My journey through Rhetoric 110, Written Communication, has
been eventful. Over the summer, when I discovered which Rhetoric class I would
be in I was disappointed. As Media Studies major I needed to be in Rhetoric
130, in order to take Intro to Media Studies. To my displeasure I was placed
into rhetoric 110, based on my SAT score. Not only was I not able to take any
classes in my major, but I also felt inferior. I wasn't good enough for myself,
and I was worried that I wouldn't learn anything in this lesser class. To my
surprise my reading, writing and thinking capabilities greatly developed in
this class. I learned new aspects that will make my writing more successful
such as using ethos, logos and pathos. My abilities as a reader developed so
that I was able to analyze, interpret and utilize information from readings and
images more successfully. Even my thinking developed so that I changed my
attitude and saw how important doing well and being responsible in college is.
I will guide my audience through my journey by explaining how I developed as a
reader, writer and thinker, so that my classmates can think about how this
class impacted them and my instructor can understand what about this class
taught me the most.
My progression as a reader
Reading is an enormous part of life, especially in college. At
the beginning of the semester I would consider my self a slow reader. I still
consider myself a slow reader at the end of this semester. However, there were
some areas of my reading abilities that needed and attained development after
finishing rhetoric 110. I had room to expand my ability to analyze and extract
important information from the text. I had never before needed to read and
interpret new forms of communication such as graphic novels. I began this class
without these skills but the lessons we learned in class and through my
challenges and successes I was able to develop these reading skills.
The
materials we covered for homework and the in class explanations helped me
progress into a better reader. This class taught me that the best way to
analyze is to split apart the text and closely examine certain parts to
discover exactly what they mean. Knowing exactly what it means and what I am
supposed to do helped me analyze everything I read better. The professors
reiteration of how to analyze and all the practice I got in class enabled me to
better analyze and extract useful evidence from everything I read.
This class did an excellent job of exposing me to new forms of
communication such as graphic novels. Through my challenges and successes
working with graphic novels and using them to maintain my portfolio, I
developed the ability to read graphic communication. I found I was successful
with maintaining my portfolio when it came to writing posts. In one of the
assigned posts I was asked to find rhetorical tools in Batman The Dark
Knight Returns. As you can see in this post I was able to locate and note how
logos, ethos, pathos and kairos were used in the images and text
of Batman. Being asked to identify specific aspects of the graphic novel
helped me develop so that I can easily find rhetorical tools in images as well
as text. I had more success with that post than I expected which proved to me
that examining pictures and text separately was my strength. Despite this
triumph, I still found it difficult to understand what was happening most of
the time when reading Batman. I learned that I was challenged by the way
the book combined both media and writing to explain what was happening. I
learned that the best way for me to read graphic novels is to first analyze the
pictures and writing separately, then piece together what the book is saying.
Acknowledging my strengths and weaknesses helped me progress so that I
developed my own way of reading graphic novels. I now know for the future that
when I am asked to read new forms of communication, I can do so by discovering
what my strengths and weaknesses are.
I am leaving Rhetoric 110 with reading capabilities that will aid
me throughout my college career and life. I have become a better analyzer by
separating parts of the text to analyze sections more thoroughly and find useful
information. I am also able to use my new analyzing skills when interpreting
images, which is a very realistic part of the real world. Adults are always
asked to understand all kinds of communication like television or newspapers.
Rhetoric 110 gave me the skills I need to read and analyze pictures along with
words, and showed me how I can always teach myself how to read new forms of
communication.
My progression as a writer
When
I started this class I thought I knew everything there was to know about
writing. After finishing my senior year I thought I was a great writer and
didn't imagine that there was more to learn about writing. In my dear instructor letter I talked about how I
thought I would have an easy time with argumentative essays but a harder time
with the new material. I soon discovered that I was completely wrong. As I
journeyed through this class I became a better writer from the lessons I learned
in class, working with my collaborative group and revising my major writing
assignment.
