Hey guys, welcome back to my blog posting #7 and may be the last blog posting in my English Composition I class. In this assignment, I will be writing about my experience so far in this class. In this blog, I read a text; Genre in academic writing: reflection and watch a video on reflecting writing which gave more insight to this assignment.
I will also be considering specific assignments, readings, films, and conversations that added to my learning experience in this class. In this assignment, I will be focusing on these five components (GRITT): Genre awareness Rhetorical awareness Identity as an author Theory of writing Transferring of writing to future situations. Prior to my English composition class, I had a little knowledge about writing but never paid much attention to the different writing styles, genres, and research papers until I got into my English composition class. In this class, we had three different formal projects and eight other blog assignments. Creating a website was one interesting part of this class I enjoyed, because I had always wanted to own a website but never had the opportunity to create one. It will also serve as a medium to communicate to my audience. In this class, I learnt that writing is act of communication that makes meaning to my audience. Talking about Genre awareness; I have been able to gain knowledge on the different Genres (drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction), and how they can be used individually also collectively to communicate, inform, and entertain the audience. This has really changed my orientation about genre. Asides that, we dwelt more on the genre of writing (narrative writing), also. In this narrative writing, we wrote a memoir, and I was able to understand the fiction and non-fiction aspect of a memoir, the different structure technics (opening a memoir with a scene, applying the description, action and theme of the scene. Writing a memoir about an emotional scene with a symbol was interesting and fun. Having to think of an emotional scene or event with a symbol in my life was quite challenging, but with the help of readings such as, (my name is Margaret by Maya Angelou, Hills like Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, what is creative non-fiction? By Lee Gutkind, and much explanation and help from Professor Mangini Sabatino, I was able to write a nonfiction memoir emotional scene, with dialogue and symbolism, and being able to incorporate the ‘DAT scene’ in my memoir was very rewarding. Writing a memoir counterfactual was a little bit difficult trying to figure out the “what ifs” but reading “two views of the river by Mark Twain, rewinding & rewriting: the alternate universes in our heads(NPR hidden Brain episode), and watching the film; Kramer vs Kramer” really helped me find my way through writing a memoir counterfactual. Another part the memoir writing I also found interesting was the research paper. MLA paper is used in the English studies- Language and Literature, foreign languages and literatures, literary criticism, comparative literature and cultural studies, it dwells more on providing the reader with cues to follow ideas, locate information that interest them. While op-ed, concentrates more on the strong, informed, and focused opinion of the writer on an issue of relevance to a targeted audience. The op-ed has an opening hook, which grabs the reader’s attention with a strong claim, a surprising fact. I decided to write an MLA research paper because of the little knowledge I have about research, so found this as an opportunity to build on it, with the help of the material provided by our Professor. Rhetorical awareness: rhetoric could mean one’s ability to persuade, motivate, inform, influence, or entertain a particular audience strategically through writing. These were also helpful sources; What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes. I am aware that in my daily communication with people, I would have unconsciously use rhetorical statements at one point or the other, but the ability to transfer that to my writing process during my English Composition I class, was more educative and skillful, using symbols, figure of speech, data, statistics to make and prove a point. It made more sense during my research project, where I had to use some research data, statistics and citations to inform and persuade my readers that mental health crisis in America can be addressed by fixing the loopholes within the mental health system which includes; training more of mental health care providers, paying attention to mental health care insurance especially for low income earners and solving the problem of stigmatization. Identity as an author: I had always wanted to be an author, but the motivation wasn’t really there and I had no relationship with my author self, until my English Composition I class. After we were asked to write a letter to our author self and also reading couple of texts; (A motivational letter to myself by Jenna Terek, 5 reasons to write a letter to yourself ;and how to do it, and 3 ways to master the power of Empathy in your writing by Karen Hertzberg. E.t.c), I got more insight on how to write a letter and naming my author-self by using figure speech and addressing the letter to myself, I started realizing that part of me as an author through out the rest of the semester, and which I will continue to build on in my career pursuit. Answering the Proust questionnaire, being a blogger, website author and research author has been very educative and enlightening, I have learnt new skills in blogging, creating website and researching, which I will continue to explore even in the future. Theory of writing; this class has really changed my orientation about writing. My definition of writing was just limited to texting messaging, and letter writing, I did not value writing that much because I felt it is common and everyone writes. Writing as I have come to understand is beyond picking