Evelyn Gooch English Comp 111 28 April 2014

Table of Contents
1. 2 page Self-Assessment paper 2. Revision of my 1st paper, Learning The Basics 3. The original copy of Learning The Basics 4. One Sheet of Writing Critique

Self-Assessment Paper I have learned a lot throughout this spring semester in English class. I have only had to miss one class time, which was the very first class we had in English, so I really havent missed much. I have made sure to complete in all class room assignments, as well as participate in class room discussions and participate in exercises we would have as well. Just by participating and being a part of classroom exercises, helped me understand the stories we were asked to read out of the book, and it clarified the writing processes we were asked to write essays on as well. When I bring up the clarification of the writing processes we went over, I take a look back all the way to our first essay we had assigned to us; the Literacy Narrative. I remember when I read and looked over the instructions on how to write a literacy narrative, I was extremely confused and irritated. I was confused on how to go about and even how to start my literacy narrative due to the fact that I have a terrible problem with remembering how I learned how to read and write. I had to take a strong and deep look back onto my childhood. That paper was not the easiest paper we have had. It was irritating at times, because even though I experienced this time of my life, and I knew it was something I had learned from somewhere, I would get stuck and forget some parts on how I became literate. It took some time and some deep, strong thinking, but I eventually was able to write my first successful paper in the English class. It was a much needed relief when I got on Jupiter grades and found out my grade, I would be extremely satisfied with a B! When it comes to the peer reviews, these not only helped my writing improve, it also helped my grade improve as well. A, very, much needed 100 was what I was looking for throughout the semester, so I made sure not to miss the peer review deadline. Of course, my last

peer review ever for the class had to mess up and I was a couple minutes too late turning it in, so I had to settle with that grade, but it is okay. I learned by trial and error in this class. The peers comments and marks on the paper were a great help for me to look back on when I would do my final draft. I will even look back when I work on my revision. I really liked learning about the turnitin.com website and jupitergrades website. These websites made it easier for me to know my grad and for me to know when deadlines were. Helped keep me on point and organized. The discussion Board posts were new to me. My first one I did not do too well on, but like I said before; trial and error. I listened to what Ms. Jones would explain to us and read over her e-mails she would send when it came to Discussion Board posts and I improved my writing skills, when it came to summarizing and critiquing, extremely well. It took some practice and with some stories I had to re-read the story over and over again, but I would eventually be able to summarize and critique the authors work. It was not easy, but I made sure to participate and complete all the ones the teacher asked us to complete. By participating, listening and taking advice, I was able to become a much stronger writer. I have learned how to cite sources and I have gotten a better understanding when it comes to citing. Also, when it comes to criticizing someone elses work, I have improved in this are very much. That is just my opinion though. I believe that by just doing basic, simple things that were asked of us to do in the class, it helped my grade. I learned not to be afraid on what you write about. This happened on the last paper, our Memoir; it was something very personal, and a very sensitive subject. I had a difficult time, emotionally writing this, and I was not sure what to be 100 percent honest with when it came to writing about this. The story is posted online anyways, but I forgot I mentioned a certain

someones name, so googling the teacher really got the full story, but I was surprised at the outcome and how interested the teacher was in this Memoir I did. It definitely taught me I need to strengthen in certain areas like confidence and security when writing personal paper; not to let my emotions get the best of me, or there could be a real story out of it all.

Revision of Learning the Basics Evelyn Gooch Stacey Jones English Comp 111 28 April 2014 Learning the Basics I can remember at a very early age, picking out a handful of books right before bedtime, struggling hard while carrying all of the books I had picked out for my mom to read to me. I would sit curled up right against her and fall asleep in her bed. Its one of my favorite memories I have with reading. I would wake up the next morning, not knowing how I got there, but knowing my mom must have carried me back to my room late after I had fallen asleep. I loved stories, and I was always so interested and intrigued when it was story time at school or when someone would read a book. The worse part about reading and writing was learning how to do it. It took me, it seemed like, a century to learn how to read and write. There are good memories when it comes to this and there are bad ones. Looking back on the frustration and embarrassments I had when I would be called on by my teacher to read something out loud in class, was not a fond memory. I remember when I would be in class and the teacher would have each student read at least one paragraph from the book. I would always be so stressed out and worried the whole time until it was my turn to read. I would be so worked up, my heart would start beating non-stop, and my stomach was in knots the whole time. I had a hard time paying attention to what others were reading out loud, so I

