Table of Contents

Table of Contents My reflections on English 101D Introduction for Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Introduction for Revision Revision Introduction for Audience and Voice Audience and voice Introduction for Writer’s Choice Writer’s Choice

My Reflection's on English 101D

          Hello, my name is Julie Hentila. I am a mother of two boys, Tyler 18 and Christian 13. I have always tried to set a good example for my boys but sometimes I wonder if I am doing a good job. I work long hours, usually from 7:30 AM - 8:00 PM, except for the two days that I go to night school; I will leave work at 6:30. I work weekends also. This work schedule of mine does not leave me much time for my family or homework. Working a full time job and raising children is tougher than I thought it would be, and then I had to add school to the mix. I help my kids with their homework and struggle, what was I thinking when I decided I would work full time, raise kids, and go to school? I'm trying to work my way up to the Nursing Program, who knows if I will ever get there but I'm trying my very best. I want to make more money and buy a new house, I want to be able to buy my kids their first car, and get them the things that I did not have when I was growing up.

          English and Math are my weaknesses. I am horrible with punctuation, and my middle nickname should be comma splice. Why are so many points deducted on papers when there is a comma splice? One would think that I would have it down by now. I can speak English just fine, and I think I do a pretty good job when I talk to people (I don’t think I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about).When I am asked to read something and then write what I thought about it, I freak out. I start sweating and then the anxiety kicks in. It takes me forever to write something (writers block). If you ask me to ramble on and tell a story of my life or what I did the weekend before, I have no problem.

          Everything was going good, I got an "A" in English 97, a “B” in English 98, and now English 101D is kicking me. English 101D has been a very long, stressful journey for me. Since I started this class, I have been having nightmares about writing. It is bad enough that I do not get any sleep, but now the little sleep I get is spent dreaming about English. This is not English bashing time. Do not get me wrong, I have learned a lot about writing, but the grammar part is still shaky. I chose 101D to satisfy my diversity requirement. Without diversity, in all forms, we would just become comfortable with what we do, and not strive to achieve.
          The word diversity has come to describe the difference in religion, race, sexuality, etc, and how we except or not except these ideas in our lives. Diversity is inevitable, everyone is different, everyone believes something different (even if just a little or a lot), everyone has different theories. To embrace this idea of diversity, we open our hearts to the world and allow ourselves to love everyone. This is what I get out of diversity. A longing to learn about the people around me and their emotional standing.
          All of the assignments that I did in English 101D were interesting. I learned a lot about identity, communities, and tradition. The papers were the most challenging for me. I wrote these papers (it took a lot of late nights) and thought I had done a good job. After looking at the grade I had received on my first paper, started the downward spiral. This is when the anxiety and fatigue kicked in. Reviewing the assignments better is what I needed to do, so I did. I still missed important points. I did a lot better than I thought I would on the Discussion Board post. It was fun to interact with the other students and discuss our views on what was given to us to study. The blog assignments were the easiest. It was not hard for me at all to tell my peers what I had in my wallet and the tradition blog was cake. It brought back many memories that I had with my family, memories that should never be forgotten.
         

Introduction for Critical Thinking

          Am I a critical thinker? What is analysis or synthesis and what am I doing in this class? Oh yeah, I have to take this class as a requirement to get into the nursing program. When I started this class, I had no idea what I was doing. I am not good at writing and I always forget what I just read.

          I chose to do the critical thinking piece on the discussion board post, “How Did We Manage to Survive Adolescence”. The reason why I chose this piece is because I have children and I have witnessed their struggles with peer pressure, being teased, and bullied.

Critical Thinking

          Analysis is the breakdown of something into parts or ideas and a discussion of description of those parts using a point of view. The writer collects information that is central to the argument he or she is examining and interprets the strengths and weaknesses of all sides of the debates.

          I read the essay “High Schools Secret Life”, by Emily White. In this essay, White describes peer groups (cliques), and how they differ. Kids are tormented if they do not fit into these groups. White tells us that the cafeteria is the main meting place for these groups. The cafeteria is a place that will let you know if you have friends, and it is a place where kids are tormented and feel lonely.