a pen and writing, writing is a process as seen in Teaching writing as a process Not a Product by Don Murray, you need a topic, knowing how to start, have different drafts and revision in writing, taking notes as events takes place. All of these put together will make meaningful writing. Therefore, my theory of writing is; writing is a process that informs, educates or entertains the audience, but also speaks for and of you! Transfer of writing to future writing situations; As an aspiring nurse anesthetist, I will come across a lot of health case scenarios while in college and also at work, where I would have talk and write about events and hospital cases, make reports and possible write health care plans. In such situations, I will implement my writing process by reminding myself the author that I am, then figure out what type of genre format the report will need, is it expository, narrative, persuasive or descriptive writing or is it a combination of them all, ask myself why do I want to write about that particular topic or issue and considering how it can inform and educate or even entertain my audience, then figure out how to start by doing some free writings and creating some drafts which will contextualize my topic. In doing that, I will give instances, examples, facts and figure that are persuasive, appealing, and convincing to my audience. In my future scene of writing, I imagine a scene where at my workplace as nurse anesthetist, I will be involved with a lot of report writing, situation analysis, health care plans, projects and so on. I see myself transferring all the skills and knowledge acquired in this class to communicate effectively to my audience. I explore the type of genre writing that will be a good fit, I will also use rhetorical awareness to make my points, persuade and inform my readers. At the end day, I would have been able to strategically change the orientation, idea or belief of my audience on the subject matter, and not overburden them with so much words but make sure they have been well informed and educated. In a scenario where I have to write a narrative, I will make sure to factor in the structure technics for memoir structure, which includes the description, action and the theme into the scene.
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Hey guys! Welcome to the 6th episode of my blog posting in English Composition I. In this assignment, I will be writing an alternate experience on my narrative in blog posting #5, this type of writing is known as memoir counterfactual. I will be imagining if things turned out differently in the scene of my blog posting number 5. My scene was about my Dad’s death during my Final year in college and how I felt about it. But in this blog, I would be talking about how things could have turned out differently.
I will also explore the “What ifs” story and the text to consider are; Rewinding & Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Heads (NPR Hidden Brain Episode) Two Views of the River (Mark Twain) Kramer vs. Kramer: Action Scene (Shows/Deepens the Conflict) Kramer vs. Kramer: End-Resolution Scene Kindly visit my narrative project page also, for more insight. Then she said, “You see, I am going to tell you something but don’t take it to heart, don’t panic, we are handling the situation” while she was still talking, my heart started sinking into my stomach, “your …..” words muffled... It was my final year in college back home in Nigeria, just concluded my school registration, of course, after enjoying a three month vacation, and was excited it would be the last time to pay school fees with so much hustling and stress since my parent weren’t rich enough to pay my school fees. “Let’s go grab a cold drink and chill out” I said to my friend Levi, we had had a long stressful registration process and it was also a time to gist about how we spent our three month vacation . The discussion continued as we munched our snacks and drank our chilly soda. “What did you say?” I asked in anxiousness and fear over the phone “It’s your Dad” my aunt replied, “what happened to him” I asked, “he…he…” she muffled again” , at the moment I knew something wasn’t right, I started having a cold feet, my heart beat tripled. “What is wrong, who called you?” Levi asked, but i ignored him. At this point I am imagining that what if her response sounded in this manner; “Aunt, please tell me what happened to him” I inquired. She paused a while and with a cracking voice she replied, “He slumped and fell to the ground while he was about leaving the house to work and was rushed to the hospital by a neighbor, but he is responding to treatment” she said. “The doctors said he will be discharged in two days”... Hey guys! Welcome to another episode of my blog posting in English Composition I. In this assignment, I will be reading Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway and will be creating an emotional scene with dialogue and symbolism. I hope you enjoy my story of how my excitement as a final student in college back home in Nigeria turned into a sad moment for me on the same day. You can as well click on the link above for more insights. I was not close to him that much, though he was fond of me, but there was something about him that reflects whom I am today, something so extra-ordinary, bonding and genetically. I am truly a replica of him. See you soon Dad! Ring, ring, ring, it was my phone, I took it out of my pocket, looked at it, it was an unusual number, so I click on the answer button, hello, hello, good afternoon “I said” “good afternoon”, she responded and said (in my dialect) “it’s me your Aunt Patience”. The pleasantries continues… Then she said, “You see, I am going to tell you something but don’t take it to heart, don’t panic, just put yourself together” while she was still talking, my heart started sinking into my stomach, “your …..” words muffled... It was exciting to be in my final year in college back home in Nigeria, just