Personal Narrative Assignment, Peer Profile and Self-Assessment Essay follow the Color Code below.

1. Descriptions/Details in YELLOW
2. Characterization in BLUE
3. Summary/Action in PURPLE
4. Direct Quotes in PINK
5. Transition Sentences in GREEN
6. Reflection in ORANGE

Researched Essay follows this color code below.

1. Thesis Statement in YELLOW
2. Topic Sentences in BLUE
3. Claims in PURPLE
4. Quotes in PINK
5. Summary in GREEN
6. Paraphrasing in ORANGE

Assignment #1 – Written Language and Literacy Narrative

Growing up, I seemed to have struggles when it came to reading and writing. You tend to take in many things you learn from lessons or just people willing to teach you new things. In school I’d sometimes have some struggles like understanding stories and connecting it to real life. You know those types of questions where you’re asked to make a real world connection and I just sit here confused like “oh shoot how do I do this?” or “What ways is it connected to my own life?” The story would be easy to connect to but at other times the story could be so different and it’s just like how do I even connect this to the real world? Now when it comes to things like writing, expressing myself through it, that wouldn’t be as hard because I could write about many different personal experiences. Things like free writing would be fun and would keep me active and engaged with the class. I prefer writing anyway as opposed to reading. It would be this way throughout most of my school life. High school I felt like I would really be tested.

 First year of high school had started and I had this English class with this teacher. The way he would teach would be complex. Nothing that I couldn’t do it’d be a nice challenge and actually push us students to really think. At first, I’d struggle but that was mainly in the beginning of school only because he would get straight into the topic or the agenda which was hard to understand a bit. Right off the bat, he’d given us a first project and for that project we had to do some analysis for a book we read. At least 1200+ words Minimum. I’d wonder, “How would I put in for a book I don’t really understand.”

 The difficulty of this project was medium. I’ve heard previously that this teacher specifically gives the most work out of all the teachers in the literature department. I could see why people didn’t really want him. Now all his other projects involved deep thinking related to Society and analyzing. That’s what we mainly went over in class, But, over time he would grow on me as a teacher. His mini lessons about ways of getting through a text, to break it down, Conflict, Rising/Falling action would help out and would be really honest with me which was important to me. Looking through my work and preparing me for the real world outside of high school. His feedback with my writing would push me to try and become a better writer. I’d go to office hours a couple of times for one on one conferences for classwork and homework. I wanted to be the best I could and this was really important to me because I just really wanted to give it my all. As a saying once goes, “You get out what you put in.”

On the side, besides school I really seemed to struggle when it comes to a new language. Most Family members on both of my sides speak mainly Spanish and I didn’t understand it. I still don’t speak it as much cause I have yet to learn it fully but I try to understand what I could. Going to family gatherings and family get-togethers where there was a lot of Spanish speaking involved around me I’d felt left out a bit. I do wish my parents, well mostly my father, would’ve taught me at a young age that way I’d get the hang of it. But hey I figured it would be nice if I tended to learn it down the line. My father speaks Spanish really well. My mom not as much but her side of the family they speak it pretty well just like my father’s side. Most of my relatives were born in Puerto Rico.

 In middle school I had Spanish classes almost every day. It was also mandatory to take them, if you didn’t then you wouldn’t have passed. In this class we would learn both basic and complex spanish. Could range from basic phrases to long sentences. I was taking these classes but still couldn’t get the language down fully. I was able to get some things down like how to say your name, where you live and how old you are. Real basic stuff it wasn’t all too bad to learn of course. As time passes you manage to get better at it 

You know what they say practice makes perfect and I sure wasn’t. Fast Forward to today and I got some practice in. My dad always told me that he’ll show me one day and he stuck to his word. Each week or so he talks a bit in Spanish and says what it means and so I repeat it then he’ll repeat phrases and I’ll have to say it back. Other times we’ll have a small conversation to sort of show. See there’s a bit of a slow start but I know that as time goes by I will only be more fluent and it’ll be awesome to communicate this new language

