I like how this reading goes along with what we are currently working on in class. The author does an effective job of showing her experience of going about turning in what the teacher wants and realizing what is actually beneficial. She stated, “Reflection helps you to develop your in- tentions (purpose), figure out your relation to your audience, uncover possible problems with your individual writing processes, set goals for revision, make decisions about language and style, and the list goes on” (Giles). This stood out to me because I can apply this into my collage reflection and work in the future. Later in the reading she brings up how one of her students was taught to no include personal experiences in her essay, which connects to a part of my collage, where I talk about my writing not being able to meet everyone’s standards because of the way I have been taught to write by my previous teachers. I enjoyed reading the section that focused on how it helps her to help her students. She mentions how the revision process can be overwhelming, which I completely agree on because sometimes I feel like I am just changing things for no specific reason. I also agree with how she says that being able to succeed in writing class will not just benefit you for that class. I think that being a skilled writer can help you in communicating better in all aspects – job applications, conversations, classwork, etc. I believe it is a good skill to have that is beneficial in all sorts of areas.

After reading through the sample collages, I was able to pick up a better understanding of the assignment. I am nervous about how I am going to go about my project. I am the type of person who does well with executing specific instructions, rather than starting from scratch with my own ideas because I get a feeling that I might not be doing it correctly. I found it really interesting to try to interpret what the collages meant before actually reading below about them. I think my collage will be similar, in a way, to the first sample collage for a few reasons. I liked the set up of the first sample collage because I thought it looked the most organized, which I think definitely ties into what I mentioned before about myself being the type of person to choose being given instructions, over somewhat creating my own instructions. I am a very structured person, so I like things to look orderly and put together, oppose to spread out and unsystematic. Although the fourth sample collage looks the most formal, I would rather mine have a fun and creative look that is neat, instead of too simple with boring look to it. The work cited seems very simple, and it’s relieving to know that is all that’s required for my citations. I am excited to see what I come up with and hope that the project is not as hard as I am thinking it will be for me.

I chose to read about the recent scandal going on in the MLB. The Astro’s, a Major League Baseball team from Houston, have been caught for cheating their way to success on the offensive side of the game. The team was able to inform the batter which pitches were being thrown to them, while they were in the batter’s box. By knowing the opposing teams’ pitching signs, players in the dugout pounded on trash cans with different beats for each pitch. As an athlete myself, I honestly think their scheme was quite creative. Softball and baseball players are always trying to pick up their opponent’s signs, both for offensive and defensive. It is a lot more difficult to pick signs nowadays because most teams use a number system that could only be understood if the opposing team had the actual card. The card holds about 100 signs, so during a game you don’t have to use the same number twice. This reading was enjoyable because the author threw in some jokes that were jabs at the Astro’s for their actions, but also rationalized with them. The author mentioned how everyone is trying to steal signs and everyone cheats in one way or another (on the field, I’m not just generally referencing this lol), which I think is true. The author sectioned his work out with different subheadings, which made it easy to read. He makes a lot of valid points such as, “There is literally nothing any Astro can say that will make this better,” and later, “None of that matters, because people will believe what they want to believe.” Overall, I really enjoyed this reading and you guys should check out all the craziness going on about it!

“Annoying Ways People Use Sources” by Kyle D. Stedman caught my attention from the beginning. I always seem to comprehend ideas or concepts more clearly when there are examples to show what the author really means. He started out by comparing how slow driving can be like sloppy writing, which is what initially made me think the reading was going to be interesting. As I read through Stedman’s work, I was able to recognize the mistakes he was pointing out in his students’ work pretty easily. I went to a private high school, so my classes were typically on the smaller side. My teachers were really able to go into depth about their designated subject and had time to help my classmates and I individually to find the most effective way to get the point across, which has definitely helped me in all subjects. I definitely think that my English teachers did a fine job at informing us what we needed to know to not have them be an “annoyed reader”. Stedman mentions how different things may annoy different readers, so my writing may annoy, in one way or another, annoy some readers because of the way I have been taught to write. I thought the way he ended the reading was very clever, with his reference to people not using their blinker, it made me laugh for a second. Stedman laid his points out very clearly, which made this easy to read and follow from beginning to end. As a side note, I thought to myself that if my teacher was “annoyed” by my writing, I would not agree to use my work in his published piece as an example of what not to do, lol.

My mind has kind of been going in circles trying to really understand, “The School”. I hope I’m not missing something, because I am a little confused, lol. Beth did inform me that the reading was going to be a tad strange, so I’m not too worried… The author displayed a series of unfortunate events that continuously got more devastating as the story went on. These little kids had to curiously keep going as they experienced death after death. A question that was mentioned in the reading ran threw my mind multiple times as I continued to read, the question being, “What is wrong with this school?”. I found it bizarre how the author “forgot to mention” (Barthelme) how the father of one of the students was stabbed to death. He threw that in there so casually, which caught me off guard, especially with my mind already trying to put everything together. These kids had to learn to cope with so many different losses, which held many different levels of value. Reflecting upon this idea, highlights to me the importance of valuing and being grateful for the things I have. Life itself is so precious; being able to open my eyes and live it every day is something I take for granted at times because you never really expect things like that to change. The children’s happiness expressed at the end of the reading showed me that just because you have a bad day, you should not let that carry over to having a bad week, month, year, or life.