wasnt learning anything. I mean figuratively all these negative emotions consumed me. The only way out of these emotions was when the teacher would call my name and I would then read, the whole time hoping and praying I wouldnt get stuck with a word that the teacher or someone else in class would have to help me with; so embarrassing. Those times were horrifying. I struggled with sounding words out and I had to go to a speech therapist to get my Rs and Ws right. I had a hard time differentiating between the two. My speech therapist would hold up cards with words on them and I had to sound them out. This did help me tremendously. I remember having an awful time with the word fork and the word whale or well. Those are some specific words that troubled me the most. These are the words that have stuck with me throughout all of the years. However, there was one teacher in particular that taught me how to read and write. I will never forget my teacher, Mrs. Lee. She was a family friend and the nicest, most gentle lady you could ever meet. She was very soft spoken, patient with her students and made class time fun. She interacted with her students and always had fun activities. I really enjoyed her class. She had a reading section in her room where she would choose a student to pick out a book and she would then reads it to us, as we all sat in a large circle around her. She took time and showed us each picture as she read the story. It was always my favorite time of the day. When it comes to writing the hardest part was cursive. I had such a hard time learning cursive. It seemed like time went by so slow when I would have to write in cursive. It took me a while to learn how to not pick up my pencil in between letters. I had just learned how to write in plain print and now I had to start writing in another style and it got confusing. I definitely struggled with this style of writing. The zs, rs, fs, and js were the hard letters for me to write.

It took a lot of practicing and continuous writing of the same letter over and over again on one piece of paper to learn how to do this. I have an older sister, Jennifer. She was the oldest out of all four of us kids. She was bossy towards all of us, and we listened and followed and did whatever Jennifer did. She was the coolest one because she was the oldest one basically. I always looked up to Jennifer and wanted to be like her. Even though she was bossy and mean to us most of the time, she was also very protective toward us as well. She would yell at us and scream at us if we were not doing something right or if she did not like what we were doing at the time she would get upset and frustrated at us. She would not let anybody else yell at us the way she would yell at us, though. She would stick up for us. Say we were in a fight or argument with our neighbor, or somebody random. Jennifer would get on our side and she would not let anyone bully us around. She left that up for herself to do. She wanted to make sure we were doing okay and helped us whenever she could. She would help me with my homework when we would get home from school, and on the weekends she would play school with us. It would be my little sister, Barbara and me. Barbara was the youngest sibling, and she just followed Jennifer and me around and did whatever we would do. Even though she couldnt do some of the things we could do, Barbara did play with us when we played school. We had a playhouse in our yard, and it was what we called the school house. We had a dry erase board, and we would use our homework we had assigned from our teachers in real school. Jennifer would print off tests, and assignments for us to do. She would grade our work and this was us having fun. For some reason its way more fun to play school rather than having to actually go to school. It was a lot more fun for us.

Playing school with my sisters gave me more practice when it came to reading and writing. The assignments and the little things we did when we played school helped me with learning how to read and write. Jennifer had a few years on us, so she had already gone through all of this, learning how to read write stuff, and that was why she was the teacher. It contributed tremendously to my ability now to read and write. It also gives me great childhood memories to look back on, because it was fun to us. We had the whole set up in our playhouse. We had books and desks and the teachers desk was right by the small stand up dry erase board. It looked like a real schoolroom. It was fun. And it helped me with real school. When I look back on the experiences and emotions that came with learning how to read and write, it all worked out. I went on and advanced to different grades and started writing essay papers, started reading books that were smaller print, without pictures and more than 100 pages. I was able to attend spelling bees in school and got close to winning some. When I entered high school, I was selected to be in an advanced English class. Honestly, I never thought I was any good, but someone thought I was. Just recently I have started school back. This is my first year in college since I graduated High School. Writing this paper shows me just how long being out of school can get in the way and cause my writing skills to be lower than how they were when I graduated highschool, especially myself. Im a little rusty, to say the least. At any point I can always look back on my experience when it comes to reading and writing and see how far Ive come, even when I feel like Im not doing so well, Im a whole lot better and advanced than when I had first picked up my pencil for the first time, or first picked up a book to read for the first time.