Reflection 1

Going back through my work and actually looking at I can see where I go wrong at times with this assignment. I feel like when I look at this that it definitely wasn’t 100%. I notice quite a bit of errors in my writing but also, I felt like at times I could’ve worded some things better but that’s ok. For next time I know to definitely go back and use these strategies more on my own time that way I know that whenever I’m writing a paper I know where I could improve in my writing. I feel that I lack quotes in my writing and jump from different places very fast which is an area where I feel that I could improve upon. That’s all good because I also know that I could get into more detail when I am writing my papers. I just really have to take some time on it. Doing this strategy, it showed me that I don’t really have much summary in my story its mostly just detail and that I need more characterization. I also learned that using this strategy expanded my horizons. It gave me more insight as to what exactly I could focus on mainly so like for example, I could touch more on one topic than the other and not make 2 separate stories in a way. A main topic as well as something on the side and maybe something else with more relations to my main story. My flow is slow at times, but I feel like sometimes it flows smoothly if that makes sense in a way. Before this, I was saying how I should add more quotes but now that I look back, I feel that I should add more characterization just to show what I am feeling in the moment.

Assignment #2 – Peer Profile

     PART 1: Observing Rhetorical Strategies in a Peer’s Language and Literacy Narrative

When it comes to my peer’s work, Anthony knows just how to start off a story. With some context throughout the story, it shows his journey as to what shaped him to be the kind of person that he is today. In his essay that he wrote “God DID”, the writer (Anthony) Speaks about different types of emotions that he was feeling throughout the story. Growing up was tough for him mostly because of the language barrier that he had between himself and his classmates as well as teachers. He was really only close with his mother and cousins because only they understood each other. They also lived with each other. Anthony mainly uses PATHOS throughout this whole story. From beginning to end you could feel for the reader. From getting kicked out of Pre-K to dealing with Trauma at home.

With this Rhetorical Strategy in the story (PATHOS) you could see the usage of this in the story for a good portion of it. “I definitely remembered my lack of english because I would constantly get bullied. I would never talk to the other students because it would remind me of the trauma I would go through at home.” An example would be something like that which makes the reader feel for him. You start to feel sympathy for the writer. I mean of course nobody would want to go through something like that. It isn’t right and makes you feel down as a person and overall generates these negative thoughts in your head.

Something that I found interesting about the use of PATHOS would have to be the way the writer grabs you in. That’s how the writer Anthony mainly persuades the writer to keep reading. If I had to say, I would say that the author wanted to bring awareness to anyone struggling with something similar. He talks about motivation and never giving up on what he wanted to learn, which was the English language. If you’re feeling unmotivated or wanting to turn your back on getting what you want, then “Keep practicing until you get it.” I felt the purpose of this Rhetorical Strategy was to go with the story. To bring in emotion into the story.

                                         Part 2: Writing a Peer “Profile”

From struggling at such a young age to life turning around for this person, the writer of “God DID” Anthony Araujo aims to inspire his audience by showing them that nothing is impossible. You can always turn your life around. That’s what he seemed to do. To not knowing the English language at a young age which prevented him from conversing with others around him. With the language barrier it would feel like a whole different world for him. In school, looking around at the other students, he wouldn’t be able to process what was coming out their mouths, the words they were speaking felt like a different world. Not understanding a word that came out of anyone’s mouth but his mother’s and cousins. As I interviewed him, I asked him a question related to this and it went something like this.

Me: So how was it like going to school not knowing English while everyone around you spoke it?

Anthony: I was always so confused and I would always be thinking what the kids and the staff people were saying. I also felt a little sad too because I felt left out at times.

This was understandable because that feeling of being left out isn’t really the best feeling at all. You want to be included, you want to connect with others and be able to relate with other people. Having the same interests and goals, it’s a good feeling when we share common interests and work with each other to accomplish goals. One goal that Anthony had was learning English which he did. It took him a while and he also worked along with his mom to learn English but eventually he was able to do this and when he did, he became fluent. This was another question in the interview that I asked, it went something like:

Me: So learning a whole new language, how long did it take you to learn English or to get the hang of it?

Anthony: Well it took me a few years to get a rhythm of English. It took a long time because even though me and my family would be practicing English, we still would speak Spanish as our main language.

