Table of Contents

Reflection Letter

Introduction for critical thinking skills

 Introduction for revision

 Introduction for piece that demonstrates awareness of audience and voice

 Introduction for "Writer's Choice"

 Chosen piece that demonstrates my critical thinking

 Chosen piece for revision 

Chosen piece that illustrates my awareness of audi..

Chosen piece for "Writer's Choice"

Reflection Letter

     I am a 27 year old female, I am working on my prerequisites for the nursing program. I became a nursing assistant in 2002, when I was fresh out of high school. I had always planned on going to college but life happened and I got married in the summer of 2002 and by 2005 I had two children. After my second child was born I decided to take a break from being a nursing assistant and opened an in-home daycare and I did that for two years. After two years of that I need to get out of the house and work with adults again. I loved being able to be home with my children and was thankful that I could work from home. So in 2007 I returned to work as a nursing assistant and once both my kids were in school I was able to start college classes. It has been a challenge juggling work, school, and family, but I have a very supportive husband who I can always count on.

     I have a long road ahead of me when it comes to finishing school, but I know I can do it and when it all said and done I will have a career that I know I will love. Having been a nursing assistant for nine years I have seen and learned a lot, and what I have learned will help me in the nursing program. I see a lot of students from the EVCC where I work and some have never even been a nursing assistant, the only training they have had is what they got in the class. I am thankful that I will know what I am doing when it comes to taking care of patients, it must be pretty scary for those who have never done it before.

     I have to admit that this class has been a huge challenge for me. I never have or will be much of a writer, I have always been better at math and science. I am glad to have been able to take this class though, and even though it is not required I might even take another English class just to challenge myself. I feel like my writing has improved a little over these last few months, and could get even better if I keep at it. Taking this class has been quiet an experience for me and I have learned a lot about what makes a community, what forms our identity, and the changes in traditions.

     I never realized that communities came in so many different forms. A community can be the neighbor hood that you want to move into like in the essay, "Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia." It can also be a web site on the Internet like in the essay, "MySpace Outrage Leaves Millions Friendless." It would be hard to find someone that isn't apart of some sort of community, it's human nature to want to be apart of something. I am involved in a lot of communities and they are a big part of my life and who I am.

     As for the I identity unit, I really enjoyed reading the different essays and hearing how some people felt about their own identity. The one essay that stood out the most to me was, "Who You Callin' a Bitch," Queen tells how you can become who ever you want to be no matter where you came from. one line that I really like from her essay is, "Through it all, though, I never forget who I am. The one Thing that has kept me going is, knowing who I am."  This unit has made me think a lot about my own identity, it made me look back at my life and they things that have help to form my identity.

     The Tradition unit was one of my favorites, Tradition is important to me and my family. My favorite essay from this unit was, "A Wobegon Holiday Dinner," Garrison tells about his family holiday dinners. The essay made me laugh because it reminded me of my family holidays, they are always very eventful. The family holiday meals are our biggest family tradition and one that has never been broke, but it has been improved. There are some crazy and unreasonable traditions, and I'm glad I don't have to carry them on.

     The pieces that I have chosen for my E-Portfolio are: The Tradition DB 1 to demonstrate my critical thinking skills, The Timed Writing to revise, The Community Paper that illustrated my awareness of audience and voice, and for my "Writer's Choice," I chose my Tradition Blog.

Introduction for critical thinking skills

 #1 Choose a writing that demonstrates you critical thinking skills.

     The piece that I chose that I think shows good critical thinking skills, is my Tradition DB 1. I believe that I showed good analysis and here is an example from my DB, "What hurt the most, I realized, was my broken trust in my parents guidance." (382) She knew that it was wrong that her parents was pushing her to marry this man, but she trusted them and was willing to marry him to please her parents. Some traditions are in need of being attacked. Analysis has always been a struggle for, but I have gotten better a it because of the English classes that I have taken. This piece is one of my stronger one and I also enjoyed sharing my opinion on the subject.

