Category: Portfolio & Reflection (Page 3 of 15)

Odeica Duke

Professor Lisa Cole

English 1101 Composition 1

16^th March 2022

Final Reflection

What was your experience with and early assumption about your writing skills?

I and writing have always had a love-hate relationship. I have always felt as though I was not a good writer or even a writer at all since I believed that being a writer meant one’s writing has been published and most importantly well known. So having to write my entire school life only made me hate my writing even more. While I was a freshman and sophomore in high school, writing was something I really enjoyed. Back then writing was easier and more fun since I only had to write about the little things. In my opinion, assignments were easier because I never challenge my perspective so I could write without any bias, I just wrote about things I knew well and that was it. Writing outside of my perspective was never a thought that entered my head ever for my first two years in high school. Allowing myself to do the bare minimum when it came to writing in high school seemed like a good idea back in high school but now looking back with a broader perspective it limited opportunities, I had to not only better my writing skills but myself when it came to having a broad perspective.

Doing the bare minimum and not allowing myself to challenge my perspective was something I was okay with until assignments, teachers wanted more. During my last two years in high school, I had a lot of writing to do with college preparations and all. That was a point in my life where writing required more than my perspective had to offer, that is when I realized that my perspective had to change in order for my writing to be better. I will admit challenging my perspective was difficult, it was hard to stray away from my norm to an uncertain writing future and possibilities. Given that I had little to no experience writing outside my perspective, I was not optimistic about what the outcome of my writing would be, I initially thought I would fail. In the beginning, there were a lot of bumps in the road, but I finally get the hang of it after college application time. After I complete my college essay, I was pleased with the amount of work I put in and the outcome. My writing was a direct example of how I did not allow my perspective and predetermined ideas to shape my writing.

Have there been any noticeable changes in the work you did early in the semester to now?

Yes! My writing has improved from what it was early in the semester. I have learned so many things throughout this class that has aided in the improvement of my writing when comparing my work from early in the semester to now. When comparing the work, I did early in the semester to now, I noticed that overall, my writing made sense and all the ideas were coherent and well explained which I something I felt like I did not do enough of before. I also learned how to make my writing fit into different genres by using different languages, tones, and word choices.

Here is an example of an introduction I wrote for my Unit 1 “Education Narrative”, “Dating back to my earliest memory of education, I have always felt that school was never for me. I have always felt a disconnect between me and school. Do not get me wrong, I liked learning, it was the teachers, rules, and hierarchy I disliked. Much like Olivarez, most of my teachers taught via the banking method. We, the students, were just expected to take in as much information as we could and never question authority. Most days, a debate or misunderstanding would erupt between me and my teachers. Which started because I would calmly voice my opinions, as I would put it, that were viewed as disrespect. Shutting up and being a human educational sponge was something I could never do. Learning was exceedingly difficult, but it was something I had to do, especially since education was an exaggeratedly important part of my household.”  Then here is another example of an introduction I wrote for my Unit 2 “RAB” “Representation does not only affect how we see ourselves and others, but it also influences how we look at our future and the possibilities that await us. As early as I could remember I have always had this burning desire to find out everything and anything there is to know about outer space. Hearing this one would think that my dream job was to become an astronaut but that was not the case for me. Even though I did not want to go to space I still wanted something to do with it, so when I found out about Aerospace Engineering I was really intrigued. I remember I would watch every movie and video, read every book, and article and even look at pictures anything just to learn more about outer space. As I got older, I slowly started to lose interest in outer space, and I always thought that it was because I was exploring new things and it was just another interest that did not age well with time. However, now looking back with a more worldly and mature perspective, I realize that my sudden disinterest in the thing that made my heart skip several beats even when I was simply thinking about it, was caused by not seeing people who looked like me portrayed in the media. Lupita once said “Until I saw people who looked like me, I was not so sure [being an actress] was a possibility. My exact feeling as a kid but her actress is my Aerospace Engineer. When I started to notice that nearly all Aerospace engineers that I saw growing up did not look like me, this negatively impacted my self-esteem and self-worth making me feel inferior because of how I looked. For years, I look at life and my future with implicit bias, I would always limit my self-expectations and to fit what I thought was expected of me in the eyes of society.”

The two examples provided above are from different points in my writing career form this semester. My first major writing assignment was Unit 1 “Education Narrative” where I got to explore a significant event that impact my view on education and/ or school. The second example from my second major writing assignment was Unit 2 “RAB” where I got to do research on a topic that piques my interest. Changing my writing from a narrative to a reflective annotated bibliography was not easy but the outcome was worthwhile.  For my Unit 1 assignment, I used languages and tones that were friendly since I was not trying to provide a point or persuade my audience. I was simply just trying to express myself and my experiences. While for my RAB, I used more authoritative languages and tones since I was trying to persuade my audience into believing that the topic of my research was important.

What challenges did you find particularly challenging in this semester’s English class?

Something I found particularly challenging this semester making sure my writing made sequential sense which meant making sure the flow of my writing was not all over the place. To make sure my writing made sense and the information in it was flowing properly I would gather all the information I needed then list them out on a piece of paper then put them in sequential order. Then and only then I would start writing. I also found Unit 3 “Writing in a New Genre” extremely difficult. I had a hard time choosing a different genre that was not only best for my research but also for me.

What have you learned for your English 1101 class? And how are you going to incorporate what you have learned in your college future?

Some notable lessons that stuck with me after completing certain assignments are how to write a proper research paper (how to properly quote and cite sources), how to find sufficient sources that do not only support your predetermined ideas about your topic, and how one genre could form many different ones. Lastly, how to gather sufficient information that will make your writing beneficial to others. I will definitely be using the knowledge and experience that I gained throughout this course in other writing situations in my college life. This semester I have learned how to properly analyze a text to find the deep meaning and the writing style the author of said text used to make the purpose of their writing effective. I have also learned how to not only write in different genres but also how to change my writing into a completely new genre which would be very beneficial in my next English class.

Unit 1 Educational Narrative

What I revised in my Unit 1 was including all the missing information that I haven’t included the first time. Also, making sure that I changed my grammar and made sure that I was in the past tense. The reason why I decided to revise it was that I wasn’t happy with the grade I got even though I realize it was my fault since I did rush it at the last second. Which did cost me the grade that I have. The feedback that I got from my professor and my colleagues was my grammar, proofreading, and adding information from the criteria that I was missing. Why I incorporated what they say since it will help me realize that if I want a good grade, then I need to open my eyes to feedback that could help me accomplish it.