Throughout this interview, it had shown me just how dedicated Anthony was to learning a whole new language. He also told me when I asked him a question like, 

Me: “What would you say to your pre-k self if you had seen him the way you are now?” 

He would say something like…

A: If I’d seen him I would tell myself to keep going and to push yourself no matter what happens and also.. To try and never slow down on things.

I thought that was really nice. He really improved heavily and his mother did as well with language. They now both speak it fluently. The mom does not have an accent when she’s speaking anymore because of the progress she’s made. You can see it in his writing with the tone he seems happy and grateful for his mother. After all she was the one who gave him motivation which was really nice.

So for the people reading this. This audience is really for people who need some motivation in their lives. This should show you that no matter where you are in life you can always improve and get to a point where you feel complete as a person. There’s always time and room for improvement so build up upon it.

Reflection 2

When going back and using the color-code revision strategy, I took my time with this highlighting paper, but I noticed some things that I could’ve benefitted from. An example of something that I would benefit from would be having more Q and A sections as my Professor suggested that I do. As nice as this would’ve been I felt like I didn’t really have the time to ask for questions and get even more answers due to my partner’s availability but that’s alright. Looking back at this paper however I notice some things that I could add on to for this peer profile assignment like adding in more detail and actually going in depth with my partner’s story which is something that I could’ve done. I find this to be a similar issue from my first assignment which was the language and literacy narrative. I needed to go into more detail mainly about my struggles with language inside of school grounds and where I went wrong. For this paper I also suffered on the characterization part because this is a paper about a peer profile. To be in writer’s shoes and look through his eyes, see moments where he felt that he didn’t belong, etc. I could’ve done that more and I could’ve gone with more summary. For next time I know that I could write some characterization whenever I see major changes in the writer’s life as well as progression that happens throughout the story. When it comes to changes, I can say that I didn’t really make any significant changes but very small changes like wording choices when it comes to certain parts to be able to make it a bit easier for any readers to understand what is happening. Some more smaller changes would be things like minor spelling errors and more punctuation to make it clear.

Assignment #3 – The Research Essay

Propaganda is a strong tool that has a way of influencing one’s thoughts as well as actions. It is known for manipulating and persuading the audience of people and of course with all of this comes many techniques but that’s something to expand on as we get further down into this essay. It happens when there’s worldly events like COVID, elections and many more things which you’ll see. People form ideas and spread them on the internet then other people start to agree and it spreads more and more.It’s the type of tool you’ll notice mainly when someone is trying to make something look bad. Social media, books it appears all over

It is also something that has been around for a long time going back to times like World War 1. With this happening it tends to shape the way others see the world today. It happens when there’s worldly events like COVID, elections and many more things which you’ll see.

  Growing up propaganda has been a part of our everyday lives. Every day, we’re on social media and we consume all types of news. A bunch of misinformation that is being spread by false sources and people wanting to spew lies. Some small examples of this would be news like War, Viruses/Diseases, politics, etc. Covid-19 for example would be a topic of propaganda. During the time of the virus, mainly at the start of the pandemic, there were an overwhelming amount of sources regarding the virus, some accurate and others not so much with the wrong information being displayed. (PMC)

It started in Wuhan, China, and would eventually spread to the U.S. in early 2020 (February – March) When this news would occur on social media, there would be racist remarks pointed towards Chinese people. Propaganda takes many forms and has the power to influence people’s decisions as well as being a form of manipulation towards a situation in the heat of the moment. This is just an example of what social media propaganda could do to a group of people. The media manipulates people into consuming information that isn’t always true. One person could make all the difference when it starts to influence other people. 

Aside from the media, propaganda takes many other forms such as books, posters, and advertisements. Back in high school, there was this good book I read which was called Animal Farm. It was a fable about the Russian Revolution. 

It was about these Animals on a farm that protested against the owner of the farm. Throughout the book, there are changes made to the farm and rules that are applied. In the book the author, George Orwell uses Propaganda to convey a message to the story. The pigs have all the power because they’re the smartest ones there. The sheep and horses aren’t the brightest in the head. What happens is the pigs take control, and the other animals are like slaves. They love to get into the sheep’s heads which they repeat a chant over and over. “4 legs good 2 legs bad!” 