Introduction for revision

#2 Choose a writing that demonstrates your skills at revision and reseeing your work.

 

     The piece that I chose to revise was the timed writing. The assignment was: Using the discussion and your viewing notes, develop a thesis-driven essay of 3-5 paragraphs that demonstrate HOW the film defines what it is to be an outsider (avoiding unnecessary plot summary). In the second part of your essay, discuss how the film challenged or affirmed your own perceptions of what it is to be an insider or outsider. I feel that I could have done a better job on this task. The conclusion is what needs the most work, so that will be my main focus.

Introduction for piece that demonstrates awareness of audience and voice

#3 Choose a writing that illustrates your awareness of audience and voice.

     The piece that I chose that shows awareness of audience and voice is my Community paper #2. When I wrote this paper I knew it was a topic that everyone can relate to, because we are all involved in some sort of community. When I was discussing the essay, "Someone to Watch Over Me," I used some lines that I though would stand out to the reader, these lines were: "I am constantly searching the Internet for new communities." and "I can't wait to log back in" Anyone who is apart of a internet community can relate to these quotes, and I thought they would reach out to the reader. I enjoyed this type of "public" writing because it allowed people to hear my voice about the topic, and they were able to give me their opinion. It hasn't always been easy for me to share my writing with other people, and I was glad that in this class I wasn't given the choice.

Introduction for "Writer's Choice"

#4 Choose a writing that you liked "Writer's Choice"
   
    The piece that I chose for my writer's choice was my Tradition Blog. This piece I very meaningful to me because tradition is very important to me and my family. A quote from my blog, "These traditional feast are what bring all the family together for at least once a year, without our traditions we all probably drift apart." I loved being able to write about something that I care deeply about and I think that it showed in my writing.

Chosen piece that demonstrates my critical thinking

Unit 3, Tradition DB 1
  
     Traditions: Do we attack them or do we embrace them? Well I guess that would depend on what they are, for instance In the essay, "Let Me Find My Own Husband" by Sarita James, her parents make it their priority to find her a suitable husband, it is apart of their tradition. This is definitely one family tradition that I would attack, everyone should be able to decide who they want to marry.When the suitable boy that they had chosen for her to marry ended up marrying someone else she said, "What hurt the most, I realized, was my broken trust in my parents guidance." (382) She knew that it was wrong that her parents was pushing her to marry this man, but she trusted them and was willing to marry him to please her parents. Some traditions are in need of being attacked.
  
     After reading the essay, "The Brain in Love" by Benedict Carey, I guess if how we fall in love is a tradition it's one that I would embrace. "While lust makes our eyes wander, they say, it's the drive for romance that allows us to focus on one particular person, though we often can't explain why." (400) I like knowing that our brains get to make this choice for us. It's amazing what some people do when it not lust, but love. "The  biology of romance helps account for how we think about passionate love, and explain its insanity: why we might travel cross-country for a single kiss, and plunge into blackest despair if our beloved turns away." (400)   It can be a risk when you give your heart to someone, but it can also be well worth it.

Chosen piece for revision

Timed Writing (revised)

There are people out there who think that they can bully and rule those who they feel are below them. There is no reason that some should be made to feel like an outsider just because of the way they live, look, or speak. Changing who ourselves because someone thinks our way of life it not right, is very wrong. We are who we are, and should be able to live however we want.

Throughout the film, "Rabbit Proof Fence," we get a look at how the Aborigines were treated by the Australians. To them the Aborigines were the outsider; they were forced to have to change everything about themselves. They weren't allowed to speak their own language, they had to dress different, and they were made to do what they were told by the people in charge. They were stripped of who they were and they were told they did it for their own good, to protect them from themselves. If they disobeyed or tried to escape they were punished, they were never given a choice they were made to change.

The film also showed me the lengths some would go through so they would not have to become an insider.  Molly was willing to risk everything to escape the camp. She saw what would happen if she were to get caught, but it didn’t stop her from going. She was raised with very strong beliefs in who she was, and she was not willing to conform to their way of life.