Let me tell you my story of who I am and my first-time experience related to language and learning. You’re probably wondering where I came from? Or why should I be interested in what he is trying to say? Will for starters, my name is John Paul Tenemaza, but my friends call me J.P. My parents are from Ecuador, and I was born in Flushing, Queens. Making my sister and me bilingual. Yes, I do speak 2 languages. My first language is Spanish and my second is English. Throughout my life, I was struggling in school and overall with my race and culture. From and kid and till now there was a drastic change in my experience related to language and learning.

If you want to know more, then I have to take you back to the very beginning. Being a kid from Queens and coming from a Hispanic family. There was a lot of pressure on me. My dad was the only person back in the day who spoke fluently English. So growing up I had to learn 2 languages at the same time. When I started elementary school, that’s where the problem began. In elementary school, the main language was English which means that the whole overall school was teaching only in English. But at home, my parents were teaching me Spanish so I didn’t forget where I came from and the roots of my culture. It was a major problem for me since the experience was a major obstacle. I was consistently struggling to keep up in writing, reading, speaking, and listening all in English. Keep in mind learning 2 languages is very difficult learning while trying to balance both languages as a kid. That’s where the school eventually noticed that I was way behind compared to the other students. The school called my parents to let them know that I need to pick and choose which language I needed to learn. Meaning that the school wanted my parents and me to pick one language to be very fluent in so there wouldn’t be any issue catching up in class.

As a result, my parents finally came up with a decision and made me learn English first, then worry about Spanish as I grow up. The school realized that I was making some improvements but I was still struggling. As a result, the school and my parents realized that I need help. The school recommended to my parents that I needed Speech therapy and OT. If you are not sure what speech therapy is, let me explain. Speech therapy “assesses and treats speech disorders and communication problems. It helps people develop skills like comprehension, clarity, voice, fluency, and sound production (Cleveland clinic).” OT (Occupational Therapy) is to “treat injured, ill, or disabled patients through the therapeutic use of everyday activities. They help these patients develop, recover, improve, as well as maintain the skills needed for daily living and working (Bureau of Labor Statistics).” The relationship I had with the school about learning and language is that they wanted to see me improve as a student and more as a person outside of school. And on top of that, I also was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

This particular experience that I was talking about relates to some of the bigger social & cultural issues such as race, the educational system, & Standard Written English (SWE). In elementary school, I was sometimes picked on based on the color of my skin. I still don’t even comprehend why people would want to pick on someone based on the color of their skin or where they come from or how they talk. Back then I still didn’t know what racism was or anything of the sort. People sometimes from my class will pick on me based on who I sound. People will come up to my face when I was in elementary and tell me that I was Guyanese or Mexican. And no matter how many times I told them that I am Ecuadorian and proved to them that I am who I say I am. They still don’t believe. That’s when my little young innocent eye’s finally opened up. Made me realize that this is the sociality that I will forever live in probably. From being a kid, I got sick and tired of trying to prove to everyone that I am who I say I am. Just to the point that I almost gave up on sociality as a whole. Wondering whether or not this planet will somehow improve. As for the education system, the elementary school provided help for those who didn’t speak English. In addition, the teachers had an afterschool program for those who still needed that extra help. Furthermore, the SWE was sorta used in elementary school but wasn’t that much explained or went to depth until middle school. In elementary school, my teachers didn’t go in-depth with the SWE since we were young at the time. The only thing they cared about is whether or not we can read and write and speak English.

What I have learned from this experience when I was a kid were the obstacles I faced when trying to understand English, and how much the elementary school only allowed you to learn in English but not in another language since this is America. From my experience back in elementary school, what enables me to understand something specific about reading, writing, learning, & language is from my teachers. Attending elementary school helped me open my young eyes to how important it is about reading. Reading is an important tool since it helps us evolve into better humans from the prehistoric age till now. Reading, writing, learning, and languages never stop from changes. It keeps evolving into learning something new from elementary school till you are in college. But besides the point, learning and understanding reflect on my community and the world around me since it keeps changing every day and it helps the world. To be more educated as a student and as a person. The community that I live in has changed from the moment I first moved here till now in college. My language and education had tremulously improved. Even the world is consist change, so do the reading, writing, learning, & language.

Unit 2: Is there a Possibility of Maintaining World Peace across the Globe?

What I revised in Unit 2 was including all the missing information that I haven’t included the first time. But making sure I proofread my writing by checking for any spelling check and grammar mistakes. To further check on what my professor and colleagues told me to edit. Why I took their advice, is to make my writing and overall project better and more interesting to listen to see other people’s opinions.

Is there a possibility of maintaining World peace across the globe? This is the topic that I am most interested in because there is not a simple answer to the question. It is not an easy “yes or no” question since it makes you think hard about whether there is an answer to this question. I cannot say if I had or did not have personal experience with this topic, since for most people it is a sensitive topic that few people are taking seriously. What I can say is that I am more of a pacifist type of guy. I believe war does not solve anything. If you are looking back at our history any conflict has not solved anything. The only war that did solve something was the American Civil War which helped abolished Slavery.

How I got interested in my question is by looking at the news on my phone or from the newspaper. Seeing them portrayed in movies is something that made me feel like I need to do something about other foreign countries that are struggling to have peace in their nation. In my research, if I somehow come across something that doesn’t fit my hypothesis. I will still use it in my research. I wouldn’t just toss it away or restart my research just because something is going against what I have to say. It will be interesting to use it in my research since it will be unique and fun while informative.

Is there a possibility of maintaining World Peace across the globe? This is a question I always wanted to know ever since I was a kid. Because ever since my mom showed me movies in which for some reason there was always conflict between at least 2 foreign countries, I always thought to myself “Why is it so hard to maintain peace?” or “Is there such a thing as World Peace?” Because I am more of a pacifist type of guy and I strongly believe that war and violence do not solve anything, but it only brings destruction and chaos.

Leader, Author Nika Saeedi Team, et al. “World Peace Is Not Only Possible but Inevitable: United Nations Development Programme.” UNDP, https://www.undp.org/blog/world-peace-not-only-possible inevitable#:~:text=While%20communities%20have%20formed%20networks,support%20structures%20that%20already%20exist.

The article “World Peace Is Not Only Possible but Inevitable” was written by Nika Saeedi. She is the team leader of Preventions of Violent Extremism in the UNDP. She is also in the Global Focal Point on MHPSS, and in the Religion and Hate Speech. She explains how there are several opportunities to implement change and to enhance their work to help other foreign countries succeed who need help. Nika explains methods that can overcome people from other countries to further succeed in being helped. She explains the importance of clarifying the idea to steer away from labeling women, youth, and racial, religious, and ethnic minorities as in danger groups.

