Task #1
Dear Friend,
Last semester I wrote to you about how much I learned in 1101, now I'm writing how much I learned thus far in English 1102. I learned a great deal about inquiries this term as we explored our themed question what does it mean to be healthy? I learned how to create and impose an inquiry into a research-able hypothesis in which the research method has been applied to for analyses research. I also learned what to look for when work shopping another's paper in class. I know I'm an inexperienced writer, so I always lacked sufficient ability to critically think how to address improvement. After reading a paper I became aware of a list of do and don'ts that help me in this task; such as comment as a reader versus anything else, as that is what you are when reading. A few other include to not rewrite parts of the paper, only make suggestions, and not being short and sweet, which I always been, but to be give more detail on what to fix. I recently learned how to make and identify claims. Although I am still exploring the topic, I feel like as I read I can now better identify them. Before I only an idea what took for when it came to claims, now I have a better idea as I continue to learn the types of claims and their purposes.
We also done a great amount of reflective writing, especially in our process towards creating an inquiry. This helped me understand the meaning of reflective writing as a look into the past to understand what you know, what you need to learn, and where you currently stand. Each blog post I did allowed me to review those aspects, and it actually assisted me learning the information I needed to make the autobiography as successful as it was. Due to its successes, I'm sure I'll note myself as I go through future processes of long work. This will be useful to me as I will remember what I thought a week(s) ago, as I tend to be very forgetful. As I am sure this more, this is all I can recall at the moment.
-Thaddeus Detlef
Task #2 (What is it like to be you? essay.)
This essay was written with the purpose of expressing myself to my readers. It was designed to give a little bit of back round, as long with some interests of mine so maybe a conversation would pop up later. The themes and ideas I included came from life experiences and favorite interests. I included a little bit about childhood and how I struggled with speech delay, as I believe this was important in my development as a person. I thought this may have seemed a little on the sad side, so in the later half I included some interests of mine in attempt to brighten things up. Some of these interests included my love for computers, manga and anime, and drawing pastimes. My audience being my peers, I tried to apply a sense of relating aspects. I know my past might not be relate-able to most people, but by including my interests in purpose to make that happen, or try to. In that sense they they affected the material I used to make the essay, as long as possibly my tone, although my tone is fairly consistent through my papers so I likely failed there (or maybe that was me being me, which was what the paper was about).
During this paper I used reflecting and weird grammatical structures. Reflecting on my interests was no problem, but as I reflected on my childhood the years all smashed together making it difficult to say what happened exactly when. The weird grammerical structures I used was due to me trying our a new writing approaches. I disliked containing my writing, I like just letting it go, so the style is a result of such. This piece was not a difficult to bring together. There were certain pieces about my stories I thought were important, but also inappropriate to write, thus writing around them was slightly difficult. The result of everything was reflection going into greater debt then it ever has before. I learned that even as an introverted person, I was perhaps extroverted in some areas as well. I also encountered aspects that I shouldn't include, so learning the limits of reflecting experiences to peers was interesting.
The main goal of this piece was to tell my readers "this is who I am". I summed up one of my largest struggles, personality aspects of mine, and interests to display that point. Earlier I did mention I was a reflective writer, so as such a reflection over this piece and a revision is likely to follow. I did feel there were a few rough spots with transitioning from one topic to the next, so a smoother wording in these areas will likely make up the largest part of the revising process.
Task #3
Going into it I though "what is Ms. Ingram thinking making us read this book?" Now I see what she saw. The book was very important in developing the sense of what health is. Reading David's, story about how he so strongly supports his way of health, is something I have not seen before. Its takes on a very interesting view point. The readings and ideas from the book also gave inspiration towards my inquiry as I dwelling on mental health. If I did not read this book, it is likely my inquiry would have been something else.
#4
Reflective writing
is fun since our thoughts can be
seen again more times.