concluded my school registration, of course, after working and hustling tirelessly for my school fees during the three month vacation, but was excited it would be the last time to pay school fees with so much hustling and stress since my parent weren’t rich enough to pay my school fees. “Let’s go grab a cold drink and chill out” I said to my friend Levi, after a long stressful registration process (if you know what the African’s educational system look like, you’ll understand better) and it was also a time to gist about how we spent our three month vacation “I am doing very well, just the stress associated with the registration process”, I responded, hahahahahaha, we both laughed, Oh man, “it is really stressful” he added. The discussion continued as we munched our snacks and drank our chilly soda. “What did you say?” I asked in anxiousness and fear over the phone “It’s your Dad” my aunt replied, “what happened to him” I asked, “he…he…” she muffled again” I could feel the heaviness in the tone of her voice, at the moment I knew something wasn’t right, I started having a cold feet, my heart beat tripled. “What is wrong, who called you?” Levi asked, I couldn’t say a word, “you are having fever… should I call the ambulance” Levi suggested. “Aunt, please tell me what happened to him” I inquired. She paused a while and with a cracking voice she replied, “He his gone!” I muted for few minutes, I couldn’t scream nor say a word, I felt like I was about faint, I could feel tears rolling down my cheek, then I remembered "blood is ticker than water". Although I wasn’t really close to him that much, he had a special name “Gabriel” he calls me as his only son, at that moment I realized that special name was gone! As I step into our sitting room in the village every time I traveled home, and as I look at the floor where he was buried, I feel his presence around and that name “Gabriel” echoing over and over again! Hey! Welcome to another blog posting in my English composition I class, it been so interesting all the way. In this assignment, I will be reading and annotate the following text by Don Murray; (Teach writing as process Not a product) and Mary Karr; (Against Vanity: In praise of revision) and finally, Anne Lamott; Bird and Bird: Some instruction on writing and Life |pp. 28 – 34| short assignments & Shifty First draft. I will be setting a scene for round table discussion about the writing process, providing three quotes from each of the text and three quotes from me which will be a total of twelve quotes, kindly click on each of the links and have feel of the writing process.
It was a very busy day at work on a winter chilly evening, as I tidied up my unit and dashed out to go home, I remembered I had to stop by the grocery store to do grab some vegetables and fruits for dinner. As I walked through the through the grocery section, I felt a hand touched me on my shoulder, as I turned to see who it was, to my greatest amazement, it was my high school mate, we exchange pleasantries and he told me he was done with college and he majored in English/poetry. I was so excited to present my English assignment on writing process to him so he could guide me through, well he tried as much as he could but I still didn’t quite get it right. So he invited me over to have lunch at the college cafeteria with him where he does English tutorials the following day. The next day I went over to his campus, while we having lunch, we started talking about the writing process, I was curious about knowing the best way to start writing, if there is a format to writing process, as we discussed aloud, I heard a very deep voice from behind me saying “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know. And the writing of this first draft—rough, searching, unfinished—may take as little as one percent of the writer’s time”. As turned to see who he was, he stood up, walked towards us and introducing himself as Don Murray, I exclaimed; ‘yes! Right on time! And everyone in the cafeteria turned and gazed at me, well, I was less concerned because I felt I was going to get the right answers to my questions and from the right source. He (Don) requested we take a walk with him, while we walked and talked, I introduced myself to him and I said to him, ‘if writing is the act of producing a first draft, could there be a second draft which will be less frightening’? He (Don Murray) replied with smile, tapped me on the shoulder and said “Rewriting is reconsideration of subject, form, and audience. It is researching, rethinking, redesigning, rewriting—and finally, line-by-line editing, the demanding, satisfying process of making each word right. It may take many times the hours required for a first draft, perhaps the remaining 14 percent of the time the writer spends on the project". As we got closer to two young beautiful ladies in their late 30s sitting opposite each other and discussing, Don interrupted their discussion by introducing them to my friend and I, as Mary Karr and Anne Lamott, and as fellow professors although from different colleges but they all came for a conference section in my friend’s college. I was pleased to tell them how much I am privileged to meet them in person after reading their articles, they asked us to grab a sit while Don related our discussion to them. While he was talking, Anne interjected saying that “People tend to look at successful writers, writers who are getting their books published and maybe even doing well financially, and think that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to tell; that they take in a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their necks a few times to get all the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages as fast as a court reporter. But this is just the fantasy of the uninitiated. To confirm what Anne said, Mary with a smile added that “When it works, it’s like a spell has been cast. For me, it’s less the old world that comes in clear as the old me—how