Learning how to read and write is very crucial in one life. Almost everything we do today involves some sort of reading or writing. Everyone should know how to read and write. For example: needing to read and understand the signs that are on the side of the road, warning/danger labels you need to be able to read and become aware of to prevent harmful interactions, and being able to get an education; all of these things involve you needing to be able to read and write at some sort of level. Its required and very important. Without my experience and other people there to help, I wouldnt be where Im at today. My teacher Mrs. Lee, my sister Jennifer, my speech therapist: all of these people helped me in some way to learn how to read and write. The memories I have in my playhouse were great memories. Playing school not only brought enjoyment and happiness to my life, but it helped me advance and progress in my education. Without all of these people helping me I wouldnt be where Im at today. Reading and writing, learning the basics, is something that is taught and practiced. These people helped me tremendously with that.

Original Copy of Learning the Basics Evelyn Gooch Stacy Jones English 111 10 February 2014 Learning the Basics I can remember at a very early age, picking out a handful of books right before bedtime, struggling hard while carrying all of the books I had picked out for my mom to read to me. I would sit curled up right against her and fall asleep in her bed. Its one of my most favorite memories I have with reading. I would wake up the next morning, not knowing how I got there, but knowing my mom must have carried me back to my room late after I had fallen asleep. I loved stories, and I was always so interested and intrigued when it was story time at school or when someone would read a book. The worse part about reading and writing was learning how to do it. It took me, it seemed like, a century to learn how to read and write. There are good memories when it comes to this and there are bad ones. All the emotions that come out when youre in the process of learning how to read and write are incredible. Its something I really had never thought about until I received this assignment. Looking back on the frustration and embarrassments I had when I would be called on by my teacher to read something out loud in class, was not a fond memory. I remember when I would be in class and the teacher would have each student read at least one paragraph from the book. I would always be so stressed out and worried the whole time

until it was my turn to read. I would literally be so wound up, my heart would start beating nonstop, and my stomach was in knots the whole time. I had a hard time paying attention to what others were reading out loud, so I wasnt learning anything. I mean literally all these negative emotions consumed me. The only way out of these emotions was when the teacher would call my name and I would then read, the whole time hoping and praying I wouldnt get stuck with a word that the teacher or someone else in class would have to help me with; so embarrassing. Those times were awful. I struggled with sounding words out and I had to go to a speech therapist to get my Rs and Ws right. I had a hard time differentiating between the two. My speech therapist would hold up cards with words on them and I had to sound them out. This did help me tremendously. But there was one teacher in particular that taught me how to read and write. I will never forget my teacher, Mrs. Lee. She was a family friend and the nicest lady you could ever meet. She was very patient with her students and made class time fun. She interacted with us kids and had fun activities. I really enjoyed her class. She had a reading section in her room where she would choose a student to pick out a book and she would then reads it to us, as we all sat in a large circle around her. She took time and showed us each picture as she read the story. It was always my favorite time of the day.

I think when it comes to writing the hardest part was cursive. I had such a hard time learning cursive. It seemed like time went by so slow when I would have to write in cursive. It took me a while to learn how to not pick up my pencil in between letters. I had just learned how to write in plain print and now I had to start writing in another style and it got confusing. I definitely