          Synthesis involves bringing together all of your opinions and research in support of your thesis. Get all of the facts, and whatever can directly be observed with your own opinion and conclusions to persuade your audience that your thesis is correct.

          Bringing together my own opinions for this piece was not hard at all. Before I posted my response to the essay "High Schools Secret Life", I wrote; attending school is the hardest thing a child will have to endure. Kids will do anything to be accepted by their peers. They will lie, cheat, steal, tease, and torment others. Why do kids do this? Is it so others will accept them and think they are cool? Peer pressure will get them every time. There are leaders, and those that follow. Most of the kids that tease and torment others have problems of their own. Many of these problems start in the home and stem from the way they are raised. They torment others because they feel tormented inside. They are so miserable with their lives so they think it is ok to make themselves feel better.

          The Discussion Board assignments definately helped me become more of a critical thinker.

Introduction for Revision

          I chose my tradition paper to be the one that I revise. I worked so hard on this paper and I wanted to make sure that I gave my audience reasons why the television as an innovation has affected children in a negative way. I forgot the main point of writing this paper, and that main point is how a modern innovation affects tradition.

          I do not want to change my whole paper because I worked so hard on it, but I think adding a paragraph on why the television can affect tradition would be good, so I will add it to the closing paragraph of my paper.

Revision

          Traditional Jews understand that the home is not just a dorm and a restaurant: It is the center of the child’s world, and it is the heart of the family. As such, it demands protection. Heart disease kills. Influences that are only offensive on the streets can be deadly in the den. Following their ancestors’ example, traditional Jews guard their hearts, carefully sifting through their generation’s popular culture before allowing it through the front door. Their first question has always been, “How will this affect my children?” (http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/dangers-of-television/). Jews feel that bringing the television into their home can corrupt their children and ruin family tradition.

          Overall, television viewing apparently brings incalculable issues such as behavioral problems, poor academic performance and negative implication on thinking. Although some may argue that, there are benefits in television viewing. I strongly declare with my stance that television viewing can be detrimental to its viewers.

Introduction for Audience and Voice

          I picked Discussion Board #1, “Tradition, Embrace Them or Attack Them” for my audience and voice piece. I feel that this piece shows an awareness of audience and voice.

          Although family traditions can be fun; there are some traditions that are not so fun. In the essay "Let Me Find My Own Husband", Sarita James talks about one of the traditions in her Indian culture. James's parents are attempting to find her a "suitable boy". James is not too happy about this arrangement; her parents say that because suitable boys are scarce, they need to start their search.

Audience and Voice

          Family tradition, also known as family culture is a big part in family’s lives. Why do people do the same thing repeatedly? Most people do this because it is the way they were raised.

          Tradition comes from the things we were taught by our parents. My mother taught me how to sew, and she learned from her mother. Everybody has family traditions whether it is going to your aunt and uncles house for holiday dinners, or going on a summer vacation every year to the family’s favorite camping spot. These traditions and the memories that follow whether they are good or bad will last a lifetime. These family traditions are often carried on throughout each generation.

          The essay “Let Me Find My Own Husband” really stirred up a bunch of talk in the Discussion Board. Some my peer’s comments regarding this essay were strong such as Drew McElhaney’s. Drew replied to my post by saying, “Your second point is something that has always made me a little hot under the collar whenever it's brought up. I know it is a religious thing or whatever but I absolutely detest the idea of arranged marriages. Taking away somebody's freedom to such an extreme degree is completely unacceptable in my mind, especially when most arranged marriages that I hear about are rife with abuse and disrespect. It makes me furious to think that somebody, somewhere, thought that it was okay to completely strip someone of their rights in that way (don't even get me started on slavery). That is the kind of tradition that needs to be completely abolished from the face of the planet“.

Introduction for Writer's Choice

          When I first learned that, I had to make a blog I was very nervous. Did I even say that the right way, “make a blog“? Who knows? I got through it and made my blog. Writing on the blog page was exciting for me because I was able to write without reading something and then analyzing it. My two favorite blogs were “What’s in your Wallet”, and Tradition.