In the “World Peace Is Not Only Possible but Inevitable” Nika states, “Several opportunities to enhance our work with peacebuilders, activists, and other populations in bringing about sustainable change and to ensure we recognize and articulate with greater clarity their latent capacity is to stand with women peacebuilders, to recognize the powers endowed in people of faith (especially women of faith), to recognize the essentiality of community-based peacebuilding as parallel to high negotiations, to include & appreciate young climate change advocates, environmental defenders, and environmental journalist. To acknowledge the role of volunteer online defenders from across the globe in combating trolls who spread hate speech. To show gratitude for the unique contribution of Indigenous peoples to our planet and our common future.”

As a result, Nika shows 1-5 ways her organization has enhanced its work with peacebuilders to ensure greater clarity of their capacity and change. Nika explains how we need to support and stand with our community and people who are trying to make a difference to help countries who are trying to achieve peace or progress of it. For example, Nika further explains how supporting and standing with our community to those that are trying to make a difference by saying, “To learn how people make decisions and act on them, how they think about, influence, and relate to one another, and how they develop beliefs and attitudes. We are working with young people to apply behavioral insights to address violent extremism in countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.” Moreover, Nika explains to us as a reader the importance to support one another as people, communities, countries, nations, and the planet as a whole.

If I can say anything to Nika Saeedi, it would be “How can I join your organization to further understand the concept of your job and witness the work your organization is providing to help other countries come decrease conflict. Nika’s writing style is persuasive and descriptive. Nika’s credentials of who she is and how the article is being written is see how professional she is. Since Nika is the team leader of Preventions of Violent Extremism in the UNDP. She is also in the Global Focal Point on MHPSS, and in the Religion and Hate Speech. That’s how I know her evidence and information are accurate and trustworthy.

I can agree with Nika since she says, “Believing in people and their desires to be sources of peace and justice. This means opening our eyes to the extent of people’s capacity so that we can see more peacebuilders and changemakers in more places.” To me in my honest opinion is very important since it helps support my research as we continue to go further and further into whether or not there is an answer to my question. What other information I need to look up to better understand the article is to further explain more about Nika and the work she has done.

Nika goes in-depth about the article “World Peace Is Not Only Possible but Inevitable.” She shows how much human relationships can emphasize identifying the desires we hope to serve. The quote states, “The innovation and resilience showed by communities amidst the pandemic have underscored the need for more expansive understandings of human relationships, and to place more emphasis on identifying the latent capacities and desires of those we hope to serve. This means believing in people and their desires to be sources of peace and justice. This means opening our eyes to the extent of people’s capacity so that we can see more peacebuilders and changemakers in more places. This means embracing the oneness of humankind and human nobility as a foundation for how we develop our policies and programs.” As you can see Nike demonstrates how much we as humans can contribute to making an effort to change our sociality.

International Peace Institute, Director. “2021 Global Peace Index: Measuring Peace in a Complex World. YouTube,” YouTube, 18 June 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86LhR8TCj2Q&t=100s

The video from youtube called “2021 Global Peace Index: Measuring Peace in a Complex World” is an International Peace Institute. It was published by Youssef Mahmoud who is a senior advisor at IPI and Steve Kilalea who is the founder and chairperson of IEP. Steve founded the Institute for Economics and Peace in 2007 as an independent Not-For-Profit Global Research Institute.

Throughout the whole video and the Global Peace Index indicates the percentage and the total number of countries that have become more peaceful because of the impact of the Institute. Thus, Steven explains visually how the IPI & IEP have impacted and worked on achieving peace in 8:59-9:25 shows “In the last 12 months peace deteriorated by 0.07%, and that is the 9th deterioration last 13 years. Now not 0.7%, it is only a very slight decrease, but you cannot wrap around that. But if we look at the number of countries, we had 87 countries becoming more peaceful & 73 countries deteriorate (9:25).” As a result, the GPI has made a tremendous impact in trying to improve peace around the world. The video explains how much peace has increased in 2021. The progress is slowly showing improvements to the sociality, and how much time it takes as the evidence can demonstrate the job and dedication this Institute has.

What I can agree with Youssef and Steve is how the video shows the highlights when the countries deteriorate. Making and showing improvements that are starting to take effect in other countries. “Highlights when countries deteriorate, the deteriorations are much bigger than the improvements.” The biggest improvements were in the ongoing conflict in that was the death through conflict, internal and the number of internal conflicts and intensity of them. The questions that I have for Youssef and Steven include are they doing anything to help improve the relationships between Russia & Ukraine? And if so, what are they implementing to stop the fighting? What don’t I understand is how come we have not heard of the IPI before? How I feel about the author’s presentations/writing style is highly informative and thought-provoking questions. The biggest choice I have about picking what entry source to use is by looking at the credibility of the source, who is giving the information, and where they are getting it from to support my topic.

Youssef and Steven’s credentials have a major impact on why I picked them as a source entry. Youssef’s credential is a senior advisor at IPI and Steve Kilalea is the founder and chairperson of IEP. Steve founded the Institute for Economics and Peace in 2007 as an independent Not-For-Profit Global Research Institute. Since they both provided strong details explaining what their organization does and how much they work alongside the United Nations. For me, the author’s writing style plays a significant role. As Youssef and Steven demonstrate with key details of what they do and what the organization does. Therefore, they are trying to show their audience how important their organization is, and the impact it has made on other countries. How their purpose is to make the audience understand what peace is and how much work their organization has gone to help other countries.

In the video, the one thing that I agree with Steven about is how indicators were the largest of deterioration. Steven goes along by saying “Indicators were the largest deteriorations were violent demonstrations. 3 times more countries filled & improved, and this continues a 10-year trend. Political instability where we found twice as many countries deteriorated as improved and then militarization when 97countries deteriorated (10:25-10:46).” That’s because Steven explains how the factors are by breaking down the deterioration and violence.

Universal House of Justice. “The Promise of World Peace.” By Project Gutenberg, 2006. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-pdf.pdf

“The Promise of World Peace” is a book produced by the Universal House of Justice of the Baha’i Faith. The Universal House of Justice talks about and explains the requirements of facing obstacles to establishing World Peace. People around the world have different opinions on what they want about peace. The Universal House of Justice explains how some people want to proclaim and want peace and harmony, while others have different ideas. This shows how there is a consistent battle of achieving peace since the main problem is opinions and not agreeing with each other’s philosophy.