People should not look down on you for being an outsider. We all have different cultures and beliefs, and should be able to express them however we choose. The way we are raised and the values that we are taught from out family and ethnic groups are what make us who we are; we should never be forced from it and stripped of our background. We should do all that we can to fight back if we are ever in the situation like Molly was in, if we were to conform to their ways a part of us would die.

Chosen piece that illustrates my awareness of audience and voice

Community Paper #2

Where Do We Belong?

            It could be our place of work, the neighborhood that we live, or the people that we share a common hobby with, to us it is our community. We all have the need to be a part of something that we can share with others. The purpose of a community is to give people a place that they feel that they fit in and belong to, but it seems that eventually, we still feel the need to move on to something bigger and better, or just different.

            According to Theodora Stites in, “Someone to Watch Over Me,” these beliefs were confirmed. (Stites 163) “I am constantly searching the Internet for new communities.” She is always looking for new communities to belong to. The need to connect with people that share the same interest is a huge part of her life. It’s something that she looks forward to everyday and she can’t get enough of it. (Stites, 165) She says, “I can’t wait to log back in.” She spends a lot of time communicating with the people in the communities that she becomes a part of, her “Friends’” is what she refers to them as.

            It must be just human nature that has us always wanting more. Even when we finally find a community that we are content and happy with, we begin to get bored and we might even begin to look for flaws so we feel like we have an excuse for the need to get out and move on. In “Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia,” David Brooks makes his beliefs clear and they support my own. (Brooks, 189) “What sort of longing causes people to pick up and head out to the horizon?” He also states, (Brooks, 189) “To grasp that longing, you have to take seriously the central cliché of American life: the American dream.” This is a fact for most people, we fantasize about living in the perfect place, having lots of friends, and having everything that we want and need within reach. We aren’t afraid to travel to somewhere unknown to find it, and we will search high and low until we do.

            Our lives are constantly changing and moving as we grow, and we are just trying to keep up.  After an interview with Cathy Williams, she was able to give me some insight from someone who is from and older age group and when asked, “Why the need to be a part of so many groups?” Cathy answered, “Well, I started out in one small mom’s group and when I was offered to join other groups that might interest me, I couldn’t resist. I just want to be a part of them. You know the need to belong to something.” It’s not something that we can help our interests are always going to change.  It’s one of the many joys in life, the freedom to change our minds. Also when asked, “Do you ever drop out of any of the groups that you have joined?” she answered, “Unfortunately yes, I do get bored with some of them, and even though I like the people, I still feel the need to move on if they no longer interest me.”

            The need to be a part of a community that we belong to is something that we will all experience in life, but the need for change is always stronger, and it causes us to move on and look for something new and exciting. Commitment to something or someplace can be hard and for some people it’s impossible. Everything around us is always changing and we have to adapt and change with it, causing our needs or interest to also change. There is nothing wrong with us for living this way, it’s the American dream, and life is too short to not follow the road where ever it might take you.

Chosen piece for "Writer's Choice"

Tradition Blog #3
      
      We have a lot of family traditions when it comes to food. Every Sunday we my mom has a huge family
dinner and any of the family that can make it comes. My mom loves to cook and is very creative with her feast.
I am one not to miss our Sunday dinners, it's one night a week that I don't have to cook. Another tradition is that she cooks a huge feast on our birthdays and we get to decide what we want for the meal. I often choose
a Hispanic dish, its the type of food I was raised on and I love it.
     
      Holidays are always an important time for our family. We have a lot of out of state family and we try to get together for thanksgiving every year. Preparing thanksgiving dinner starts the day before and is usually
served by two thanksgiving day. All the women in the family put a lot of time into the meal, and it's not your usual turkey and ham. We have a smorgasbord of food from all different cultures, we like to make our favorite
dishes and try new recipes. This is also a time when we exchange new recipes with each other and we are not afraid to give our opinion about how something tastes. These traditional feast are what bring all the family
together for at least once a year, without our traditions we would all probably drift apart.

 

3-8-2011

Hi all!