I felt, what I schemed about, who I lied to. But the writing’s seldom pretty—the sentences are just banal". As the discussion went on, Mary Karr stood to go grab a cup of coffee, I pulled out my laptop and opened my assignment to Don Murray, while he was taking a glance, I reviled to him that “sometimes I have the feelings that my writings don’t make much sense”, while I was still expressing how I feel about my writing, he shut me up by saying that, “This is not a question of correct or incorrect, of etiquette or custom. This is a matter of far higher importance. The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life. He uses language to reveal the truth to him-self so that he can tell it to others. It is an exciting, eventful, evolving process” I turned to Anne to ask her what she felt about my feelings, and she said these words; “We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time, I nodded my head in acceptance to what Anne said as Mary took her sit back but she (Mary) was eager to know what aspect of the writing process we were talking about when she went to get her coffee, we didn’t hesitate letting her know. Mary responded with her story when she wrote short stint in California, Mexico and UK, in concluding her story, she added that “in the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out, even if it later lands on the cutting room floor. Each page takes you somewhere you need to travel before you can land in the next spot. You zigzag, and in the low moments, you just have to keep plodding on—saying the next small thing about which you feel strongly, trying tonestle down into that single instant of clear memory you know without shadow of doubt is both true and important to who you’ve become". Finally, it was getting late and I needed to go home to take some rest, but I felt I had one last question to ask. So I said; "I believe every writer follows his/her own writing process which comes naturally, but what do I do when I find myself struggling with a tricky kind of piece that I am willing to write or writing?" Anne, clearing her throat, responded by saying; “for me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts. The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later”. She continues by saying; “You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page”. Sipping her coffee, Mary concluded her part of the discussion by saying that in her own case, “the pushing comes when editor me comes back to comb over—and over and over—the pages, unpacking each moment. Mostly I take general ideas and try to show them carnally or in a dramatic story. I also interrogate a lot of what I believe: Are you sure that happened? How would he have told it differently?”... After all said and done, Don Murray's final words were, and I quote, “there are no rules, no absolutes, just alternatives. What works one time may not another. All writing is experimental”. I thanked and appreciated them, and promise to start writing a line each day until it becomes pages. Hey! Welcome back to another interesting part of my English Composition I class, in this assignment, I am going to be using figure of speech (metaphor) to write an implicit letter to my author-self but before I did that, I read the “A Fable for the Living” (Kevin Brockmeier) which gave me more insight on how to use metaphor in my writing. Kindly click on the link and see how she and Fiancé were thrown "overboard".
Dearest heart, I salute you for your relentless cooperation with life issues, every seconds you pump blood through the arteries to other parts of the in the body, gives me another chance to live, therefore, you are a major source of my existence, you are the engine that moves the entire body. Unfortunately, life has dealt with you so hard that you almost gave up on me, you have been beaten, accused wrongly, left broken and reject even by the ones you love, and you have also gone through moments of anxiety and depression. Many people trample on you, some stabbed you at the back, took you for granted because of your gentleness, kindness, love and care, but I am glad you never at any point stop performing your duty. Its ok to cry, grieve, and mourn, besides, you can never please people enough, no matter how much kindness and love you show to them, still they’ll hate you. After all, the world never loved Jesus, instead they hated, rejected and eventually killed Him, so who are you… Let me remind you, in case you have forgotten, that without you there is no me, you are the power house to life. But I will say to you, stop crying!! Wipe your tears, because he who laughs last, laughs best. In your brokenness, God sees your pain, He knows how much you want to feel loved by the ones you love. The only fear I see in you right now is the fear of what the future holds for you, the fear of who is going to walk in and out of life, who you will trust your life with, I know it’s hard to comprehend but remember you have to love, protect and keep yourself clean so that even if per chance you cease to exist, you could be saving someone’s life somewhere. So, for the rest of this semester, you will start by focusing more on the positive side of life, ignore those who don’t value you, but never stop doing good, secondly, seek and do things that will make you happy, you and I have come a long way to this point in life, so keep on the good work, finally, you and I will make meaningful writing that will persuade, inform and entertain our audience at different platforms. I hope these plan helps you live a more cheerful and fulfilled life. Sincerely OKorie Kalu Hiiiiii everyone! Welcome to my second blog positing in my English composition I class. In today’s assignment, I focused on watching a video tutorial on how to create a website, read the three texts articles and made annotations on them. After reading the texts and watching the video, I had to answer the questions that follows. Kindly click on the links below to view the texts and video.
