had to cite. I cited by either using the APA citation generators or on J-store they have a cite button that cites that specific source for you. After receiving feedback, I was able to change my citation list, since originally I did not indent everything after the first line of each citation. I also used the learning outcome of “locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) using the library’s databases and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias” because I used the J-store within the CCNY database to find many of my sources. I also used this learning outcome when I was finding my other sources and making sure they are reliable. This assignment required a lot of research. This learning outcome did not only help me in this class but also helped me find peer- reviewed sources for my biology lab report.
Lastly, I used “compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation” learning outcome as it was one of the assignment requirements to make sure to at least synthezise once. In my essay, I decided to synthesize by having both sources extend on the history of how the Palestininan genocide started. Within my essay, I said “ Both BBC News and the US Department Of State recognize and extend on the fact that the Palestinians attacked first, but when your home, the people, the culture is being threatened, who wouldn’t fight back? Even though the Partition allowed for two states to exist, it did not include for the Jews to have complete control of both sides. Israel is an occupying force, so Palestine can not defend themselves.” As you can see, I incorporated this CLO by synthesizing by both sources because it is important to pull together as much information as you can in a research paper.
In conclusion, my first semester of English has taught me a lot. Not only did it teach me my strengths and weaknesses within writing, but it also did teach me about my peers. As a freshman, it is important to collaborate with my peers because they can be my lifelong friends, but also due to this experience being new to all of us. There were so many interactive ways my peers and I were able to achieve these course learning outcome’s which helped us as writers, so we can carry these strong attributes into the rest of our journeys for whichever route we pursue.
