Once Upon an English Class
As a student, I have many weaknesses. I have always written in a very formal tone and have never trusted myself as a writer. I started the semester with an anecdotal narrative about a time when I was biased against a peer. It was accompanied by a minor animation that gave it a personal touch. It was one of the first times that I stopped to really think about my prejudices against other people. It was indeed shocking, but much needed. There was so much internalized oppression that it became interpersonal and I felt bad about it for a long time after that. To this day I prioritize standard English in my writing and speaking voice.
This narrative was the first time I got minorly creative with my writing. I wrote exactly how I felt and wrote very similar to how I would say it. It was also the first time that I used dialogue in a piece of academic writing. Writing about a time I was wrong was energizing and empowering. It made gears turn in my head and I was suddenly able to recognize a whole new point of view. My favorite line remains, “However it is through reflection that we are able to realize these flaws that have been written into us without our consent, and it is through a correction that we are able to make the world around us a more accepting and inclusive place.” I accompanied the piece of writing with a small animation that took hours. This was one of the only times where I was excited to show off my work. I was proud of how I had grown as a student.
The second piece I wrote was a rhetorical analysis essay based on the works of Safwat Saleem and Amy Tan. My paper discussed the ideas of heteronormative standard English and how we can work to create a more inclusive environment in which we are all accepted for our different dialects. I was able to reflect on my prior experiences to create a piece of writing that then reflected on the experiences of two other people. I examined the discrimination that Tan and Saleem faced and was able to dissect the rhetorical strategies they employed in order to strengthen their points about the harmfulness of imposing standard English in society. I ended my essay by saying, “The idea of normal is imposed on us from the very day we are raped into the world and triggers a sensor in us that forces us to assimilate voluntarily or involuntarily.” I tried to convey the extent of internalized and interpersonal oppression that standard English has been a symptom of.
Looking back, I would have liked to analyze further how their chosen rhetorics embellished their points relating to their main ideas surrounding normal standards and standard English. I think I tend to have an issue of being a bit repetitive in my writing which drives home the point but loses the reader’s interest along the way. Even in this self-reflection I feel a bit repetitive but don’t necessarily know how to control it. I would have also liked to chunk my time rather than obsessing over consecutive hours.
Throughout the semester I developed skills of rereading my work thoroughly which is something I heavily avoided throughout high school. I never considered myself a writer which made it difficult to create something that I was proud of. As the semester went on it became harder for me to maintain focus and stamina which made it even more difficult to procure work that I wanted to give in, but I did my best to keep on trying regardless of outside circumstances.
The third piece I wrote was a research paper based on the death penalty, a subject that I have spent years learning about. The question I attempted to address was “How does our criminal justice system reproduce racial and sex inequality through its treatment of discrimination and biases?”. It was an arduous question but my efforts were valiant and I hope it showed in my writing. This was the first time I had written a synthesis and rhetorical precis and there were guidelines and helpful worksheets but applying the skill proved to be a slightly harder task. After practicing in class with different excerpts, I was able to get the hang of it which gave me a little more confidence in my writing.
Although I tried my best, I am not proud of my work this semester. I feel as if I could have worked harder and focused a bit more. Specifically within the areas of revision and analysis. I should have asked more questions and spent more time working with the materials that I had. I started off strong and slowly but surely lost momentum to keep going. I had almost given up on the class as a whole however was able to bounce back after numerous conversations with the professor. Next semester I will push myself further in my writing to analyze my topic further and revise my work multiple times after I finished.
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