John Zinno Case

John Zinno

Lauren Pisanelli

Writing and Rhetoric

3 December 2012

Reflective Essay

When I walked in to class on the first day of college I had no idea what to expect. Every English class I have taken in the past had been horrible. I did not understand how to write with enthusiasm or to get better at writing as a whole. There were a lot of things going through my mind when I realized that I had to take not only another English course, but one that is so heavily dependent on writing. Writing has always been my most hated aspect of school in every class. Coming to college I knew I would have to work harder then I usually did in high school. This day was basically the start of my transformation into somewhat of a better writer. I believe that my writing as significantly changed for the better; basically my problem all along was trying to use larger words to sound smarter. It is much easier to just get out what you're thinking in normal terms to make sure you do not confuse anyone; even yourself. I have gained much more confidence when it comes to writing and also critiquing other written pieces.

Our first assignment when we had to read out of the blue book and do the usual Informal Writing Assignment I was disappointed. I was worried that we would be tested over the readings and be reading articles that were basically worthless to today's students. Thankfully none of that was true. I thought most of the readings not only helped my writing, but they were usually pretty interesting.

Instead of critiquing each assignment I wrote, I think it would make more sense to put them into categories. The categories would be: Understood, Misunderstood, Lacked Effort, and Full Effort. In the category 'understood' I feel like I had a fantastic grasp of the readings and also of what the author was trying to convey throughout the article. In 'misunderstood' I believe that I either tried to B.S. my way through it while really struggling to answer the questions and finding out what was trying to be written. In 'lacked effort' I could have either understood the reading and just put basically 'crap' into my assignment because I was stretched for time; or I truly did not understand the reading and did not care to go into more depth to discover the reason for the article. Last, but not least, 'full effort' would be any assignment that I both understood and misunderstood, but still put the time in to do a great job. Whether I used other people's work to understand the article better or just to get a different perspective of what other people believe it was about.

Categories

Understood

 Alexander Dialectical Notebook

 Brandt Dialectical Notebook

 Dawkins and Bryson Dialectical Notebook

 Malcolm X Dialectical Notebook

 Murray Dialectical Notebook

 Allen Normal IWA

 Berger Normal IWA

 Bernhardt Normal IWA

 Flynn Normal IWA

 Glenn Normal IWA

 Kantz Normal IWA

 McCloud Normal IWA

 Swales Normal IWA

 Swales Discourse Normal IWA

 Wardle Normal IWA Misunderstood

 Anzaldua and Lunsford Dialectical Notebook

 Malinowitz Normal IWA

 Villanueva Normal IWA Lacked Effort

 Cixous Dialectical Notebook

 Smitherman Normal IWA

 Devitt Normal IWA

 Kleine Normal IWA Full Effort

 Bell Hooks Normal IWA

 Wysocki Dialectical Notebook

 Baron Dialectical Notebook

 Delpit Normal IWA

 Gee Normal IWA

 Porter Normal IWA

Our first project was to choose a writing construct and argue whether or not it should be used. My writing construct was procrastination; I did not feel like I had the authority to say if procrastination effected students negatively or positively. My view of my procrastination is basically half and half; it is very possible to procrastinate and still receive the same grade as you would have if you did the work ahead of time. I found many articles