The Notebook

by Khaynisha Herndon

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog #2: The End of the Beginning

There are some aspects I still would like to improve such as, essay citations and topic composition writing. Nonetheless, pushing myself to strive for better and not settling for just okay has allowed me to succeed in a very difficult internal task. This class influenced me to stir my creative juices and squeeze very ounce out of me, which I am forever grateful for. Many writing classes I have taken in the past has had no substantial effect, but I am pleased to say I grow within this course. Self- motivation is what I believed I lacked before entering this class. Now, I feel like I can conquer the world. (110) 

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog #1: I AM A CONQUEOR, I WILL NOT ACCEPT DEFEAT

I am proud that I have accomplished something I never thought I would conquer. All this semester I have been speaking about the self-doubt I have experience my whole life. Well, I cannot say all the self-doubt is completely eliminated, but I can assure you that the fear of writing has come to an end and I am astonished. I have realized writing is away I express my truth and no one should be able to impose on my truth. I have learned so much about myself that I did not identify with prior to this class. I am intrigued on how this semester became so therapeutic for me. (109)

[kherndon1-blog]

Reading Response #4: Diminishing Creativity

During my earlier youth years, I found comfort in creating fictional stories, in order to cope with certain situations I was faced with. These stories helped as an escape from reality. I could become anyone or anything I wanted to be. Some would compare my writings to dreams, because they were so vivid with details. Long ago, I once considered myself as a good creative writer. But, being introduced to composition writing, I believe in composition writing, there is limitations to creativity because some topic writings narrow my thinking process, not allowing me to explore my mind freely. Wendy Bishop attempts of convincing me to see nonfiction in a different perspective, “Because nonfiction is currently generating a great deal of discussion, we could view it fearfully as rear ending us, or side swiping up, or causing us to swerve and hydroplane and straighten our course again. Simply I think there is a real chance right now for letting the possibilities of creative nonfiction infuse, improve and invigorate the teaching of composition.” (pg.79) I believe composition writing will eventually evolve in how I view the concept of non-fictional writing. Wendy Bishop stirred my thoughts to wonder, do people the process of composition writing as “boring”? (204)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog 2: New Challenges

I am so surprise at how my writing have grown and improved. During the first unit, I had many doubts on how I would pass this class, because I believed to my writing sucked. I now understand how easy it is to give up on something that might be a challenge. However, I also realize how hard it is to really work on something you want to evolve in. I have always been the type that likes to conquer a challenge. At the beginning of the semester, I knew this semester would be at challenge for me, returning back to college after having two children. (105)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog 1: Knowledge Is Power

In my opinion, unit three allow me to gain knowledge on rhetorical approaches I have no clue about. I believe I gained new communication skills. I believe this unit was beneficial to me in many aspects such as persuasive skills, figurative languages and rhetorical writing. Learning about these important topics has helped me understand politics and how politicians take different approaches on receiving additional votes. Our everyday life revolves around these many concepts and we interpret them when communicating with others. I have learned how to see things through others perspective, which I view as one of the many ways some learn effectively. (103)

[kherndon1-blog]

Reading Response #3: Let Me Hear Your Best Rhetoric

Prior to this class, I had no knowledge of Aristotle’s rhetorical approaches to persuasion. Kairos, pathos, ethos, and logos were foreign languages to me and I have never thought to try, before, to understand their concepts. Throughout my research, I have gathered that majority of the time, we as a society use pathos and ethos as a means to persuasion. We try to persuade others by appealing to their emotions or by using an ethical appeal. Convincing someone by playing on their emotions is how our society view getting their way. Donald M. Murray, allowed to see how individuals attempt to persuade others using his or her own perceived experience as legit evidence. Murray, also demonstrated ethos in his writing and I must say he was very convincing in his rhetorical approach. However, Murray caused me to wonder, why should our personal experience be enough evidence to persuade someone to change their perspective? In my opinion, I am not easily influenced or convinced. I believe in excessive evidence, before I decide to make rational decisions. Amy Tan acknowledged the fact of how people can be so cruel to foreigners or to something that is unfamiliar to their up-bringing. I admit, Tan’s approach for appealing to my emotions through what she conveyed in her writing, was an effective stance. (218)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog 2: Doubt! Leave Me Alone!