Brock Dethier wrote a very helpful and clear piece regarding the approach to revisions on your work. I have still not come across a reading that I did not read in total annoyance and irritation in this course, and I have always HATED reading anything. I found this reading interesting because of the way the author was able to get his point across. He was consistent in being very straight forward and clear. I was able to relate in the reading, and I am definitely someone who needs to take his considerations from the end of the reading into consideration, lol… I spend a lot of time on my writing and put a lot of effort into my thoughts, while trying to find the best possible way to make it comprehensible for whoever will be reading it. During High School, I would get really frustrated if I did not receive a good grade on my essays because I felt as if I tried everything to meet and/or exceed all of the criteria to get a good grade. He talks about taking time to cool off before looking at comments with a negative attitude, which honestly makes a lot of sense. I wish I was able to have this skill before to allow myself to really understand why I got the grade I was not expecting. I also like how he dedicated a section explaining how revisions could, potentially, make your writing worse. It is important to know that there should be a reason to change what you wrote, avoiding context to become too complex for readers to interpret. Overall, I enjoyed this reading and will be using his suggestions in the future.

This article was overall really helpful from beginning to end! I liked how the author brought to attention that when you are peer editing, it is not your job to write, but it is your job to read! He mentioned a lot of useful tips to edit your peer’s work in a way that will really benefit them. I enjoyed the way he was able to change perspectives in the readings, which allowed me to really connect with what he was saying. He informed, well I should say reminded me, of how the way I edited in High School was not the most helpful for my peers. In High School, we always got to choose who we swapped papers with, so of course we exchanged with our friends who would either one, not read them and just talk to each other about off topic things, or two, just tell you that it is great because you want to be positive and supportive of each other. The examples he used throughout the reading were also helpful because I was actually able to see exactly what he meant. I liked the format of this reading, it was clear and efficient – question and here is the answer. I am now more confident in my peer editing and feel like I know I exactly what to do to help out my classmates. Overall, Richard Staub wrote a valuable piece that will be beneficial for my peers and I when editing each other’s work throughout this course!

After reading “Mother Tongue” and “Just Walk On By,” I genuinely feel irritated. Readings like these are 10000% necessary for this confusing world we live in. As a person of color myself, it is just so crazy how the people around you can so easily make you feel like a TOTAL outsider. I don’t understand the reason behind it, nor do I understand why it is literally the year 2020 and people are still facing problems every single day because of the way they talk, look, dress, etc… I admire how Amy Tan didn’t allow people to pave her path, she persevered and became a writer, even after she was told that she was a terrible writer. I unfortunately wasn’t surprised, but still found it ridiculous that somehow the only way her mother’s problems would be solved was if her “non-broken”, English speaking daughter could speak for her. In “Just Walk On By”, the African American man felt obligated to act in certain ways to allow the people around him to feel as if they didn’t need to run away, cross the street, or feel terrified while in his vicinity. This was so frustrating to try and toggle with in my head. Why should anyone have to act a certain way to please strangers, just because of the color of their skin? It does not surprise me anymore when people tell me that they are scared of my dad. When people say stuff like this to me, I literally want to scream. People actually have the nerve to say this to me without even spoken a single word to him. Ugh. I relate to both of these readings too much for my liking… Although it’s not to the same extent, I still am able to recognize the cruelty and unfair treatment people face due to absurd circumstances.

Throughout “Backpacks and Briefcases”, I was able to relate to many things. The beginning was really interesting and made me interested to see what else the article was going to talk about. For once in my life, I am starting to understand the definitions differences of ethos, pathos, and logos because of this reading and the examples that the author used for them. I enjoyed reading how she chose to explain rhetoric analysis… It seemed she explained it in one of the best ways possible for a teenager to understand by all of her references and connections. It’s crazy how much rhetoric analysis is really a part of our everyday lives. After reading I’m now aware of how the actions of it come as a natural and reoccurring aspect to me. It was interesting to learn about the wide variety of details that go into rhetoric analysis! Everything made sense, the details are just not things we typically think about while we are reading ads, watching commercials, or scrolling through our feed. What stood out to me was the constant honesty and application of reality the author used. For example, when she wrote about how everyone has the idea of “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. She explained how often everyone does, along with examples of it in different situations. Her writing was also very thorough and clear, which allowed me to understand words that I have never seen before, such as exigence. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, which made me happy because I am genuinely someone who really doesn’t like to read!