In English 102 I have learned many new things that would benefit my writing in the future. I have seen that attendance is a major game changer in how well a student will develop their work. Me personally, I’ve missed two days and I could tell it showed in my work because class participation and listening to lectures help with the depth of an assignment. I feel that listening to get a better understanding instead of a general understanding has helped a lot in my work. Class participation hits the little details and help get different perspectives on the assignment with different angles and that has helped me understand what type of work I need to produce. The simple exercises to break down the essays to get to the juicy parts and reveal the needed details has shifted and shaped my work.
Another key element I have noticed that determines how my essay turned out was time management. Time management to either sit down and do an essay in one day or to work on in a little everyday has showed the difference in my essays. I think when I worked on my essays a little everyday I had a greater chance to sit down and edit it and get everything I think on paper verses having chopped up sentences and areas that aren’t very understandable. Leading into the revision process, the more time available the more time is spent on catching the minor details that could make or break an A paper. I usually go through the word changes and add in or take out what’s needed. Next I’ll go back through and fix the explanations that need to be clear for the reader. Lastly, I’ll go back through and proofread to make sure the text makes sense.
While taking ENG102 ,in the ACE program, I have learned how to read, write and think at a college level. I’ve learned to break the text down and manipulated quotes to talk and correlate with other quotes to ground my comments I add in. But one skill I’d like to improve on is to get my thoughts onto paper. I have noticed that I leave out certain details and the reader is unclear of details that would put the pieces of my paper together.
Out of all three assignments that I have accomplished, I think I am most proud of the movie review because I learned that their were Black germans. Schools don’t teach this in the classroom and I felt very good and accomplished learning something on my own through a movie. Writing about how ‘Where Hands Touch’ presents good and bad scenes that set the theme, tone, and mood felt like less work and more of a pleasure because I was adamant about learning and writing about the setting. One writing element I would have liked to have more instruction and guidance on is focus, also clarity. I seemed to do really well with organization of my writing I just struggle on staying in tune with clarity and focus. I am very well with making connections in my writing and that can lead to changing focus of my writing and leave space to be unclear as a reader.
In my rhetorical analysis ‘Civil Rights Aren’t Always Civil’ I defined Aristotle’s three rhetorical proofs and gave examples from Malcolm X’s speech ‘Democracy is Hypocrisy’ to expose police brutality, the government, and the treatment of the Black race. I wrote, ‘With logos being the use of reasoning, Malcolm showed logic explaining why he spoke out to the Black community. “He defined land as the basis of freedom and equality, called for racial independence and a separate black identity, and advocated black self-defense” (Black). This example shows reasoning by laying out a plan for Blacks to follow to have basic freedoms and rights.’ In my movie review ‘Where The Sun Don’t Shine’ I examined the genre and analyzed how well producer and director Amma Asante put the movie together. I wrote, ‘The movie Where Hands Touch, directed and written by Amma Asante exposes German customs during the Holocaust that highlights both tragedy and biracial romance through the setting, dialogue, and appearance.’ In my visual text essay ‘The Black Woman & The Blue Background’ I reviewed the commentary a photographer made through an image. I wrote, ‘Naomi enhanced her imagination and determination to produce the image she created. The approach of her image she produced was shaped from motherhood because of her more enriched visual of art as she wants it.’
After taking ENG 102, I intend to use the writing skills gained from this course in my future academic/ professional endeavors. I will use organization skills for my future resume for jobs I would like to apply for. I would also use persuasive words and professional grammar in future papers or in an interview for a job. I can also use ethos, logos, and/ or pathos in situations such as arguments or debates for class that will help get my points across and gain credibility.
Black Beginnings 