I realized I am the only one who holds myself back. With all the doubts I have, I think I psych myself out of reaching my full potential sometimes. I think I should try some type of warm-up drills in order to arouse my creative juices. I have grown to understand, being over analytical can act as a barrier in my thought process, forcing me to develop writer’s block. I now comprehend that great writers, sometimes, write without concentrating so much on what their writing, allowing themselves to be free when conveying a story or topic. I have concluded that I am better at free writing, where I can be as creative as possible. w.c.(114)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog 1: Journey to Progression

I do feel that, I am now making progress in my writing skills. I have took notice on how developing my thoughts have become easier. I must say, I was skeptical about making any progress without this semester, but I am starting to realize that I might be able to call myself a great writer one day. I feel that I need improvement in siting sources and knowing the styles of writing. I believe there is always room for improvement in grammar and punctuation. I have been working on developing a better studying habit, because some topics require extensive research. w.c(100)

[kherndon1-blog]

Reading Response #2 Empowering Education

I was once told that teachers who really invest their time and efforts into their students, are usually the educators who influence many students. I believe, in order to empower someone’s education you must help them become more confident and liberating. A teacher must offer students some type of praise or compliment when succeeding in certain areas. I wonder, how many teachers in today’s society can say they are true educators? I have noticed, in classrooms all over the world, the decline of dedicated teachers. It seems as if they come to work just for a paycheck. I believe there should be more teachers committed to their responsibility as educators. Lisa D. Delpit allowed me to realize, there are many students who, if not fully comprehending the teachers instructions, are completely turned off to the educational system. Delpit also, influenced me to look over the course of my education, where I noticed the different styles of each teacher who educated me. Some teachers decided to try the authoritarian way, while effective teachers took a less forceful approach and allowed me to express myself creatively. I do believe children individually learn differently, but I think it is the teacher’s responsibility to know how each one of their students learn. Some critical pedagogies maybe effective for some, while others, like me, believe there is always room for improvement even as a teacher. w.c(230)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog 2: Conquering Fear

I am not really the best at navigating through computers and surely not on social media sites. Setting up my tumblr account was so difficult, I do not understand the concept of the website, nonetheless, I know I have to get use to visiting the site regularly. However, I have started exploring the site and gathering certain information for a better understanding of discourse communities and sponsors of literacy. I was not very confident in completing the first writing assignment, but after submitting my first draft I began to feel like a light bulb turn on in my head. I am gradually seeing a change in how I perceived this semester would go. w.c(113)

[kherndon1-blog]

Progress Blog #1: Writing? Who would have thought?

Having an online writing class was sort of intimidating initially, when I seen what my schedule held for me. I have never viewed myself as a strong writing, so you could only image the thoughts that came to mind when I received my course list and seen English 1301. I must admit, I braced myself for a bumpy semester. I believe as long as I keep up with my work I will be okay. The first writing assignment had me like, “And exactly what is a discourse community and who are sponsors of literacy?” I was completely unsure of the meaning of those two terms, but once I read the required readings, I began to grasp their concepts. I have realized brainstorming on a topic would be my best aspect in the writing process. w.c(134)

[kherndon1-blog]

Reading Response Unit One: The Beginning

Certain social classes are engaged in discourse communities. I was very intrigued when learning about the discourse community Malcolm X afflicted with. I wonder if Malcolm X believed while in jail, he belonged to some sort of community. Technically, I considered jail to be a community of people who violated the law and inmates have the same perspective when acknowledging the police or the law. Communicating within a discourse community allows the group to achieve certain set goals. I have gathered that sponsors of literacy are usually individuals who has some influences on your education. I have also gathered that Malcolm X viewed Elijah Muhammad as well as, United Nations as his sponsors of literacy (304). That being said, I have thought of the many educators that changed how I view education and I realized I owe those individuals so much gratitude. Sherman Alexie expressed the same gratitude to his father throughout his piece.  Alexie stated, how being intelligent and an Indian did not go together so many Indian children would not be interested in school (42). However, I believe many children from different cultural backgrounds face circumstances were they become uninterested in school. Nonetheless, I am baffled that no teacher showed any certain for the Indian students. I wonder since writing his piece, has society been able to change how Sherman Alexie view treatment of Indians within the education system. w.c(231)

[kherndon1-blog]

Introduction

Hello, my name is Khaynisha and I am very new to tumblr