They use this to win any argument on the farm. Soon after, the farm gets split between 2 sides basically and the pigs in charge disagree. When this happens One of the pigs, Napoleon, uses propaganda to speak badly about the other pig, Snowball, influencing and causing the other animals to side with Napoleon and Snowball eventually being driven out of the farm with attack dogs. The book is an allegory for the Russian revolution so each character in the book is influenced based on actual historical people.

Social media isn’t the only way to influence people. Posters also did the trick. Back in the WWI and WWII days, they went old-fashioned. See they went with posters to drag people in. For example, the “I want you” for U.S. Army posters. This was a clear example of propaganda cause it would make people wanna recruit for the army. The whole “Fight for America” thing and join the war effort to make America safer. (Poster shown below)

There’s another poster just like this during WWII with a woman on it. Her name is Rosie the Riveter created by Artist Norman Rockwell. In the poster, it shows a woman who’s working. The meaning behind this poster is to represent American women who worked in the munitions and war supplies factories during World War II and was a call to arms for American women to join the war effort as well. (Stokoe) 

Throughout time there has been change when it comes to propaganda. Looking back on it, propaganda isn’t the same as it used to be. With media we have now, the level of propaganda is heightened. You could change people’s minds with a single tweet which is crazy to think about.

With propaganda comes the types of it. For example, some examples of these types are, Name-calling, The bandwagon technique, fear, transfer, and many others but these are the more common tactics when it comes to propaganda usage. 

Name-calling is a technique propagandists use to put a negative label on a person or an idea and with this happening the audience would potentially reject that person or idea. (Delwiche) Name-calling like terrorist, racist, etc. Those would form negative reactions from people and usually target certain races. When I hear the word racist, I notice it mainly associated with white people because the media shows me that aspect. When I hear terrorists, I see people target that word toward Muslims which brings me back to the racist portion. It isn’t acceptable. Name-calling could bring harm to people, random attacks and them having to watch their backs at all times. It’s a bit sad to think about. 

Fear is a tactic used in places like television and used by people like dictators and in politics. Have you ever watched TV and seen a commercial related to smoking or driving? Don’t drink and drive or this would happen to you. If you keep smoking cigarettes, you’re bound to get cancer eventually and then they bring out the person with a visible hole in their throat and a voice box that they now have to use. Those are fear tactics. Dictators strike fear into civilians and make them abide by their rules. Manuel Noriega for example was a dictator in Panama. He rose to power quickly throughout the years. He was known for his tactics of intimidation and harassment that he would use against other leaders and because of this, he was feared by the late 70’s. (Bauer) 

The bandwagon effect is basically a technique of “Everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t you do it?” A feeling of not wanting to be left out so you instead join in and follow the wave of people. If you don’t end up joining in on the activity then you’ll feel like you just missed out on something important. (Cherry) You could end up joining this bandwagon effect without even realizing it, in ways like “Fear Of Missing Out” or something else. There’s also peer pressure that plays a role into the effect. 

Another one I see commonly is the Plain Folks technique. With this technique it shows leaders who act as normal/standard people to be able to connect with people at personal levels. To make people think that they’re just like them. You could say that it’s a trick used in ads but mostly in politics to think that things are relatable so like the candidates would go around and talk about their own experiences in life. Their own struggles and backgrounds. I could definitely see this in some politicians.

This approach seems to work for people, but it works that way because it’s a smart strategy. The politicians know just what to show so they could get the people going. While it may work, just know that behind the scenes is always a different story to tell. It’s all an act made just for an audience to see. 

There’s one more I haven’t gone over yet which is the transfer method. Basically, this uses symbols and is mainly used in advertisements to be able to make connections (Saif)

Propaganda is strong. It’s everywhere and all around us. We take it in and we consume it but most importantly we could be a part of it when it comes to certain points, it’s everywhere and is used as a tool. We have to be better and fight against it because propaganda is associated with negativity most of the time. All these effects drag others in when it isn’t right. Don’t spread negativity around.