To my surprise I learned a lot of new writing techniques
that I now utilize to communicate my ideas more successfully. One of the first
lessons I learned in Rhetoric class was the rhetorical moves ethos logos and
pathos. These were new concepts to me, but I learned them quickly. After we
discussed them in class we wrote a post about how we used them. I feel that I
had a very good understanding of what they were, when I wrote about how I used the rhetorical moves.
As I learned more about rhetorical tools in class I was
able to comprehend how these tools made the writings so powerful, as I did in my reaction to Douglass's narrative. I was
then able to inhibit these moves into my writing. In my Personal Letter I mastered the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. The
fact that I had never heard of these terms before this class but was able to
use them so effectively in my paper shows how much I have progressed.
Collaborating with my group this semester developed me into
a better writer. My role in the group was a collaborator. This meant that I was
in charge of working on the daily exercises we were given. This allowed me to
solely delve into the exercises, which pushed my writing abilities. Everyday we
were asked to get into our groups and do assignments that reviewed the lesson
on writing we had learned. When we learned about what a naysayer is and how
using naysayers helps prove your point, we were asked to create a
naysayer. In this exercise, I as the collaborator put in a
lot of effort to create an excellent naysayer. I am a hands on learner so being
asked to do the writing tool helps me learn it. Working with my group members
also helped me since their contributions to our exercise showed me new ways of
looking at the writing methods.
Another big part of the collaborative group was editing
each other’s papers. This continuous peer editing had a major effect in my
development as a writer. Hearing my peer’s feedback on all of my papers taught
me what I needed to work on and what I was good at. Hearing what I needed to
improve on in every single one of my papers this semester allowed me to retain
that information and ensure that I did not repeat the same mistakes.
Specifically, in the collection of argumentative letters I was struggling with
writing Martin Luther King's letters in his personas. The feedback I got on
my draft from my editors helped me understand
how to write in different personas. When my editor pointed out how I should
have an introduction for every letter and how I should make Martin Luther
King's letters not sound like reflections, I gained a better understanding of
how to write a collection of letters. Editing my group members papers and
seeing how they wrote also helped me since it gave me insight to other styles
of writing. Peer editing with my group so extensively made me develop into a
better writer and learn the importance of collaboration.
Through ought this class I tackled many essays I was
unfamiliar with. I had never before written an informal letter for school, a
review on someone else’s text or a collection of argumentative letters in which
I had to write as someone else. I was nervous for these new papers but I
learned how to write them and successfully wrote all of these assignments. The
only paper I was not nervous for was the argumentative essay because I had
written many thesis essays in High School. I found that it was far more
difficult than I thought. When I finished the first version of this essay I
thought that it was good enough. I realized that I needed more progression as a
writer from the feedback I got from my teacher. After
taking my instructors advice into consideration and recreating my argumentative
essay I am confident that I developed the writing skills we learned this semester.
Revising my essay made me conscious of my writing flaws. I realized that there
were several times I failed to use the correct subject and had vague pronouns.
Fixing these mistakes taught me how to write proper pronouns and subjects for
my future papers. I also understand the advice to break my paragraphs up more
by topics. Seeing how much stronger my paper was with more paragraph
breaks when the topic changed made me realize how I need to continue to write
in that way. I became aware with how I failed to provide the who cares several
times which made me realize how the who cares has been a weakness of mine since
writing thesis essays in high school. Addressing this problem by forcing myself
to create a who cares made it so I now comprehend the importance of who cares
and feel confident that I can write it for all of my essays to come. Revising
this essay and working out my issues helped me develop so that I know poses all
of the writing strategies I lacked in the first draft. My new revised essay proves that I
understand how to correctly write subject and pronouns, keep paragraphs on one
topic and can address the who cares. These and the other skills I learned in
Rhetoric class will stay with me for the rest of my writing career and have
developed me into a stronger communicator.