The Universal House of Justice is a supreme ruling that constitutes an internal convention. The supreme ruling is more like a supreme court for faith and religion. Throughout the book, it shows how people are agreeing and disagreeing with each other, of whether peace can coexist. As we continue on page 3 it demonstrates the following statement, “People of all nations proclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, to put an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other hand, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic, and harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.” “The Universal House of Justice,” explains in-depth how there are 2 sides, one side where the people both want and need peace & harmony while the other side explains how we as human beings are the cause of not being able to achieve world peace. Since humans nature to be incompetent and to be incorrigible, selfish, and aggressive to change their opinions, causing them to be reckless and one of the factors that lead to uncivilized conflicts among themselves.

I am 100% comfortable able to agree with Gutenberg since it accurately demonstrates how human beings operate and how we must admit when we are wrong and be able to change and see how much work we can do together to achieve world peace. We can all see a clear definition of what most people are across the globe. How much harm we are doing to each other and how we can achieve it if we just adapt to the fact that we are the cause. The first to ever achieve a sort of peace is to be able to admit how selfish we are. And once we do that, we will be able to achieve peace. Now, the question I have to the author is, if this is so accurate and you believe in dedicating world peace. Then how come we as the people how come we as people have not heard of you? Are you doing anything to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine? Or if you have, why are you keeping too quiet? Next, I want to ask you the Universal House of Justice, why are you not in the United Nations? And why don’t you combine laws and research with them? This book informs my research by accurately representing how humans are the key factors to establish steps to come closer to peace.

Gutenberg’s writing genre is persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. The credentials are the Universal House of Justice. Since it’s a supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. The credibility of the book is important since it explains how their supreme ruling shows their country had formed peace in Haifa. The author’s purpose of writing is to explain to the audience how much peace can be if only we start by changing it in ourselves and being able to accept change. But also explaining how to do so may start in conflict. Causing an endless circle of going back to our natural ways as humans.

The “Universal House of Justice states,” “As the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction, which hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions upon which the commonly held view of mankind’s historical predicament is based. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct, far from expressing man’s true self, represents a distortion of the human spirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion constructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human nature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and conflict.” This quote I agree with this since it shows how much we can do if only we accept change and what we can do once we are in our natural state in which peace is either capable or incapable based on our intentions.

What I have found in my research from all my source entries, is that there is a small chance to maintain World Peace across the globe. In distinction to the first entry source, it states, “Several opportunities to enhance our work with peacebuilders, activists, and other populations in bringing about sustainable change and to ensure we recognize and articulate with greater clarity their latent capacity may include the following: To learn how people make decisions and act on them, how they think about, influence, and relate to one another, and how they develop beliefs and attitudes. We are working with young people to apply behavioral insights to address violent extremism in countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.” This shows how there is a small chance to grow the possibility to exist world peace. How in other countries are working on Implementing to create a small chance to exist peacefully in their countries. As a result, one country can successfully succeed in achieving peace.

Each entry source provided key essential information on whether it could happen. But so far in my research, it all came to the same conclusion. And that is people were, it all starts with us. How the people are either the cause or the effect of whether or not we can have peace. For us to one day live in a peaceful world is to be able to admit that we are the cause of the problem. Once we do that, we are one step on the way to achieving it. We need to come together and be able to professionally and respectfully agree and disagree with each other. And conclude to further understand how we can come to an agreement that both sides come out winning. What surprised me in my research was how there are organizations and government officials working day and night to agree on world peace. But at the same time, my research also shows how it would happen down a long, long road.

This topic too, and it should be for anyone who is 18 years older and up, needs to find this particularly important and interesting at the same time. I encourage you young adults to please do not take this as a joke. Because as we are talking about right now, other countries are struggling to have peace. For example, Russia and Ukraine are currently at war with each other. All because of this, Putin finds Ukraine a major threat and does not feel safe. Or because Putin does not want Ukraine to join the Western Defensive Alliance “NATO.” Or because Russia wants Ukraine’s natural resources? There are so many questions, and few being answered on why Russia went to war with Ukraine, and when the war is going to end. So please, take this topic very seriously and this is not a joking matter. I am hoping to reach my research about my topic to anyone who is in college and up. To conclude, my research was very intriguing, with a few questions answered and a few unanswered questions. To specify, peace in a country is possible while “World Peace,” is still being determined based on human actions and choices. Since we are the cause of the problem and the solution to it as well. We just need to figure out how we can make those problems and solutions coexist with each other to get a step closer on the path to World Peace.

How I feel about my project so far is how much work I have put into this project. How passionate I became about this project. Because to me, as a person, I am a pacifist type of guy. I believe that violence & war does not solve anything at all. I see from learning back in middle school and high school how the history class explains how much war and violence were caused by what, power, territory, natural resources, and disagreements with each other. See what I mean, there are other ways to achieve what you want so both sides can come out winning. That is why the Treaty of Paris of 1763 is important since it ended the American Revolutionary War. The problem I was having while doing this project was figuring out what source entry, I could use for my final entry source. Furthermore, what I think is working on this final project is being able to manage my time with this project. Being able to have total control of this project and being able to research something that I like & deeply passionate about. As you can see this is way better than having to write something you might feel is boring and not remarkably interesting, versus when it is something that piques your interest.

In addition, what I think I might need help with is the citation of the source entries I was using. Because to be fair, I forgot all about the MLA format. And yes, it was difficult, but I was to use a resource that helps create the citation for you. But I am not 100% sure if Easy bib is accurate or not. So far, I am proud of my research in general. Of how it came out and being able to smile and appreciate the amount of work I put into this project. The amount of endless writing is a wonderful feeling when you know you found a topic that truly makes you feel interesting and happy. To know that you will pick something that you do not regret. Because it just produces endless information and being able to have an open mind about your research. Because I created a question, “Is there a possibility of maintaining World Peace across the globe?” And it made me rethink the question I was trying to answer. Since throughout my research it showed countless information about how countries are becoming peaceful, while few are not close to it. It made me realize that my question is overly broad and huge. As a result, I figured out that “World Peace” is possible eventually.

Unit 3

If I had to revise my Unit 3 it would be to see and check if I had any spelling checks or grammar mistakes. But so far as I see I don’t need to change anything I am comfortable that I did better than my Unit 1 and 2. That’s because Unit 3 personally was my favorite and fun to do. To try something new and interesting that I haven’t done in a long time. Overall my Unit 3 was fun and exciting to do since my Artcraft was slowly forming into beauty.