Writers Choice

          It is funny that people think they can tell what a person is like by looking in someone’s wallet or purse. I wrote in my blog, “Some would say that they could tell what a person is like just by looking at the contents in their wallet. I would have to disagree. If someone were to look at the contents in my wallet, they would think that I was a very messy person. I have a plethora of receipts in my wallet that are coming out of every pocket. I have to keep the receipts in case I need to return something. Some would ask, "why not just start file folders to hold all of the receipts". I would have to say, "If I did that then I would forget to grab the one I needed. I would get to the store, look for the receipt in my wallet, and remember it was in the stupid file. If I keep the receipts in the wallet then I wouldn't forget to grab them". I am not messy, I am just organized challenged.

          Do any of you have grocery store, or any other type of Rewards Card? I think I have every type of card you could think of. These cards range from the Safeway Club Card to the Game Stop Power-up Rewards Pro Card. This, I hope this would tell you that I am a bargain shopper and not a rewards card hoarder.

          In today’s society, too many people judge others. What is that one saying that is used? Judge not, that you be not judged? What does this mean? Well last, I checked it means that if you judge people then you will be judged. You cannot judge a book by its cover, and you certainly cannot judge a person by what they carry in their wallet. I think people need to mind their own business, and worry about themselves before they start meddling.

          If you find my wallet all you will get is a bunch of Club Cards and receipts, so just return the darn wallet instead of going through it and trying to figure out what I am like. Oh ya, I almost forgot, there is no cash in there for you to take“.

          My second favorite was writing about family traditions. Writing this in my blog brought back memories of how I would spend time with my family before my father passed away. I wrote in my blog, “For as long as I can remember, my mother would always make a huge dinner on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We would always stay home and just have family time. My mother’s food was always the best. The turkey was always moist, the stuffing was just right with all of the giblets (gizzard, liver, heart), the raspberry/applesauce Jell-O that was topped with the weirdest topping (sour cream with miniature marshmallows that eventually disintegrated after stirring it for hours) was so delicious, fruit salad that had apples, bananas, grapes, and my favorite mandarin oranges was mixed with cool whip, yams that were mixed with a little scosh of brown sugar and topped with marshmallows. My mom’s homemade potato rolls were tasty, and finally yet importantly, the mashed potatoes and home made gravy that was made from the turkey stock and drippings. We never sat down at the dinner table to eat because the table was full of food so we would put all of the food on the dining room table, dish up, and then sit down in the family room to eat together and watch the television.

          One year we went over to my Aunt Mavis and Uncle Docs house. I hated going over there because Aunt Mavis was mean. It was the worst dinner I had ever had, and I was bored out of my mind. Aunt Mavis did not cook like my mom. The stuffing wasn't even real; it was stovetop, who makes stovetop stuffing? She did not even put giblets in it. I thought I would die. The fruit salad had nuts and marshmallows in it. The fruit salad is not supposed to have marshmallows in it; the marshmallows are supposed to disintegrate in the sour cream and put on the Jell-O or melted on top of the candied yams.

          The funniest dinner I went to was at my Cousin Lisa's house. Mothers' sisters came from Montana to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. All I remember was looking at the mystery dish. I was trying so hard not to laugh as I looked into the bowl of dark brown slop. I pulled my sister to the side and asked her what it was; she just got a big smile on her face and said I do not know. We found out later on that the mystery dish was the stuffing.

          I learned how to cook my mother’s fabulous meals after my dad passed away just before Christmas in 1995. Our unique holiday dinners where we sat down as a family in front of the television were not the same anymore. Holiday dinners are usually over at my house now. My mother will come over the night before and stay the night to help me prepare the meal the next day. I will never forget the good times I had growing up and I will always remember my family’s holiday dinner traditions“.
          This has been a long stressful journey for me. I hope you all enjoy my e-portfolio. I must say that although I was stressed out, had anxiety, and was sick most of this quarter, I really did enjoy meeting all of you, and interacting with most of you. I would like to thank Professors Wells-Edwards and Smith for their great English teaching skills, I really did learn a lot in this class. Good luck to all.