My Progression as a
Thinker
Starting College is a difficult adventure. That is
why Rhetoric 110 being one of my first classes was so significant. Not only did
this class expose me to new forms of communicating and educate me on more
professional ways of writing, but I also learned how to navigate college
through going through this class as a test run. For me, all the college stress
results in myself neglecting responsibilities when it seemed like I could.
Rhetoric 110 Written Communication as one of my first classes had a drastic
effect in how I developed over the semester. While enhancing my
reading and writing abilities was useful for college, developing myself as a
thinker was what really prepared me for college and life. I faced both
challenges and triumphs while completing my portfolio, major writing
assignments and final portfolio, that helped me progress as a thinker.
I found success during my major writing assignments when I
doubted myself but was encouraged by the writing tutors that I had written
strong essays. During my Personal Letter drafting process I was worried that I
didn't have enough ethos or logos. When I brought my paper in my tutor loved
it. He showed me how I did in fact use logos and ethos effectively throughout
the paper. He explained to me my strengths as a writer as well as what I needed
to work on. When I wrote my Analytical Review paper I was terrified that
I was writing it wrong. I was confused with the structure and thought that my
paper was horrible. When I brought that paper into the writing lab I was yet
again happily surprised to here that what I doubted was actually successful. He
explained to me how the structure I was using was effective, and helped me plan
how I was going to finish the paper. He told me how much he liked my writing
style and how successful it was. Hearing that my papers were better then I
thought they were and that I was a good writer was influential. I became
confident in myself and started taking more joy out of writing. I as a thinker
developed into someone who truly enjoys writing and takes pride in my work.
Before I would get distraught that I had no idea what I was doing, and had a
hard time getting into my papers. Now I am confident in myself and think of
writing as an essential form of communicating in which I must practice.
Throughout this course I discovered that I was challenged more by myself
than by the assignments. I was challenged by my procrastination. During the
reading assignments, I found myself procrastinating until the last minute to do
them. I would skim and sometimes skip major sections of my readings. This made
it harder for me to learn the lessons and maintain my working portfolio, which
required portfolio posts about the readings. I also struggled with
procrastination during my major writing assignments. I kept finding myself
waiting until the last day to finish them and not giving myself sufficient time
to edit. This resulted in my writing not being my best work. Not only did I
struggle with procrastinating but with upholding my responsibilities as well.
I was overwhelmed by the stress of college, which led to my
letting go of responsibilities. My continuing to be late for class challenged me
by hurting my grade. I was also irresponsible when it came to maintain my final
portfolio. I should have started earlier and received more help with it, but
instead I couldn’t help but procrastinate and not get a sufficient amount of
help organizing it.
Both my procrastination and irresponsibility mad college life
harder and made me less successful. However, I have learned from my mistakes.
In the end of the semester I developed as a thinker so that I began taking my
education far more seriously. I started making sure I was on time every day and
stopped procrastinating as hard as before. While I still struggled with
procrastination I forced myself to go to the library and work on some of my
portfolio with sufficient time so that I could edit and make my final portfolio
perfect. My thought process progressed so that I now know that I struggle with
time management and tardiness, and do my best to not fall victim to myself
again. I now appreciate my education and think of myself as an academic whose
only job is to excel in school and take meaningful understandings from my
classes.
As you can tell, my journey through this class has been
riddled with events that will shape me forever. I have learned how to correctly
analyze text and read image-based communication. I developed into a stronger
writer by learning the fundamental rhetorical moves and understanding my
weaknesses. I changed my thinking so that I am more confident about my writing
and strive to get the most out of school by being a responsible student. I hope
to continue developing throughout college. I want to extend my strategic
reading abilities as well as learn how to read many more new forms of
communication. I now know that there is far more for me to learn about writing
and hope that I will progress into an even stronger writer. Now that my
thinking has changed so that I see the importance of school, I want to develop
my thinking abilities further to comprehend all of what life has to offer.
Self evaluation:
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