Dario Cortez Ms.

Ingram 2/25/2013 English 1102 Dear Aaron, I know we just talked yesterday but I forgot to tell you about my English 1102 class here at UNCC. Yes, I know, you probably have a much harder Writing/ English class since youre Aaron, the great writer of our high school who attends Villanova. (Im very proud of you though). Well, this class is a tad bit different than yours and has probably taught me a thing or two even you didnt know (ha!). This course is none like Ive had before but youll probably notice by the methods and concepts used in this class. You know I dont like English class much but this class has interested me since the theme should be enjoyable to write about but Ill talk about that theme in a bit. Where do I start? Well first, I want to tell you about the theme of this class; What does it mean to be healthy? At the beginning, the only thought that passed across my mind was exercise, diet, and etc. under those categories but I was mistaken. Once we stepped into class we started to work with the word inquiry. I didnt even know what the word meant but soon I came to understand the word. I learned that we have to ask questions related to a topic, item, person, and much more in order to understand it better. Sometimes the questions dont even have to directly form from the topic but instead something that relate to it or influences it or different forms of it. This is when our teacher, Ms. Ingram, opened our eyes to the broad spectrum of being healthy. For example, theres mental, emotional, physical, educational, environmental, social, and spiritual health.

One of the activities we did in class required to do some critical thinking and to truly inquire about a topic; directly and indirectly. Our teacher laid out some items in the front of the class including a yoga mat, a Bible, cat food, and other items that somehow correlated with health. Our class was divided into groups and we began to make inquiry questions about an item and it really taught me to expand my thought process and critically think about the item from various perspectives. For example, my group chose the yoga mat. Some questions we formed for this item were how often was it used?, did it help with yoga posing?, and even what material was it made of ? Not only were the questions about the material but what it influenced and causes to a person or something. This truly helped me understand and develop a greater ability to form inquiry questions about a certain topic and continued to help me in this class. In this class weve been assigned numerous projects and essays. For instance, we were to write a paper that will inform the reader or audience what it is to be like me? Honestly, this was a hard piece of writing for me but I soon learned to organize my characteristics according to my life events and it was quite risky since it resembled an autobiography and I had to be careful not to step too far into my events and pull out of it what formed me into who I am now. The process that helped me was the fact had to write 2 drafts and I really took in consideration the revisions that should be done in the second one in order to take away the unnecessary and draw back the reader to the focus of the piece which was to inform them who I am NOW. Another method that helped in this class was the fact that we did peer editing and revising and thankfully, my group members aided me in pointing out a few flaws in my paper. Ive honestly learned to reach out to a friend and ask to read a work of mine and see if they can help as well. Another activity we did was to read a book called Peace, Butter and Jelly which doesnt sound like it would captivate you at first but when I started to read it thoroughly, I

understood the authors mission by writing this book. It truly impacted my life and it was an inspiration for my writing and started to change my perspective on the use of writing in a different way. Like him, Id like to leave a legacy for my generation to come and it would be great to keep my familys torch on and burning for years to come. This book was actually my model for my what is it to be me? essay because David Seidel, the author, wrote his familys influence on him and at the same time wrote about what each member taught him. It was a new technique Ive never seen and it helped me for my paper. David Seidel also visited us in class! Can you believe that!?! As we move along in this class, each student has to form a question about the title of this class. WHAT IS IT TO BE HEALTHY? Like I mentioned before, I love that it has a broad list to choose from and it will be enjoyable for me to write this paper. As you know Aaron, Im a devoted Christian and love God too much so I have decided to write about the benefits of being spiritually healthy. But before I go in and dive in writing this paper like usually, Ive learned in this class to do some research first around the area of spiritual health and let the information guide me to a solid question and focus in order not to be looking for information after the fact. It makes more sense to be sure you have the research in order to THEN write your research paper. Cant believe it took me this long to get that. As you see, Ive learned some tips and methods that will hopefully help my writing in the future because I know I needed it. There are some other assignments that helped me out as well but the previous works probably helped me out the most personally and were emphasized in this class. To sum it all up, Ive learned to make essential questions about something I want to know more about, to organize thoughts better, reach out for help, revise my work more carefully, and to do research before the writing the research paper and even creating the thesis statement. Well

Ill keep you updated bud and hope youre having a great time. Dont worry about me, Ill just grow in my writing skills and maybe one day leave you in the dust haha.

From, Dario