For the purpose of passing information to the public and communicate to people around the world at the same time sell our brand. How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing? Ball and Charlton defined Multimodal as the process of making-meaning or communicating through the combination of multiple modes such as visual, linguistic, Aural, Gestural and Spatial. Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"? Yes, as long as it makes meaning and communicates the right information and viewers and readers are able to understand the message. As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking.
C.R.A.P. acronym C: contrast, R: repetition, A: alignment, P: proximity As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking. Contrast: I make this first on my scale of 1-5 because it guides readers on where to look first, which means the contrast draws the attention of the viewers and engage them. Alignment: I will say alignment is the second on the scale of 1-5 because it helps you break down a lot of information into digestible bits and easier to read. Repetition: this helps the reader to know when to start and stop reading with use of cohesive colors or designs which could also serve as the brand. Proximity: you have to decide whether or not to farther the items from one another or to keep them closer to one another. Seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition
I will say it somewhat has similar format especially in the specific purpose, audience, tone, organization and transition, synthesization but has a little difference in the detailed description. Example, the Music, color, sounds to convey the ideas. Hi everyone, this is my first blog posting for my English composition I class. My first assignment will be to answer the Proust Questionnaire which contains Thirty-five questions written by Marcel Proust. Marcel Proust was an early French writer responsible for the longest novel in the world with 1,267,069 words in it. He believes that in answering these questions, an individual’s true nature is revealed. It was a thought provoking experience. Kindly follow the link below and have your own thought provoking experience. The Proust Questionnaire _1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? It is having a positive mind set towards whatever you do or whatever comes your way (whether good or bad) even when you don’t want to. I know it is hard but it is possible. __2.__What is your greatest fear? Fear itself, is my greatest fear! __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Compromise and procrastination but working on them. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? Self-centered, meanness, very busy life-style and lack of time and love for one another __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mother! __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? Buying expensive things even when I know I don’t need them __7.__What is your current state of mind? Finding true love __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Temperance __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I am not a fan of lying but when it comes to saving my ass or someone else’s ass than I might have to __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? I love everything about myself! __11.__Which living person do you most despise? None for now __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Being the man he is __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Respect, hardworking, industrious and who has a kind and loving heart __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “I mean” when I am trying to lay more emphasis on a subject matter __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? I rather not say because I am currently going through emotional moments __16.__When and where were you happiest? Well, I am still expecting the bigger and happiest of my happiest in life but for now, I will say it was when I got married back home in Africa __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I love music and I sing as well, play the trumpet and little bit of the piano but will want will want to graduate from a little bit to a professional Pianist. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My kindheartedness and extreme care for others which has gotten me into so much trouble. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? Not there yet! __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? Myself, as I am __21.__Where would you most like to live? Even though still researching, I would love a city with a more conducive weather __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My life is my greatest possession for now __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Falling in love with the wrong person __24.__What is your favorite occupation? Nurse anesthetist/Health professional __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? Determination, no matter how much I procrastinate, I am so determined to achieving my goals __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Their time, availability and honesty __27.__Who are your favorite writers? “Things fall apart” by Chinua Achebe a Nigerian Author and “The Seven Habits of Highly effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Arnold Schwarzenegger __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Abraham Lincoln __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My parents and Aunts and uncle because they are part of those who made me what I am today and what I will become in the future. __31.__What are your favorite names? Gabriel as my Dad would call me, Carlos my soccer name and the last one is a native name which might be too difficult for you to pronounce, so let’s stay with the two. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? Dishonesty and disrespect __33.__What is your greatest regret? I rather not say __34.__How would you like to die? On my bed at a very old age __35.__What is your motto? Always do the right thing even when it hurts. |
Kalu
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