Friday, June 4, 2010

Reflection on English 101D Class

I've always felt that writing was a part of me from the time I was a fifth grader a constant journal became a part of who I was. I was going to be a writer so I hid whatever notebook that had become my precious journal in between school books and under jackets. Growing older though I was told to face reality, that being a writer is as far out as wanting to be a pop singer or an astraunaut, its unattainable. So slowly and reluctantly I let those dreams die. I avoided writing classes after that and putting effort into my school papers, what was the point everyone else had decided how successful I was going to be and it didn't amount to much. This class in a sad way brought back all those dreams of entertaining others through the written word. I can't say that I am willing to chase those dreams, but its always fun to imagine.

You will notice that the pieces I chose to include in my portfolio consist mostly of work from the Identity Chapter of english class. Every piece of work that I chose for my portfolio are pieces that I connected to that I felt deserve recognition and that I'm proud to be author of. The identity pieces became important to me because I learned exactly what this class was supposed to teach me; diversity. Reading the essays written by so many different people that have experienced things I can't even imagine taught me to be more understanding. I will always remember the challenges of this class and how important diversity is.

Critical Thinking Introduction

I choose this discussion post as an example of critical thinking because it was one of the most difficult one to write. Think about it to you what makes an identity marker? Just be glad you don’t have to read the essays that came with it. Most of them were moving but at the same time its hard to understand all the difficulties these people face. I had to put myself in their shoes.

I believe that my definition of identity marker shows my ability to analyze, An identity marker is the way someone perceives another. Its a judgement. My ability to think through my assignments has greatly increased due to this English class

Identity Marker-Critical Thinking

An identity marker is the way someone perceives another. Its a judgement. Everyone judges the others around them even though it is impolite and unfair. Queen Latifah (1999) says that we are judged by our gender and our race. Latifah insists that each woman needs to know that she is a queen, and that they need to demand to be treated as one. "This is particularly important for African American women to know inside and out, upside down, and right side up...Many of us have been so hurt and so dogged out by society - and by men and by life - that we can't even wrap our brains around the notion that we deserve better, that we are queens."
According to Emily White (2002) we are judged on the people that we associate with, who we are seen with we are identified with. She also says that people are also identified by their looks. "...virtually all the popular kids are physically well proportioned;one girl I interview will describe them as "the kind of kids who get their way because they have perfect hair, perfect teeth, et cetera." Its true people judge by appearances usually out of jealousy or thinking, "i'm glad I don't look like that".



Latifah, Queen. "Who You Callin' Bitch?". Remix.
Ed. Leasa Burton. Boston:Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 33-37. Print
White, Emily. "High School's Secret Life". Remix
Ed. Leasa Burton. Boston:Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 15-19. Print

Revision/Reseeing

I had trouble focusing on this assignment with my limited knowledge and no involvement with the public school system, which I believe these essays focused on. So I didn’t really put my heart into the assignment. The first paragraph is decent it’s the final paragraph that I focused on for revisions. I didn't change a lot grammatically but I did rewrite the paragraph to what I felt supported the first paragraph and connected them better.

High School

In the essays High School's Secret Life (by Emily White) and Masks (Lucy Grealy) the authors share their views on high school. White's view of high school is as an adult observer watching the students, whereas Grealy speaks about her own high school experiences. Both give the illusion that the lunchroom is a big exciting part of high school, they have similar stories of boys sitting in the lunchroom trying to impress their peers by making fun of others imperfections. According to both the writers' having imperfections leads to cruelty and isolation from others. The writers also seemed to think if you are treated cruelly in high school, those scars will carry on into adulthood.

I feel blessed after reading these essays.My high school problems that seemed so significant at the time now seem so small and childish. My parents insisted that I attend private school. Lucky for me I only had school on one day a week. I had a group of friends that I felt comfortable with and the weird thing is the popular kids were super-scary nice. They were best friends with everyone. The lunch time wasn’t full of competition and belittling such as the authors experienced but of laughter and fun. The only regrets that follow me from those four years is Though my classmates were always kind to me I let our differences build a barrier in my mind that was never torn down.


In the essays High School's Secret Life (by Emily White) and Masks (Lucy Grealy) the authors share their views on high school. White's view of high school is as an adult observer watching the students, whereas Grealy speaks about her own high school experiences. Both give the illusion that the lunchroom is a big exciting part of high school, they have similar stories of boys sitting in the lunchroom trying to impress their peers by making fun of others imperfections. According to the writers' having imperfections leads to cruelty and isolation from others.

In grade school if you asked me what my favorite parts of school were I would answer easily recess, lunch and P.E. If you asked that question after I entered high school I wouldn't have an answer for you. Entering high school was a new exciting experience, all my friends were jealous because I only had to attend one day a week. What my friends didn't realize was that my high school was full of well of kids whose parents were deeply involved in their childrens lives'. These things started the isolation that only increased through my four years of high school. Though my classmates were always kind to me I let our differences build a barrier in my mind that was never torn down. I never had the misfortune of experiencing the cruelty of teenage boys (other than my brother) nor of anyone ostracizing me for my looks.