struggled with this style of writing. The zs, rs, fs, and js were the hard letters for me to write. It took a lot of practicing and continuous writing of the same letter over and over again on one piece of paper to learn how to do this. I had an older sister, Jennifer. She was the oldest out of all four of us kids. She was bossy towards all of us, and we listened and followed and did whatever Jennifer did. She was the coolest one because she was the oldest one basically. I always looked up to Jennifer and wanted to be like her. But even though she was bossy and mean to us most of the time, she was also protective of us. She wanted to make sure we were doing okay and helped us whenever she could. She would help me with my homework when we would get home from school and on the weekends she would play school with us. It would be my little sister, Barbara and me. Barbara was the youngest sibling and she just followed Jennifer and I around and did whatever we would do. Even though she couldnt do some of the things we could do, Barbara did play with us when we played school. We had a playhouse in our yard and it was what we called the school house. We had a dry erase board and we would use our homework we had assigned from our teachers in real school. Jennifer would print off tests, and assignments for us to do. She would grade our work and this was us having fun. For some reason its way more fun to play school rather than having to actually go to school. It was a lot more fun for us. Playing school with my sisters gave me more practice when it came to reading and writing. The assignments and the little things we did when we played school helped me with learning how to read and write. Jennifer had a few years on us so she had already went through all of this and that was why she was the teacher. It contributed tremendously to my ability now

to read and write. It also gives me great childhood memories to look back on, because it was fun to us. We had the whole set up in our playhouse. We had books and desks and the teachers desk was right by the small stand up dry erase board. It looked like a real schoolroom. It was fun. And it helped me with real school. When I look back on the experiences and emotions that came with learning how to read and write, it all worked out. I went on and advanced to different grades and started writing essay papers, started reading books that were smaller print, without pictures and more than 100 pages. I was able to attend spelling bees in school and got close to winning some. When I entered High School, I was selected to be in an advanced English class. Honestly, I never thought I was any good, but someone thought I was. Just recently I have started back school. This is my first year in college since I graduated High School. Writing this paper shows me just how long being out of school can mess with somebody, especially myself. Im a little rusty to say the least. At any point I can always look back on my experience when it comes to reading and writing and see how far Ive come, even when I feel like Im not doing so well, Im a whole lot better and advanced than when I had first picked up my pencil for the first time, or first picked up a book to read for the first time. Learning how to read and write is very crucial in one life. Almost everything we do today involve some sort of reading or writing. Signs on the road while driving, warning/danger labels you need to read and be aware, school and getting an education so you can get a career and be successful in life. Everyone should know how to read and write. Its very important. Without my experience and other people there to help, I wouldnt be where Im at today.

My teacher Mrs. Lee, my sister Jennifer, my speech therapist, all of these people helped me in some way to learn how to read and write. The memories I have in my playhouse were great memories. Playing school not only brought enjoyment and happiness to my life, but it helped me advance and progress in my education. Without all of these people helping me I wouldnt be where Im at today. Reading and writing, learning the basics, is something that is taught and practiced. These people helped me tremendously with that.

Writing Critique I feel like my best piece of writing that I submitted this semester in English would be the informative report. Not only did I make the highest grade on this piece of writing, but it was the easiest one for me to do as well. None of my strongest writing pieces would fall under the copies I did for my rough draft, I spent and worked a lot more on all of my final piece of writings. I made sure to select a topic that would not be a very boring or something that I could easily be interested in writing and discussing about in my essay. I am the type of person that becomes bored and tired with topics easily, so I had to pick picky. I watched video clips and an hour long CNN news report on this painter con-man, Wolfgang Beltracchi. All together I understand that I had some grammatical errors, but I feel like my final draft was the strongest one I have written this semester. It is the most interesting one I have written as well. My weakest piece of work would have to be my memoir. I feel like if I did not let my emotions get in the way of my writing capabilities, then I could have written an awesome memoir, and brought to life the devastation, and pain and misery, that year really and truly brings me. I feel like I could have been more honest as well. I left out the way I found out about henrys death, because I did not want to be judged. My ideas for improvement would be to stand strong and confident when writing something as personal and real as a memoir is to you. Be honest and truthful not only with yourself but your audience you are writing to as well. Memoirs are not make believe. I also feel like I need to be more detailed and have a wider vocabulary and use of words when it comes to my writing capabilities. I need to work on strengthening my vocabulary and my word choice.