What I Learned in English 111 - Final paper

What I Learned in English 111

An Evaluation of My Learning and Performance

Although I was always good at reading, grammar and punctuation, this is probably the hardest part for me as I have never been good as self-evaluation, much less writing about it.  It’s not that I mind writing; I just have a hard time putting things into words or explaining things.  I don’t know that this portfolio based on its content would earn me an “A” in English 111; however, I do feel that if all aspects of the class are considered, such as I was in attendance for all classes except when I was sick and my daughter had surgery, I stayed and helped Darrell and Sara with setting up their Blogs, answering questions and repeating what was discussed in class to “the girls in the back”, I did participate in class discussions, as well as offering my SDV portfolio to the class as reference material for their work.  Oh, and I also have proof of voting which was offered as extra credit and I will load a picture of that as well.  Ok, here goes nothing and my attempt to give you what you are asking for….

General Course Goals:

I learned to adapt my writing to different genres, such as my Rhetorical Analysis, Restaurant Review and Life Files.  I did demonstrate academic integrity and the appropriate use of others’ ideas and feed back in producing effective communication as evidenced by my draft and final copy of my Ethics paper that you reviewed for me.  Also, I demonstrated college-level written and oral communication skills as noted on my SDV Final Portfolio Assessment.

Rhetorical Knowledge:

One of the first things we started learning in English 111 was about Rhetoric; or how to be a better communicator, which includes what you can and cannot write about, who your audience is and how they will receive my message.  One of the things that were learned about Rhetoric was how to write a Rhetorical Analysis which is basically when you write about something and have to break down the means of understanding by giving the argument, followed by the major claims and evidence to support the claims.  I did this in my Rhetorical Analysis which is posted in my blog on my Op-Ed article, “Keep politics out of examining room” published in the Richmond Times Dispatch on September 15, 2012. Here is also an example of the Rhetorical Triangle we used.

Message:

What is said or written-book, papers, articles, etc.

Whether in print, online or spoken

  

                                         Author:                                               Audience:

                              Creates the message                          Receives the message

Process:

We learned about the six steps to the writing process which includes:

1. Pre-writing:

·         Figuring out what you want to say

·         Brainstorm and free write ideas

·         Find out who your audience is and your genre

·         Determine what you can and should say

2.  Drafting:

·         Writing ideas about what you want to say on paper

·         Manipulate your ideas

·         Draft ideas in stages

3.  Revision:

·         Reorganize and work with the draft in sections

·         Adding and cutting

·         Focusing on revision while producing a “Deep Level” draft or a draft that is somewhat complete with terms and ideas

4.  Proof Reading and Editing:

·         Setting up your format

·         Checking spelling, grammar and punctuation

·         Rereading at the sentence level making sure all is fine

·         Work on elements of presentation

·         Editing is done by someone else

·         Proofreading is done by the author

5.  Publishing or Delivery:

·         Getting your information in front of your audience

·         Making sure you can publish

·         Audience accepts the delivery

·         Let go of work and turn in what is written

6.  Review:

·         Did I accomplish my purpose?

·         Opportunity to make process better the next time

·         Rhetorical Memory – Tweak and learn about your process and how to improve it; learn what rhetorical moves worked and what didn’t

Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing:

Critical thinking begins with Rhetorical Charity which is that the author is worth spending time to understand.  With critical thinking, we also have to determine if an argument is good or a claim is true when presented to us as well as be able to format our own good arguments.  When writing, we should always take our audience into consideration and make sure that we are able to get our message across to them.

Oral Communication Skills:

This brings to mind when we were learning about proper posture, standing in groups having little discussions, learning how to draw people into the conversations so they don’t feel alienated.  We also learned about engaging our audience with an exercise when Jose stood in front of the room and had to make eye contact with the class.

Digital Technology:

I was not very familiar with Google Docs or Blogger, but after setting up a new account for English 111, and learning how to navigate around Google, I am finding it fairly easy to use even though I am still in the learning stages.  I have merged multiple Google accounts, used Google Docs for saving my work in the cloud, as well as merged my calendars.

I think I have definitely learned many new skills and techniques from English 111 and will be challenging myself to try and incorporate them into future classes when it comes time for writing papers and doing the research, as well as using better oral skills as I progress in my career.