Throughout my Unit 2 project, I researched whether or not there is a possibility of maintaining World Peace across the globe? And from what I have found, turns out that our world can have a chance at world peace. But it all starts with us. Whether we like it or not we are the cause of it. We first, need to come to an agreement that World peace is possible. But it provides a lot of support within our community, our city, our country, and our world. Furthermore in my research, I came across multiple explanations on whether World Peace is achievable. All my source entries came to the same conclusion. Which was World Peace can coexist as long as we as human beings can come to agree with each other and come together as a whole. To support one another and help each other. Having countries become allies with one another. While making peace treaties that support each other while having both sides win.

My goal is to educate students from 12 graders to freshmen in college since they are more mature and old enough to handle it. To understand and be curious about the topic that I am trying to present. To make sure they don’t ignore the topic since it is not a laughing matter. That they must take it very seriously since people right now are currently affected by it. How I will target my audience is by introducing a scene from the movie called “Braveheart.” This movie is the key to my presentation. Braveheart gives detail, emotion, action, and suspense. The scenery of the filming locations in Scotland and Ireland is breathtaking, the cinematography is spectacular. The movie sets, costumes, and weapons are very well made. From suffering to courage to love is depicted. As we continue, fellow students. I will start with my presentation by watching “Braveheart,” from the movie we will be watching a specific part of the scene to show you and visually see the lengths to achieve peace.

Click this link right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIvRkjOd1f8&t=35s and watch it till the very end. Once you have watched the whole thing, let me give you background information about what “Braveheart” is about and why I picked it, and how it connects to my topic overall. On google, it states “Braveheart is about William Wallace a medieval Scottish patriot who is spurred into revolt against the English when the love of his life is slaughtered. Leading his army into battles that become a war, his advance into England threatens King Edward I’s throne before he is captured and executed, but not before becoming a symbol for a free Scotland.” Now for why I picked it and how it connects to the topic. Will let me explain. I picked this movie for the emotion, history, and the impact it has when someone is watching this movie. Especially, watching that specific scene from the movie, from the link that I provided. That scene I provided has a significant connection to my topic. That scene is a speech that is being given by the main character William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson who also directed the movie). In addition, that speech has a lot of depth and emotion about the whole significants of the movie and my topic. Moreover, I wanted to show you how peace can be achieved. Yes, it was violent, but you can see it yourself and feel the connection between the main character and the plot of the movie. You can empathize with everyone else in the movie and the struggle they’re facing just so they can have their freedom. As a result, William Wallace made a huge impact on everyone in the movie and us as the audience. To come to terms with how much we need to fight for our freedom and how far we have come. To figure out what we need to do and to go on the right path to come closer to World Peace.

Artist Statement 

I became interested in the topic of world peace since not many people ask questions about world peace. This topic became very interesting in researching because to me as a person I am a pacifist type of person. But being a pacifist it is also kinda hard to see that war can or can’t be unjustifiable. How I became curious about world peace was watching movies, watching the news, and reading about war and documentaries on the internet. And one day the idea came to me, wondering whether or not there’s a possibility of maintaining World Peace across the globe? That’s why I researched a lot of entry sources explaining the possibility of World Peace. And how World Peace is achievable, but it starts with us. Coming together, and forming organizations that support and help many countries that are struggling with peace.

The purpose of this project is to educate my fellow audience who are in high school and going to college. To be able to understand and be curious about it, while living in today’s sociality. Can there be a possibility of maintaining World Peace across the globe? To agree on whether or not it can be answered? I wanted my audience to be at least 18 years and up since they are more mature and to take it very seriously. To make sure that the audience understands the topic itself, and why it must be taken seriously since it is not a laughing matter. And hopefully, my audience will be able to leave my presentation with curiosity, questions, and understanding. Also, I see my project itself shown in a classroom or an auditorium since it’s a formal, informative, educational presentation. Furthermore, the appeals that I am currently using are pathos and ethos. Since they provide my project with emotion and credibility.

As for my presentation, I will be using a movie named “Braveheart.” It’s a movie about war, freedom, and peace. But the movie I will be using a specific scene from the movie. The scene itself is 2 minutes and 48 seconds long. Long enough to keep my audience entertained and visible pleasing. This made me realize that my audience will be entertained since my goal is to make it not boring. But something unique and new. But with the movie, I will have to create a short speech or article about why I picked it and how it connects to the topic of World Peace.

The process of making my project the way it is. By using my imagination while being creative at the same time. As well as including a movie that in my opinion best suits fit my audience. Then, finding a movie that connects to my topic while having my one goal in mind. To make sure that my audience doesn’t get bored. Next, I went to make sure that incorporate my topic from Unit 2 and explain why in I picked World Peace as my topic. What didn’t work so well was creating a book since my audience will get bored. Because the whole point of my project is to make sure I did something new and unique. Who I turned to for help is my Professor Cole. She was able to clarify in detail what the project needs to be about. While asking my sister to be my audience and tested out on her whether or not she was entertained by it and see if she got bored at any moment. When I did panic was whether or not the movie can connect with my audience and with my topic overall. What I did was watch the scene that I picked and test it out with my sister and friends, and to see whether or not they liked it and ask for their honest feedback.

I think that it turned out unique as I wanted it to be. While making sure that my audience doesn’t get bored throughout the whole presentation. I saw my appeals evolve as beautiful as the sunset. It came together perfectly in my honest opinion. The movie and the scene itself worked like a charm. It was short, sweet, and straight to the point. If I had the time, what I would have done differently is to present it to my class. To see their honest reactions and feedback. To understand what different approaches I could have taken to my project. Maybe include the audience more than just make them watch my presentation, but incorporate them somehow. To have my audience be part of the presentation, instead of just being an audience. What I am happy about is the movie that I picked. And if you haven’t watched Braveheart, please do so and tell me what you think of the movie. The project itself was both easy and hard. The hardest part was finding a genre that best presents my project, and to make sure that my audience doesn’t get bored so easily. How I feel having to do something like this as a college project was fun and very creative. It gets the student itself thinking while forming creativity in it. It was an amazing experience since it was something new. While I do see myself using this in the future to approach audience’s to my project that goes with my career. Overall, this was an incredible experience and to be able to see other people approach their projects differently is mindblowing. Imagination and creativity together work alongside each other.