Reflection 3

Well, this one is a bit complex. My topic Propaganda I figured that it’ll be a bit easier but actually gathering all my info and sources for this very topic, I realized that there would come a challenge. At first my paper starts off talking about Propaganda of course but I needed to get into the very subject and the context of propaganda. I figured that I’d talk about how I would elaborate on this. What I did was expand my paper across and touch upon Propaganda as a whole such as what it is, the ways it’s used, where its used and seen. Many things like that but after writing it and going back through my paper with highlighting I realized that this really wasn’t going to be a good idea. There definitely are some parts where it aligns with the thesis, but I felt like the way it’s structured is a bit messy. Going through this paper I see that I have a lot of summaries to it but is enough summary good enough? Yesterday when tweaking this a bit I expanded a bit more on my paper elaborating on more topics mainly the ways that propaganda is used, and I was wondering if I should change the thesis, but I realized that it would still be all over the place. Looking back at this I realize that I should improve on connecting my claims and putting them together so they could all connect to my thesis that way nothing I write about is out of place. I was able to highlight my claims but after that I didn’t follow up and sort of went my own path. Going through my own writing and highlighting showed me that there is always improvement even if you think you have top notch writing. It really is a good way to get to the problem.

Here we are, the end of the semester already. I can say that I’m glad that it’s almost over. I’ve almost always struggled with English since the start of this semester but it’s gotten a bit better as the semester went by. It’s been a tough topic for me usually for whatever I’m writing about. In school, I struggled to write papers throughout the years. Of course not all the time, at the beginning of this semester it started a bit weak for me. Reading through certain stories that we were assigned to read. Writing about it was my weaker part because I had to get a better understanding of what was presented in front of me. I can say that my writing was very vague and basic. Boring to read so I thought that it wasn’t worth anyone’s time. I knew that I had to make changes so it would be readable. I thought of all my writing as work for a grade but that wasn’t the case. There’s always a reader behind what you write so you have to give them a show.

In the 1st phase of English 110, we touched on many stories behind different readers. Their traits and what inspired them to become writers for the English language and wanting to create stories for an audience to see what’s relatable. Some examples of Authors that we’ve read were Amy Tan, June Jordan, Safwat Saleem, etc. They all seemed to have something in common and what that was, was that they were all solid with their words but they all were looked down upon or looked at differently because of their lesser literacy skills. This would hit home a bit as I would relate to this. This would also show me the 1st-course learning outcome, examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.” as I was reading these stories.

A few weeks later we would get our first major assignment. A written language and literacy narrative. Our goal for this writing was to think back to a time when we had to look back at a time related to Language and Literacy. I knew now I would have to push myself for a first assignment. What would I put into my writing? We had a few prompts that we could choose from.

1. What moments stand out to you when it comes to how you use language and literacy?

2.  Can you recall any family, cultural, or social events related to reading or writing that you found enlightening, encouraging, awkward, challenging, or unjust?

3. A key language or literacy moment when positive or negative emotions soared, where you struggled or triumphed? 

4.  An object or artifact that serves as a memory of a place, activity, or person connected to your language and literacy development?

I chose the 2nd prompt for this and got to work. This was the easiest and most relatable because I instantly thought of a time in my life when I felt like the odd one out when it came to a secondary language. Long story short, my story was about how most of my family members speak Spanish but I don’t speak it at all so when things like family gatherings come about, I just look around and sit there. Of course, I’m not the only one who doesn’t speak Spanish so I feel less alone. I also included another memory related to this but this would be just for my first draft. In this first draft, I spoke vaguely in my writing. No big words or anything like that but I knew that I had to make changes. I felt my story would go all over the place.

