Reflection Essay
During this fall I took a two part FIQWS class taught by Ms.Miller and Ms.Nagales. During these courses I was able to learn about language and literacy and more so specifically about linguistic myths and realities. The instructors split the learning process into four phases. Through each phase we are presented with various readings and writings tasks in order to establish a well comprehensive sense of understanding of the established goals that we are intended to reach. Throughout these four phases I was able to gain new insights of how language has an effect on us even though we are unaware of it.
One of the things that I have become about is to “Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing and hierarchizing languages and their users”. I have achieved this course learning outcomes through the multiple readings written by linguistically educated authors such as Lippi Green and Ray Harlow from “Language Myths”. In continuation, from these great readings I was able to “Explore and analyze in their own and others writing a variety of genres and memorial situations”.
I have included the previous image which is a snapshot of my rhetorical situation worksheet. It shows how I was prompted and able to identify and gather what was the text and who wrote it and the context behind it as well as the audience it was aiming to reach and most importantly the authors argument and how he/she supported it. By using these worksheets, I was able to incorporate this type of planning as well when I was formulating my major essays and making it easier to write better flowing essay since I know my main key components such as my purpose and the audience that I am aiming at. Another outcome that I have achieved through this course is to “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising and editing. By using Charting a Text Worksheets. Below is an example of this worksheet, it helps me keep on task on quoting the main points that they author is trying to get across and gather important quotes that I will be able to use and include in my essays.
Through the duration of this course I was also able to extend my knowledge about citation. I was able to “Practice systematic application of citation conventions”. Assignments like that Researched Exploratory Essay has kept me practicing on my citation skills considering we have to use information from multiple sources including peer reviewed articles and more in order to formulate a well credited essay in MLA style. This class has also taught me to “Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing process”. I have done this by using a strategy such as a rhetorical precis.
I used the strategy of creating a precis in order to create a summary for Wolfram. By doing this I was able to establish the authors credentials and by doing so convincing readers even more of the argument being stated. Overall it gave the reader an overview of the authors main points and thus it is an essential strategy for me to use. Another worksheet similar to this called Synthesis Prep Worksheet has helped me “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations”. By using that work sheet, I was able to plan out the quotes from sources that I was using. This helped a lot considering it helped me manage to incorporate all of my sources equally and also include my view and say within it. Practices such as discussion boards prompts have assisted my ability to “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences”.
By utilizing the discussion board on Blackboard, I was able to connect with my teachers and fellow classmates. In doing so I was able to express my thoughts on the prompted topic and be able to see the views and different set of perspectives that my classmates had regarding the same topic. Lastly in order to complete these assignments I had to learn how to find sources and use them effectively for my work. Therefore, I learned to “Locate research sources (including academic articles, magazines and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives an on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy and bias”. By learning this I was able to locate peer reviewed articles and a variety of other sources. Overall, I have learned a lot things in this class that I will continue to use when writing in the future.
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