John Zinno Case
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John Zinno
Lauren Pisanelli
Writing and Rhetoric
3 December 2012
Reflective Essay
When I walked in to class on the first day of college I had no idea what to expect. Every English class I have taken in the past had been horrible. I did not understand how to write with enthusiasm or to get better at writing as a whole. There were a lot of things going through my mind when I realized that I had to take not only another English course, but one that is so heavily dependent on writing. Writing has always been my most hated aspect of school in every class. Coming to college I knew I would have to work harder then I usually did in high school. This day was basically the start of my transformation into somewhat of a better writer. I believe that my writing as significantly changed for the better; basically my problem all along was trying to use larger words to sound smarter. It is much easier to just get out what youre thinking in normal terms to make sure you do not confuse anyone; even yourself. I have gained much more confidence when it comes to writing and also critiquing other written pieces.
Our first assignment when we had to read out of the blue book and do the usual Informal Writing Assignment I was disappointed. I was worried that we would be tested over the readings and be reading articles that were basically worthless to todays students. Thankfully none of that was true. I thought most of the readings not only helped my writing, but they were usually pretty interesting.
Instead of critiquing each assignment I wrote, I think it would make more sense to put them into categories. The categories would be: Understood, Misunderstood, Lacked Effort, and Full Effort. In the category understood I feel like I had a fantastic grasp of the readings and also of what the author was trying to convey throughout the article. In misunderstood I believe that I either tried to B.S. my way through it while really struggling to answer the questions and finding out what was trying to be written. In lacked effort I could have either understood the reading and just put basically crap into my assignment because I was stretched for time; or I truly did not understand the reading and did not care to go into more depth to discover the reason for the article. Last, but not least, full effort would be any assignment that I both understood and misunderstood, but still put the time in to do a great job. Whether I used other peoples work to understand the article better or just to get a different perspective of what other people believe it was about.
Categories
Understood
Alexander Dialectical Notebook
Brandt Dialectical Notebook
Dawkins and Bryson Dialectical Notebook
Malcolm X Dialectical Notebook
Murray Dialectical Notebook
Allen Normal IWA
Berger Normal IWA
Bernhardt Normal IWA
Flynn Normal IWA
Glenn Normal IWA
Kantz Normal IWA
McCloud Normal IWA
Swales Normal IWA
Swales Discourse Normal IWA
Wardle Normal IWA
Misunderstood
Anzaldua and Lunsford Dialectical Notebook
Malinowitz Normal IWA
Villanueva Normal IWA
Lacked Effort
Cixous Dialectical Notebook
Smitherman Normal IWA
Devitt Normal IWA
Kleine Normal IWA
Full Effort
Bell Hooks Normal IWA
Wysocki Dialectical Notebook
Baron Dialectical Notebook
Delpit Normal IWA
Gee Normal IWA
Porter Normal IWA
Our first project was to choose a writing construct and argue whether or not it should be used. My writing construct was procrastination; I did not feel like I had the authority to say if procrastination effected students negatively or positively. My view of my procrastination is basically half and half; it is very possible to procrastinate and still receive the same grade as you would have if you did the work ahead of time. I found many articles