JewellENG1101fall2019tth

Tiffany Muse                                                                                                          Eng 1101

Standing in front of a courtroom with an immense amount of eyes watching my every move and ears listening to any possible mistakes that may be made. Standing in front of a judge, who was actually just a practicing attorney, the power they still possessed over me and the validation they owned I needed and wanted in return. This was my thought process during my mock trial competition my first year. During practice I needed to write my own direct and cross examination for the case we were competing as well as an opening. Needing to be aware of the proper legal terminology to use to sound like I knew what I was talking about required me to learn. Words and phrases that were being used that I was not aware of which made me feel unfit and in over my head to be able to succeed in this competition and overall field. I would go on quiz-let and review certain terms that were frequently used such as the different types of objections and certain wording that was more proper to use when determining what was needed in the case whether it was civil or criminal. I would go over the terms constantly until I remembered what they meant and how they are supposed to be used. During practice I would have to focus on many different aspects of the language I used having to emphasis every point. Not being aware of these terms put me at a disadvantage since it was my first year competing and everyone else on the team had experience from the previous year. This discouraged me at first because of my struggle to learn these phrases for the first time when it was just a refresher for everyone else. 

 

A personal experience that I had with reading and writing would have to be regarding my little 9 year old sister. In the growing process of my sister is has been fairly hard for her to comprehend certain aspects of school and that’s where I came in, My sister would have trouble reading and understanding the topics in school and also her homework so I would sit with her and go through it one by one making sure she could fully understand what I was saying and shortly after she was doing it on her own. I soon found out that it was the way I was teaching her and she found it more interesting and comfortable because after all I am her brother. After a few weeks of us going over how to pronounce certain words and also how to complete sentences, she had it down and was finishing everything on her own. I had also made an appearance in her school to have a talk with one of her teachers to find out that my sister was doing perfectly fine but the teacher was the one doing her job as if it didn’t matter to her. She(the teacher) had been giving out worksheets and expecting the students to complete it at home without any knowledge of what they were expected to complete. The teacher was eventually fired and replaced and I would make sure that my sister understood by asking her questions based on what she as reading, the problem never occurred again.

“Fight it… Focus… Wait, what?… I can’t do this…”, I told myself as I sat at my desk with my face against the table struggling to keep my eyes open. My boredom had taken control over me. I could not withstand the immense power of my boredom as I slipped into my subconscious… Zzzzzzzzzzz…

A few days later I had found myself in the same situation, fighting to stay in control, yet again… Zzzzzzzzzzz… This clash continued, recurring frequently and I soon realized this was not a battle, but a war, a war that I was losing, a war that could not be contained.

“I need to conquer this…”, I thought to myself. I needed answers. I started to explore my mind, going through all of my memories for something that could give me a clue. I had finally found something. There is a saying to “fight fire with fire”, I’ve always wondered what that had meant. How could I fight the furious fire with fire, if the fire was what I was fighting, how infuriating. Surely I needed water, so I had gone to get a glass a water, preparing myself for the war that was to come. As the war drew closer, I started to throw the water at the fire. The result: Well you already know what happened there.

Growing up as a young kid Sports is what I found my main passion is, which meant that for me schoolwork always came second  both in the class and at home.  Although I made this decision I had felt like I didn’t have any choice or I didn’t want to believe Did.  When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with dyslexia witch is a learning disability that for me impacts my ability to spell and read.

One personal experience with writing that I remember vividly was happening during six grade. The writing assignment was based on this book that we read (which I forgot the name of) and we were supposed to write an essay on how the author uses language to convey his ideas in the book. I remember finishing reading the book (being the last one to do so) and then I went on to the essay. As I started writing my essay I felt my words get repetitive and all my thoughts and evidence was unorganized. I got my grade for my first writing assignment of 6th grade… it was a 55%. After that happened the idea that I was not good at school was  embarrassing for me and not only was I bad I couldn’t even get a passing grade. This situation caused me too stop caring about my grades and the work I needed to put in, I felt that it just wasn’t worth trying anymore and so that’s what I did or I should say didn’t do… I didn’t try and continued to not try because it was the easiest way out.

