Rachael Cosbert
Professor Scanlan
ENG 1101
March 10, 2021
Intellectual Home
As a young girl my educational journey was always welcoming and comforting, with teachers who really assisted with my academics full on while caring about my emotions and opinions about the work assigned. Yet my biggest enemy was English, I taught myself how to read when I was four years old. English classes to me were not interesting to me at all in middle school, especially during the times we had independent reading; I could not focus on the book, I could not âcreate a pictureâ in my head, I never felt any emotion towards the books I had. I felt like I was failing myself at 13. Salvatore Scibonaâs narrative Where I Learned to Read relates to me because I went through the exact same journey he did.
My major educational turning point happened mid 8th grade when my humanities teacher told the class âif you need help with finding books to read, Iâll helpâ Right when she announced it, I went straight to her for books. She gave me three books she really liked; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Outsiders, and Looking for Alaska. Once I started reading them my interest peaked, I needed those books for the challenge. Each page, word, and letter alleviated my lack of caring and pushed my desire to read farther out. In Scibonaâs piece he states âEarly senior year, a girl in homeroom passed me a brochure that a college had sent her.â That said college was his intellectual home, the girl was basically his enlightenment just like my teacher.Â
After reading the three books, I kept going back to her for more and more; her guidance and small talks we had made me find comfort in English class and future classes. When I graduated middle school she told me to continue reading and I followed her words until I got to high school. High School was a brand new slate for me, where I found myself reading more and more. I ended up loving my English class freshman year – the years after I only took AP and Honors english classes broadening my horizons when it came to analyzing characters, understanding the plot, making connections to the outside world. I fell in love with words and the emotions behind them.
In comparison to Scibonaâs journey to reading, I needed a push to unlock the knowledge I never knew I had. As I write this I came to the conclusion that I do not personally have an intellectual home; I find comfort in challenging myself, not in a specific place like Scibona found with St. Johnâs – it is mainly a mindset I possess. The more searching I have to do, the more comfort I find. Alike Scibona his writing tackles the narrative of a heroic state from struggles to success, where I on the other hand found success and attentiveness due to consistent reading.
1âIs the title of the article, the source, and the full authorâs name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
no mentioned in the first 2 sentences but mentioned later in the first paragraph.
Yes, the title of the article is the source of the reading but for the full authorâs name on the first two sentences the writer did not have it.
2âDoes the student define the authorâs Intellectual Home and their own?
Yes, the student did define the authors intellectual home to their own intellectual home.
3âDoes the student explore a brief personal educational experience?
Yes, the student tells us about their educational experience.
4âAre the thesis and method clear?
Yes, for me it was clear, and the writer wrote it good.
6âCopy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. Sample explanation: you may have mixed up the terms Intellectual Home and Personal Anecdote, please check to make sure you have the right term for a brief account of your best exam experience ever.
Salvatore Scibonaâs narrative Where I Learned to Read relates to me because I went through the exact same journey he did. This sentence was good but I the writer could have wrote more on why they are the same.
7âMake two concrete suggestions. Sample suggestion: expand the description of your room because that is where all your studying takes placeâwhat is on the desk that makes you calm? Sample suggestion: instead of using the verb âlikeâ three times in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using âloveâ as in âI love my old computerâŚâ Sample suggestion: when you revise your essay, change the lower case âiâ to âIââProf. Scanlan will definitely say something about that. Sample suggestion: I suggest revising the thesis into the âWhile X, I think Yâ format instead of writing two short sentences.
My two suggestions are to make the SA longer and you could have written more about Salvatore Scibona. It was easy to read, and I liked what the writer wrote.
1âIs the title of the article, the source, and the full authorâs name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
The title of the article is not stated at all throughout the article and when comparing your experience to the authorâs experience you should write the source from which it came from. I especially talking about the last paragraph.
2âDoes the student define the authorâs Intellectual Home and their own?
Throughout the essay intellectual home is not defined but the essay does explain Rachealâs intellectual home was the help from her teacher who would give her books that she was really interested in and that also helped her become more comfortable in her English class which is a great way of attacking the question she mixed evidence in with it. Just make sure before bringing up an intellectual home you should define it.
3âDoes the student explore a brief personal educational experience?
The student exceeds a brief personal educational experience because she wrote the whole essay in a personal way which isnât bad but maybe she should introduce other articles and explain how they connect to her thesis.
4âAre the thesis and method clear?
The thesis is not stated in the article but she could easily fix that up and put it in the first paragraph.
5âCopy and paste your two favorite sentences from the studentâs essay. Then explain why you like them. Sample explanation: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important turning point that you experienced in high school in a very clear wayâI get it completely.
My favorite sentence in the essay is âEnglish classes to me were not interesting to me at all in middle school, especially during the times we had independent reading; I could not focus on the book, I could not âcreate a pictureâ in my head, I never felt any emotion towards the books I had. I felt like I was failing myself at 13. Salvatore Scibonaâs narrative Where I Learned to Read relates to me because I went through the exact same journey he did.â. This is my favorite sentence because you explain your problem and connected that problem to another article even though both you and the author didnât have the same intellectual home.
6âCopy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. Sample explanation: you may have mixed up the terms Intellectual Home and Personal Anecdote, please check to make sure you have the right term for a brief account of your best exam experience ever.
In the essay, the part that was a bit confusing is âIn Scibonaâs piece he states âEarly senior year, a girl in homeroom passed me a brochure that a college had sent her.â That said college was his intellectual home, the girl was basically his enlightenment just like my teacher.â. I donât understand because you could have connected the authorâs intellectual home to yours which was how you were being pushed just like the college push Scibona. I was kind of confused about why you stated that your teacher is enlightenment.
7âMake two concrete suggestions. Sample suggestion: expand the description of your room because that is where all your studying takes placeâwhat is on the desk that makes you calm?
One very important thing is to add a thesis in your introductions you have a great blueprint but you need to fill in the missing spaces which is the thesis, sources for the articles, a little more evidence, explain little about the article after introducing and proofreading.