Final Reflection

What I have learned about myself as a reader, writer, and scholar this term is to be able to use all three for my upcoming future. From the beginning of class, I didn’t know what it meant to be a reader, writer, or scholar. When learning to be a reader or becoming one it all takes time and effort. It takes a lot of dedication to reading like a writer. As a reader, we must figure out how to indicate what we must read and learn what we need to include in overall writing and reading. For instance, in “How to Read Like a Writer” Mike Bunn stated “I think in my opinion what he meant by this is that the article states, ‘You have a built-in advantage when reading like a writer. All of your previous writing experiences inside the classroom and out can contribute to your success with RLW.’ What he’s trying to convey is that we already have some advantages when it comes to writing or becoming an author, since in school they taught us a thing or two about reading and writing.” This shows how much I have learned to become a reader and a writer at the same time.

A writer is something completely different from a reader. But they can be connected to develop into creating a wonderful essay. As a writer myself who still has a lot to learn, I have learned that writing is easy since it was taught to us in school. But writing as a writer is something unique that takes time and effort. To perfect one of becoming a writer. It would be best if you forgot about those lousy things in middle school or high school. Yeah, some could help, but a writer takes years of practice. In Mike Bunn’s article, I have stated “What I’ve noticed in particular that I want to try in my writing is “What should you be writing as you are reading” on page 81. Bunn explains a few of his methods of what he does when he does this. On page 81 it states, “One thing that I like to do is highlight and underline the passage in the text itself, and then try to answer the following three questions on my notepad: ‘What is the technique the author is using here? Is this technique effective? What would be the advantages and disadvantages if I tried this same technique in my writing?'” I want to try this out because it seems helpful when you’re researching something in particular or something specific. In conclusion, overall Bunn’s article has some very key pointers we should all pay attention to and use when we are reading and writing.” As you can see I believe that Mike Bunn’s article and the overall message are very important for other students to learn about. To perfect their reading and writing skills, to achieve something greater in life. And how it can help in the long run in their future.

What I have learned as being a scholar or closer to one. Is to differentiate the difference between reading as a writer or writing as a reader. As both, I wanted to show how much work it has to be put into a lot of determination and inspiration to become a scholar. Being able to understand how important it is to be able to use it in my daily life. How much improvement I have ever since I step foot in this class. From the beginning, I didn’t understand the difference between what a scholar was or what it meant. Then furthermore as the class went into depth, I was able to see and understand what a scholar is and how it can be used it improves my overall structure as a student in college. A scholar is someone who is a person who pursues academic classes/activities that apply to their area of expertise. A scholar can be anyone who wants to try and succeed and, wants to make changes in life that can help them in life and life.

How I will be able to use what I have learned this term and transfer that knowledge to other writing situations-either in college or my community, by going back and looking at my work. To go furthermore in what I have learned and do more and more learning. By researching more skills and techniques in my writing to further improve myself as well as my reading. As for college, I will continue taking classes in English composition to further improve and understand the lengths that I have to go to achieve what I want. As for what I want, I want to be able to follow and understand/learn all the techniques and skills of being a reader, writer, and scholar. In addition, my community is my home. I see my community as a part of me. My community makes me how I am now. And for that, I don’t want to take it for granted. I want to show my community how much I have learned from college. How college isn’t that bad. That it teaches you important techniques and skills that can develop your improvement that can help you for your future.

How I would compare and contrast what I did early in the semester to now is by looking at the comments of my professor and peers. By checking back at the formating of choice I picked when writing or reading back then.  And checking the grades I got back then till now. As I see, my writing style has changed tremendously, and how much I have learned from this class and my professor. To understand and be able to somewhat perfect my writing. By seeing how much work I have put into this class to be a great reader, writer, and scholar. To see my artwork process as this class is about to come to an end. But to remember the important details, information, skills, lessons, and teaching. Everything about me comes from reading and writing. Before I found it very boring and almost useless. But once I step foot into high school and college it made me change my opinion. To see how important it is for my classes and my future.

What were my favorite and the least favorite assignment were Units 2 & 3? Moreover, what was my least favorite assignment was the Educational Narrative. To elaborate on what I mean why Units 2 and 3 were my favorite since it was something new that I haven’t learned from middle school and high school. Why I hated Unit 1 was because I did something similar to it back in high school. I prefer to learn something that I haven’t learned in high school since it’s fun and interesting at the same time. Because learning the same thing can get very boring and very tiring. To be able to pick up new techniques and to go in-depth on the techniques we learn back in high school is very eye-opening. Before coming to this class, it made me realize why annotating is important and why prereading my work before submitting it can truly help save time and make your overall structure and foundation very stable. I’ll explain why I enjoyed Units 2 and 3 because I was able to do something I was dying to do. To pick something I was passionate about, not something that a teacher or professor gives you knowing it will be boring and tiring. And because of that, the students can effort their writing and you can truly see when you are reading.

Ishmel Johnson

English 1101

Unit 1 Education Narrative

It’s a warm fall day in September. It was the second week of school when everyone got their schedules, and I am going over mine with my friend to see if we have some of the same classes, but it was only for two classes. One was math, and another was programming class. We both never had a problem with math, so we were fine with that, but programming was something we never did before. I thought it was going to be another class that I must sit through and just do the work. I was sitting in class and listening to the teacher talk about what the class is going to be and the things we will do in this class. So far is how the other classes went and I am not very interested right now.

 The next day in class he tells us to take out the computers so we can get to programming. At first nobody knew what to do because he didn’t teach us anything yet. After nobody knew what to do, my teacher said play with it for 10 minutes and I did. I try to see what I can do. I started playing with it and made the program to make multiple squares repeatedly. My teacher notices this and tells us that time is up. I wanted to keep going but he said he wanted to show us something important. I didn’t know what to expect, my teacher opened his computer and showed us what he was doing in the 10 minutes he gave us. He made a program that makes it look like stars twinkling in the galaxy and I was impressed with it because he was able to be creative with what little time he had.

 Two weeks had passed, and I was becoming more and more interested in the programming class, but my grades didn’t show it. I wasn’t doing the homework I was given because of laziness. So, after class I had my programming teacher who wanted to speak with me. I was nervous because I knew what he wanted to talk about, but I didn’t want to talk about it. Before we talked about my grades, he asked me what I wanted to do in life. At the time I didn’t know the answer to that question, so I said I didn’t know. When he heard my response, he asked another question which was something you like to do. I told him I like to play games and that I liked programming. He said he was going to show me something on his laptop and when I went to see it was a soccer game he made. Then he said that he found something he wanted to do in life by doing something he enjoys doing. He also said you can’t have a goal without having some tough times, these are your tough times. Learn to be able to do everything you need to do first before you focus on one thing. To quote his word he said “Schools and teachers like me are here to make students who they need to become “after that he made time during his lunch to give me a study room quiet time so I can do the other classes work. I was able to do better with the time that he has given me but it wasn’t enough. I was still falling behind my other classmates. I was starting to worry that I just wasn’t a smart enough student to pass the grade.