 

 

Jason Maselli                                                                                                                 9/12/19

I won’t lie I usually write things like this at the last minute which is what I’m currently doing and almost each time theres just a period of blankness on what to write. Usually there is a set topic to write now there is for this one too but its different since it has to do with personal experience. During this period of blankness I remember all the other times this occurred and thought to myself this would be a good thing to write about. This happens all the time before I begin writing something. I just sit there and stare at the blank page and do something else its essentially just a period of confusion because I’m constantly asking myself what should I write  followed by regret of why I didn’t do this earlier. With every minute that passes by I continue to think to myself I could be doing something else right now which only furthers the what should I write anxiety because I want to write something that will make it quicker to finish so I can do something else. In some even more honesty I spend more time in blank periods then I do on actually writing something because I want a good grade and usually last last minute work isn’t the best of quality so I try to write something that doesn’t look like I wrote it last minute or at least will get me a passing grade. Just making the blank period even worse until after about two hours of nothing I decide to write whatever comes to my mind and just hope it all works out.

If I were asked to write about my experiences with writing and reading like I am being asked to right now, I would literally scream because none of these experiences were even in the slightness of good. It all started in 2nd grade, with my teacher Ms.Hinds. I should’ve guess should would be a pain from her name. Basically, from the very beginning she would always call me out in front of the class just to tell me I’ve spelled several easy words wrong, ” Colour is spelled C-O-L-O-R not C-O-L-O-U-R”. Everyone would laugh and I was so embarrassed, I don’t like when the attention is on me. I feel awkward. There would also be instances where she would just pick on me to read knowing that I stutter a lot more than anyone. I felt different from everyone else and it seemed as if she was calling out my insecurities one by one in front of the world. I’m not sure if its just this experience but English never seemed to sit well with me. If we could talk in numbers I would do that in a heartbeat.

Jevon Williams.

ENG 1101

Throughout my early education, my literacy classes always had inspired me. Learning to read was easy for me because of the quality of teaching I had over me as well as a lot of help from home with my parents and younger sibling. I believe reading is one of the most important aspects of education. Reading and writing are related in many ways. And, though teachers can take advantage of these relationships in ways that can improve achievement, doing that would be very difficult and inefficient when taught separately It is the foundation for all other knowledge to be absorbed. To me, the first step to a successful education and life is learning to read. After that goal is accomplished, finding a way to really enjoy reading is another important factor in education.

The first time I realized how interesting writing was in the 4th grade. My teacher, every marking period, would make us choose a book to read from the class’s reading book shelf. At the end of the marking period, we would have to write about it and a creative story to go along with it. To me, this wasn’t your everyday school activity. It was a time to be completely creative and find a voice within the classroom. Finally, I was able to stand out on my own ideas amongst the other monotone lessons. Writing isn’t like other subjects. Research shows that reading and writing are closely aligned. That is, reading and writing depend upon many of the same skills, strategies, and knowledge — though those are deployed in different ways in reading and writing. In fact, about 70% of the variation in reading and writing abilities are shared.

I live in New York City, and in the city when you don’t have a car, the subway system is your best friend. I also love being on my phone and just browse or play games. However, whenever I am on the train I can’t use my phone to the extent I want it to because I don’t get signal inside the train. So I can’t play most of my fun games, browse social media, or watch videos to pass the time. I just have the ability to listen to music. I use the train a lot and for long periods of time most times so I always have nothing to do. That was until I downloaded an app called Webtoons. 

I was able to download and read manga from this app on the train which helped me pass time and emerge myself into different and crazy worlds. I told myself I will only use this app when I am on the train to pass time because I never really liked reading and to me it felt uncool and a waste of time. That was until I started reading this manga series Magician. This 400 chapter long story blew me off my seat and I found myself not only reading it on the crowded train while washing away all the unnecessary sounds and distractions and making an hour train ride feel like ten minutes, but also at home eating dinner or when I am about to go to sleep. I felt a whole new connection and feelings toward this series.

I personal experience that affected me is the challenge of starting a new school especially when I came from a different country. For me it was like I was an alien arriving on a new planet. Continue reading “My Personal Experience”