Fast forward to the end of the semester, we would go over presentations and peer work. In these presentations, I was able to listen to my classmate’s backstories. There were many that I found fascinating like one of them was trying to find themselves and where they would belong with a group of students. I realized that everyone has different experiences as to what makes them better writers these days, what inspired them for this, and how they would create change. Now working with a group of students was helpful and eye-opening because they would take time to give constructive feedback in ways you could improve as well as how you could, where you should improve and add, etc. Peer work shows me ways I could give better feedback

In the 2nd phase of our course, we explored the topic of rhetorical analysis and different strategies used in pieces of writing. We would explore a few examples from other work and after we do that we would apply it to a partner’s writing. In this phase, we would get an assignment broken up into 2 parts. The first part was Observing Rhetorical Strategies in a peer’s Written Language and literacy narrative back from Phase 1. Things like PATHOS, LOGOS, and ETHOS. This relates to the 2nd-course outcome, “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” Also relates to the 4th-course outcome, “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” as it shows me just how I was able to analyze this piece of work and be able to know the rhetorical situations that play a part in it.

The 2nd part that comes into this assignment is a “Peer Profile.” In this portion of the assignment, we create and tell a story about the writer by introducing them and Analyzing their Rhetorical Strategies which connects back to the first part. Something that stuck out to me throughout this Profile was being able to interview the writer. This was my favorite part as we would get into the reader’s thoughts behind what it is they were trying to touch on and what made them write something so SPECIFIC.

This phase helped me gain the skill of analysis behind the writer. When you’re doing this you need to connect it to bigger things and sort of put yourself in the writer’s shoes. Writing is all about thinking and planting your thoughts on paper. It gives you a way to express yourself and show who you are. Throughout this phase, I was shown writing is a work of art. Behind every story is a writer and every writer has a story to tell for the world.

Phase 3 is one of my favorites. In this phase, I had to write a research essay and what I did was write about Propaganda in the world. I know I could’ve chosen anything else but I wanted to do this because I had some knowledge about it. We were required to gain sources before we did any writing and so we did. We started strong, at least 7-8 good quality sources from the CCNY library database. After we did that we would have to write a bit about it. At least a couple of paragraphs and write synthesis on our topic but now it would narrow down to 2-3 sources maximum so I’d put this with the 5th Course learning outcome. Gathering our sources as well as citing just to reach an audience with the information presented to us.

In my essay, I made sure to write specifically about the topic and of course, I tried not to go off topic just so any readers know where they are at. I tailored my writing suitable for the audience. I won’t lie and say this was easy cause it wasn’t. At times I had struggled a bit with managing to write more about the topic. I felt like my sources at the time weren’t enough to be able to generate 5 pages of straight information so I felt like that would be most impactful on my writing and the grade that I gained for this assignment. Forgot to mention that as we would use sources, we had to of course cite our information and create a work cited for the end. The professor would give us many handouts and resource documents for citing, I had some experience back in high school when it came to this type of stuff.

And now we are here, Phase 4 is the end of it all. I haven’t gotten all of the Course learning outcomes, but I was able to accomplish some of them. I may not be the best writer either but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any improvements throughout all of my phases. I see myself only improving from here on out to be a much better writer because I know I can do it. As the 3rd learning course outcome says, “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” I can better myself and come up with ways to improve not just in writing but in many other areas related to Language.

Reflection 4

Looking back at this self-assessment essay, I am able to show all my writing that occurs throughout all of these 4 phases. In my writing I showcase my thoughts behind the phases as time goes. I am also able to show progress between my writing, the good, the bad, the ugly ha-ha. I start off slowly, saying how glad I am that the semester is almost over, but I slowly ease my way into the story. As the paragraphs go on, I am able to show my progress throughout the class. Of course, I start with the first course talking about what exactly I learned as well as what kind of assignment we had. The main idea of this essay was to self-assess and that’s exactly what I done in this paper. I really don’t think I had to reflect too hard on this one because it wasn’t exactly a topic that we had to research or talk about a personal experience but rather show growth in this short amount of time. Looking back now, I feel that I should’ve added in more quotes to show my feelings in this course. I also feel that in the essay that I could’ve possibly added ways that I could still improve. I’ve done a lot this semester, but I have not perfected my writing which is something that of course takes a while. I know that it’ll never be 100% because no matter how great it sounds, there is always some sort of room to make improvements. Another thing that I could touch upon is to expand more on my vocabulary. I feel that I repeat myself a lot at times or I repeat the same words over and over which makes the paper bland and could possibly make the reader bored. I know for next time when writing a paper, I’ll be able to remember my own feedback and take that into account.