During my  the year my parent teacher conference was coming up and I didn’t want to go mostly because of the grade and I didn’t want my parents to see that but unfortunately they already knew that I had one. On the car ride their my parents kept asking me why was I nervous and is there something that I need to be worried about. I felt like they already knew about my grade but they wanted to hear it from my voice themselves but I told them that their shouldn’t be anything to worry about. The more closer I got to the school the more nervous I was and finally we get to the school to meet my teachers. First it was my English teacher mostly because they wanted to hear from her first mostly do to that the class I have the most trouble in. Everything I expected to hear came true. She talked about how I wasn’t getting the best grade from my work and how I would get distracted in the middle of class which led to me not doing the best with my classwork either. I could tell that my parents wanted to find out the reason behind this so I told them I just get uninterested in doing writing work and that causes me to lose my train of thought when trying to do work. After that it was my social studies teacher. I was better with social studies rather than English so it wasn’t as bad. He mostly said the same thing as the social studies teacher which was I get distracted in class. My parents asked the same question again and I gave her the same response.

Finally we get to my programming teacher. I wasn’t to nervous with him but he gave my parents a response I didn’t expect. He told them the same thing the other teachers said. I thought to myself what I did wrong but he told me to let him finish what he was saying. He said that he’s making an attempt to do better in his class but that I should do what I do with him with the other teachers. He says once they see you trying to do better in their class you can see the improvement in your grades. After that he said he was gonna make me a deal. I will keep doing my work in his class as study hours but I must also do the same with the other teachers to prove that I’m actually trying to be a better student. I said sure at first because my parents was there but after thinking about it more I realized it was gonna be hard for me mostly because I didn’t really talk to other teachers besides him. The next day at lunch I tried to give it a chance I went to my social studies teacher for a week and the more I went the more nicer the teacher seemed and the easier the work has gotten. The same was said about the English class but it took me three weeks to be better. Of course I wasn’t the best but I did make improvement with my grades and felt proud about it as well.

Unit 2 RAB

My research question is “How will technology evolve in the future and how will it impact the world. “Technology is something that is used in everyday life whether you are using your cell phone to call someone to having electric cars. I am interested in this question because technology as we know is always changing and it will keep changing as long as mankind keeps having ideas on how to improve. I remember when I was in sixth grade when I gotten my first phone and I loved it. I believe the future technology of the world will have a great impact like it has been doing so far because anything technology related that has been invented has been used to help people as much as possible. It was a TracFone and it didn’t do much except for calling and texting my mom and dad whenever I needed them or they needed me. Now my little sister had an iPhone 13 and my brother has an iPad Mini and it makes me think about how they can do the stuff I dreamt about doing when I was there age. People older than me go through the same thing when they saw I had an flip phone at a young age. My parents talk about their past and how growing up it was harder to socialize with their friends if they weren’t in person or didn’t have a landline. My mother told me one time that she had to sneak using the landline floor from her mother so she wouldn’t get in trouble for using the phone for so long and whenever she did get away with it she had to make plans two weeks in advance just in case they won’t talk for a while. I expect to find research showing what people have a concept idea that works and predictions on how people can make their ideas work. I also expect to find people reasonings on why they decided to try to invent this idea in the first place. If I find information that goes completely against what I said before I will still write it and I will also show the sources that debates against me. There could possibly show evidence that technology will evolve from what it is today or it can even show that technology will evolve but it won’t be a great impact on the world. Anything can happen in the future and to the world especially now with the current circumstance of the world.

Thinking about the past and how we have gotten here like how we as humans went from walking everywhere to get from place to place then learning how to train horses to hold carriages to make automobile cars. We are even moving past that by using electric cars which have proven to be a very eco friendly place. That’s how technology evolved to how we it is today and now it is time to think about how it will keep evolving in the future.  When you think about technology you think of all the advancements you see in movies. For example movies like “I, Robot”,  and “The Terminator” you see that Robots are made possible and almost made to be very human like where you think they could actually be human. While watching these movies you think that it is cool to see robots like this but that is in the distant future, but what if it is closer than expected. Of course I am not talking about Robots trying to take over the world but rather smart robots helping humans with their everyday life. Think how easy it would be to have an  extra set of hands that can help you with your everyday needs starting from taking out the trash to helping kids with their homework. Robots with a smart AI like these are signs that the world  will keep changing and evolving to help human needs.

A quote that I find interesting is written by Trevor English where he says “In theory, everything we just talked about an AI doing is possible. It’s just not highly practical with the technology we have now. The processing power to essentially create the human brain is enormous, but quantum computing might be our gateway to successfully creating artificial general intelligence.  From a technology perspective, we’re pretty far off from being able to create AGI. However, given how fast technology advances, we may only be a few decades old. Experts expect and predict the first rough artificial general intelligence to be created by around 2030, not too far off. However, experts expect that it won’t be until 2060 until AGI has gotten good enough to pass a “consciousness test”. In other words, we’re probably looking at 40 years from now before we see an AI that could pass for a human.“. I find this interesting because he talks about how far and close we are from having robots. Of course we aren’t going to have the technology like that for a while but the AI everyone has created is getting better.

Of course, everyone can’t stop thinking about what the future will be like and think it’s guaranteed that we will live the futuristic life everyone dreams of. For example, I dream about the day where people can have teleportation machines to make traveling easier, but we know that’s basically impossible to do in the near future for now at least. One of the biggest problems of the future of technology is how many people will lose their jobs due to machines replacing them. An article that goes into a better example of this can be on “CSGlobe” where it states “With new advances in the field of robotics being made every day, it has been estimated that nearly half of all US jobs will be vulnerable to computerization within the next 20 years. Previous employment areas which were once considered ‘human only’ are now being taken over by machines. Twenty years ago, a self-checkout machine was thought impossible, now there are almost half a million worldwide, enabling one member of staff to run up to six checkout lanes at a time. With AI becoming ever more advanced, there may come a time when computers are able to do jobs which requires human decision making. With automatic cars also just around the corner, will the sole job for humans in the future be the repair and maintenance of the machines which took their jobs? Or at least until a device is invented that can do that as well”. To summarize the quote that was said by the user “Amazing-Buzz” the more technology evolves the more that the machines can operate by themselves. When machines can do the jobs that humans can do without the risk or having to pay for workers then company owners would take advantage of this. All they would really need is to pay a couple of workers to supervise the machine to make sure it doesn’t break down. When you think about how many people would be jobless in the future it doesn’t make the future sound too good. Most jobs that you can think of have a chance of being replaced by technology. Doctors are no exception. Sometime in the distant future there will be AI machines that can handle the surgery so nobody would have to worry about human error. In the article written by Harvard Business Review they say “Medical artificial intelligence (AI) can perform with expert-level accuracy and deliver cost-effective care at scale. IBM’s Watson diagnoses heart disease better than cardiologists do. Chatbots dispense medical advice for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service in lieu of nurses. Smartphone apps now detect skin cancer with expert accuracy.”. To summarize the quote it says that AI intelligence are smart enough to do what train professionals can do. Looking at this article shows that’s just what current AI can do and  makes people wonder how they will continue to evolve even more in the future.

