Throughout this semester, reading and writing has taught me to think more out of the box. I’m not used to writing at a college level but it made me realize that sometimes you need to try something out of your comfort zone. Although I struggle with writing a lot, this semester has taught me to enjoy and have fun with my writing. I will use what I have learned this semester and transfer it towards my future by stressing less about how I should start my writing and focusing more on writing anything that comes to mind. Drafts are never and should never be perfect, that’s why we come back to our work to review and edit it. For example, in my RAB final draft, I wrote about standardized testing and its negative effects on students. I feared that my analysis was going to sound repetitive and unprofessional but once I got to go back and review my work I was more focused on proving my point in detail. My analysis states, “As expressed, these days standardized testing isn’t used to benefit kids but only ruins their mental health and lack of learning. If test scores are high it’s viewed as the staff in the school is doing a good job teaching, but if it’s low it’s viewed as doing a bad job. These tests clearly are made to benefit schools rather than educate kids. Students should be given the comfort and material that will bring out their creativity which will make them enjoy school and feel comfortable around their teachers and peers. Children should not be put under so much stress just for schools to use their test grades as a way to prove that they are a good school!” As you can see, in this analysis I focused more on getting my point across so the reader is more focused on my argument and the evidence I include to support that argument. Moreover, in my educational narrative I struggled with the same problem. I worried that my writing was off and I would sound like I was telling a story. The educational narrative was basically a story about an educational experience, so it really did not matter. What mattered the most was my experience with education through my grade school years. The narrative states, “Going into middle school with an IEP wasn’t easy because the teachers did not know where to place me. Each class was based on the students’ level of learning. I was removed from a class and put into another class because of my learning disability. It made me feel like it wasnt good enough. I started to realize that the students would make fun of me or the other students that also had IEP. Bullying can become a problem when in an IEP. Some thought being in an IEP was for dumb students who were delayed, but they did not know that it helped plenty of students like me with my anxiety and schooling. Middle school really opened my eyes and made me realize that an IEP was only to benefit me and made me appreciate my teachers and peers even more.” This shows that in my educational narrative I focused on giving a clear educational experience throughout elementary, middle, and highschool. I made sure to also include what I struggled with the most during this experience. Lastly, in my most recent writing project which was a fairytale. I worried that a fairytale would be corny and out of my comfort zone to write, but after reading it over i felt that it made the most sense because i was writing about a prince and his own struggle with learning. My work states, “As a prince he has responsibilities that he must act upon in order to be liked and accepted by his fellow citizens. Jeffrey faces backlash from others because of his speech disorder which frustrates him and his parents. He sometimes wishes he never had so much power and fame because what comes with that is rumors, and accusations made upon him and his family. Although his parents do not enjoy the bad publicity they still care and want to make their son feel as comfortable and loved as possible.” A fairytale was best fit for this assignment because I got to show how even people with high power struggle with their own issues, in this case it was learning and communicating with others. Overall, this semester has taught me a lot about how I can improve my writing. I find that writing can be difficult for me which leads me to become anxious about what I write, but I learned that thinking outside of the box and doing something different can change your mindset on things and help you improve overall.
Artist Statment
Artist Statement
For this project I decided to write about a boy that faces similar academic struggles as me. This was more of a fairy tale type of writing but I made sure to include obstacles he faces as prince with an academic disability. Something I would’ve done to better my work is go more into detail about his struggles. I mention how it is hard for him to communicate and work as prince but I think mentioning how it affects him deeply would give the reader a better understanding of his circumstances. I became interested in this topic after discussing it in class. I wanted to keep it nice and simple and thought that a fairy tale would be perfect for this project. Writing about a boy with non-verbal autism in a fairy tale sense was a bit difficult for me because I usually don’t like fairy tales because they tend to sound too annoying. Although I don’t usually like writing fairy tales, I believe that this would be a good fit for something that involved a child with academic difficulties. The purpose of making this project was to show that children with learning disabilities struggle with plenty of backlash from the people around them and the hardship of not being able to process and express themselves. I always panic when I have a major writing assignment because I worry about how I sound and how to start off my work. Writing my first few sentences took me about an hour because I feared it might sound super corny. Now that I am done with my project I am somewhat happy with my finished work. I say this only because I left this assignment for the last minute which is my fault, but if I would’ve done it earlier I would have mentioned more about the main character and his struggles with school and his social life.
educational fairy tale
There once was a prince named Jeffrey Williams who struggled with non-verbal learning disorder which caused him to lack communication skills with the people around him. His mother and father noticed this problem at an early age and thought he would never be fit as king one day. Jeffrey was the only child and knew that as he got older he would be looked at as a king figure. Jeffrey attended an all boys private school, where only the higher ups were accepted. Jeffrey was put in a special needs classification due to his learning disorder. Jeffrey usually never communicated with his teachers nor classmates, but his teachers noticed that he has amazing writing skills and potential. Jeffrey finds it easier to express himself through writing, by doing this he writes journals and poems in his free time. Jeffrey’s disorder has not only affected him and how he performs in school but it also affects his home life and how the kingdom portrays him. As a prince he has responsibilities that he must act upon in order to be liked and accepted by his fellow citizens. Jeffrey faces backlash from others because of his speech disorder which frustrates him and his parents. He sometimes wishes he never had so much power and fame because what comes with that is rumors, and accusations made upon him and his family. Although his parents do not enjoy the bad publicity they still care and want to make their son feel as comfortable and loved as possible. When Jeffrey is in school he also faces backlash from his classmates, because of this he feels left out and tormented for his social problems. He fears standing up for himself would cause an even bigger problem and ruin his image even more. The bullying only makes his struggles even worse and adds on to the stress and ongoing anxiety. Jeffrey was assigned a major writing assignment for his final grade at school where he was allowed to write about something he desired the most, which was writing! Jeffrey was looking forward to this assignment because it was the only time he can really express himself and how he feels deep down inside. In his final paper he expresses how writing gives him time to think and explore deep into his mind. It is important for him to be able to communicate through his writing because he is unable to communicate with people around him so he finds comfort in writing his ideas, emotions and thoughts.
