Last Class

Friday was our last English class and usually I'm pretty happy about things like that but this time it was kind of sad. I actually like coming to this class and I feel like it's helped me become a better writer. We got to bring in any type of writing that we wanted to have peer edited and I brought my memoir just because I felt like it needed more. By the end of the class, I realized that I answered all the questions that were asked by every peer edit and decided to keep my memoir as it was. Free writing definitely helped me created a more visual effect in my writing, and over the summer I may try and keep up with it.

This I Believe Peer Review Reflection

1      The feedback from the peer review allowed me to add more detail into my essay and created more things for me to talk about.  Because of the feedback, I added more memories of me and my mother from when I was young. It was one of the questions my peer reader asked. Having someone else read my writing makes me a little nervous, but I really grow in terms of how I write and how much detail I add from when people peer review. In addition, having another set of eyes help me create more of an image for other people.  It surprised me that my peer reader and I were going through similar situations in our essays and that she and I could relate to each other.After the peer response I knew exactly what I was going to write, and I did not even think about it until it was mentioned by my peer reader. I think that is a great aspect about peer reading.  

     

I Speak American

I have lived in New Jersey my entire life so when I moved to Charlotte for college, everyone who I came into contact with noticed my accent. I never thought I had an accent, and I didn't realize exactly how much I did until I came here. I definitely did not say 'y'all', but it has grown on me and I will catch myself using it randomly. My most complicated word was 'water' and I pronounced it 'wauder', the way most people in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area pronounce it. Both of my parents are from North Jersey around New York and they're pronunciation of water sounds like 'watah'. Because I was raised in both North and South Jersey, I have different parts of different accents. I actually took me a couple of months to learn how to say 'water' without my accent. My parents have strong Jersey accents and I love to point that out to them when we talk on the phone. My accent has gotten better, but my friends still make fun of me for the way I say 'chawclate', 'cawfee', and 'tawk'.

Reading Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach

For my memoir, I chose Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach. On the cover, it explains that is "The Travels of an Independent Women," and it is that and so much more. Steinbach explains that she always was an independent women, however, she often lived and defined herself by what other people wanted or expected of her. She finally decides to travel the world in hopes of finding out who she really is, a time in her life that she called, "The Year of Living Dangerously." She decides to travel to Paris, Oxford, and Milan for a year and finds something different in each country. I chose this book because I have always wanted to travel and it looked very interesting. I can relate to Steinbach because I often try to please other people, yet I am independent at the same time; I wanted to read about how she dealt with those two qualities and if she made peace with herself. I can't exactly relate to the author's story because I have not yet traveled the world, but hopefully one day I can.

Peer Sharing Reflection

Peer sharing was definitely a positive experience for me. I helped me to see where and how I could improve my writing. Also, reading other people's writing opened me up to new ways that I could express what happens in my memoir. All the feedback I received was helpful. The questions people asked helped me to include more detail in my second draft. I tried to include more visionary detail to help my peer readers almost feel like they were in the scene with me.

Memoir Attempt

My first attempt at a memoir was harder than I thought it would be. There is nothing in my life that is memoir worthy or important enough to actually write about. I never really had any emotional turning points and I think I'm still to young to actually have something extremely life changing happen to me. Going to college eleven hours away from home may seem like a big deal, but it never was to me. I never got homesick which a lot of my friends think is weird. I kind of just decided that I wanted to live and North Carolina and made it happen. My graduation day was emotional and maybe life changing, but I still feel the same. I really don't think anything affected me yet. I have not found my story yet, but I hope I will soon.

Motivation

Every time I think about motivation, I think about why I'm in college. I'm in college to get a great education and improve my chances of getting a good job. I'm also in college because it's the first step to get to where I want to be in my future career, you can't exactly be a medical doctor if you do not go to college. I'm motivated because I feel better when I do well on something, I like getting good grades; not because it will help me get a high paying job, but because it makes me feel accomplished. I often do better on things that I enjoy doing rather than things that have a material outcome. Sometimes it may be surprising to me that people don't work as well when they are presented a good prize like a raise in their salary, or a prize; however, I can definitely agree that things cannot compete with an intrinsic feeling of accomplishment.