During my time researching my topic question I have learned a great deal of information. I have learned that the technology that we think is going to be closer than we expect. Not the really futuristic ideas like flying cars but instead things that make technology a part of us. Virtual reality is one of the ideas. The virtual reality of the future is going to be way different than the Virtual reality we have now. To give a better understanding the VR will include human senses into it so that people will feel more immersed in it. Imagine you decided to try your VR after a long day of work or school and want to relax. You could take a small trip to a virtual resort. You smell the beach waters and make you think you’re actually there and having no care in the world. I also learned about the downsides to having technology and how it causes more and more people to lose their jobs every day. When you have machines doing the jobs that humans do without having to include risk as a factor then more companies will do this. It’s cheaper to use the machines because they can’t get hurt, don’t have to pay for health insurance and they can’t demand more money. It will be sad to see more families struggling due to this type of situation. Before finding my research, I was asked, if I was to find research that contradicts my topic would I still write it and I said yes. I did find some research that contradicts me as well as sources that back my side up. To summarize sources that go against what I say dreaming about the concepts on how it will work is different than putting it into action. When you think about how to solve any problem whether it’s technology or problem solving in general you think you find the easiest situation until it comes time to put it to the test. The same goes with trying to create the technology we want like teleportation and flying cars. Although we are not close to making that idea reality, we are close to making other things. I believe my generation and younger generation needs to learn this information because soon it will be our world. They need to know that technology will keep evolving the more we evolve as well but there are also side effects of what they could cause. Before they really create anything, they need to know the pros and cons.

Reflection

This term I learned a lot about myself in terms of being a reader, a writer and a scholar. I found out hidden problems I had and how I was able to overcome them. Ever since middle school I haven’t been a good reader. I would read an article or paragraph and then move on without understanding. While you read you are supposed to understand what you read or else it would be a waste of time and won’t understand future details in a passage. As a writer I forget to proofread my own work so I end up making simple mistakes like grammar and sentence structures just to name a few. Looking back at the beginning of the semester I used to proof read once and not open my mind to how others would read my work. I was thinking like a writer instead of thinking how to make my work easier for a reader who doesn’t have prior context. In terms of being a scholar I was not the best. I would procrastinate while accepting any grade that I can receive. Having that mentality through my school life has messed me up before, if in the past I had the mentality I have now then I could see myself with better grades. After going through this term I realized I will not be able to get by doing the bare minimum. It was harder than I expected and if I didn’t change I couldn’t see myself doing well.

Being a reader was always my hardest problem I had to face as an student. Due to myself being distracted easily I would get off track and lose my train of thought which caused me to have to reread again.  Slowly over the months I would see myself getting better and better the more that I read. Whether it was articles given to us to read or books that I would read in my own free time.  As I stated in Unit 1 Education Narrative I said ” I thought it was going to be another class that I must sit through and just do the work. I was sitting in class and listening to the teacher talk about what the class is going to be and the things we will do in this class. So far this is how the other classes went and I am not very interested right now. “.  I chose to talk about this quote because it related to how I felt at the beginning of the semester. I was never really into reading in general and the work I would submit showed that through my grades. There were many times I doubted myself in terms of being able to accomplish this goal. It was a struggle for me to overcome and I still do not believe that I have fully overcome this issue of mine. But I am a better reader than I was at the start of the term. Knowing that becoming a good reader is not just about reading a passage. It’s about understanding what you read as well. As I said before “While you read you are supposed to understand what you read or else it would be a waste of time and won’t understand future details in a passage.

As a writer I believe this is where the area I best developed over the term. Similar to my skills as a reader I was not a great at writing as well. My work that I have submitted would have bad grammar like misspelled words and run on sentences. I had a habit of writing words that wouldn’t fit well with the topic I was talking about. Thinking the more words I have written would mean that it would be a good work, this was not to be the case at all. The more I wrote during this term the more I realized that the way I have been writing was all wrong, paragraphs in your work are supposed to follow a structure depending on the topic you write about. That way it is easier for you to let your words flow together which makes it easier for a reader to understand your work. After learning how to structure my sentences I also had to learn how to proofread my work better. At first glance I always thought my work would be good enough as it is. Of course this would not work, after reading “The Maker’s Eye” by Donald Murray the way I proof read is different now. I mentioned before during my previous work called “The Maker’s Eye annotations’ when I said “These lines give me a good understanding on how to improve on my revisions. My main problem is when I look back on my work I look at it from my point of view when I need to look at it from the reader’s point of view.”. Understanding that as a writer my work will always make sense to me since I am the person who wrote it but this clouds my judgment of my work. I needed to look at it from an outside point of view. That’s how I could find the faults within it. I haven’t perfected this skill but I am getting better at it.

Being a scholar was hard to do since I carried all of my previous problems I had into this term. I was not where I needed to be but thankfully I have improved. Looking back at the assignment titled “Time capsules” I see what issues I am still having and which issues I have fixed.  A piece from that assignment at the beginning of the term said ” Make sure to keep pushing yourself and don’t slack behind. Also try to improve on working to get rid of your procrastination. Make sure your writing skills have improved so we won’t struggle in our English classes anymore.”. Thankfully I have seen an improvement in terms of writing skills which would have made  my beginning of term self proud. Although I do still see improvement, I can’t say I have successfully completed all of them.  I was able to push myself harder but my procrastination  hasn’t gotten better. It is better than what it would have been at the beginning of the year but not enough to say that I have successfully conquered it. I am proud to see the growth between the beginning of the semester and my current self. Looking back I am proud of myself to say that I have improved. and Hopefully I will continue to improve in order to be the best version of myself in terms of reading, writing and being a scholar.