Final Presentation

Candela Lattanzio

Debra Reece

English 1010

8 December 2014

Final Destination (Get It? Like, Presentation?)

            This course was been a roller coaster ride. I began with a positive outlook. I was excited and had high hopes like at the beginning of every new stage in life. Then, after a couple of weeks my spirits died. College was not as fun and as exciting as everyone said it would be. After about three weeks of school I got into my I-hate-school-and-everything-associated-with-it attitude. I also wasn’t very good at hiding it. I spent most of the semester this way. I brooded and complained and dragged my feet. I now realize that probably wasn’t the best approach. Then, as if by magic, these last two weeks I’ve miraculously lifted in spirits. Am I bipolar In reference to school…perhaps I am. I think it’s noticeable too. I’ve been more talkative and friendlier to my peers. I use to be a grumpy hag who would not say two words to anyone. I’ve recently opened up and I think I’m much for appealing now.

            Moving on, as my attitude fluctuated, so did the quality of my work. The first essay, an opinion editorial, was assigned right as my attitude was becoming increasingly worse. Bad attitude equals little effort. With that being said, I put almost no effort into my first draft. At the time I was arguing with my parents about the topic of curfew. We had two VERY different views. This argument inspired me and I decided to write my opinion editorial on why curfews should not be enforced. Even though I had a concrete reason for writing, I was still lazy and didn’t feel like putting forth effort. That resulted in a terrible first draft. However, afterwards I decided I should actually try. I then wrote four different drafts; each progressively better in my eyes. Despite my best efforts, I got a C on my essay. I was quite disappointed especially since I was so excited by my progress. Though it was probably the grade I deserved, it still soured my mood and again I plunged into laziness.

            Next up was the rhetorical analysis essay. This, I had experience with. In high school I had practiced this type of writing and had drafted a lot. When the unit rolled around I dug out my old essay and got inspiration from it. I then wrote an essay about a letter Einstein wrote to an eleven year old girl in response to her question of whether scientists pray or not. Einstein’s answer was quite genius. Anyway, the first half of the writing process was easy. Einstein gave me plenty to work with. After about two pages, though, I couldn’t figure out what else to say. Aubrey, my fellow classmate, gave me a wonderful idea! She suggested analyzing what the rhetor didn’t do and how that affected the context of the writing. That made writing much easier! I learned that relying on your peers is sometimes the best thing you can do because every once in a while they will have a genius idea. I ended up with a B grade on this one. It was an improvement from the last essay. Again, the writing process was a roller coaster ride. However, this ride was a bit smoother.

            The final unit we worked on was a research paper. This time around the ride could not have been bumpier. I think the last research paper I wrote was back in elementary school. My brain was dry. During the research and writing process, however, I learned several things. I had never in my life written an annotated bibliography. That sure was an interesting experience. I not only had to do research on my topic of using technology to teach kids with learning disabilities, but I now also had to research how to write a proper annotated bibliography. Thinking back, that was amusing. Let me tell you another thing, how are you supposed to drone on for eight to ten pages about one single topic? That was a real struggle. I have no idea how I ever reached eight pages of writing. The other difficult part was finding good research supported by evidence. There is a lot of information out there on any one given topic and narrowing all that information down is no easy process. You have to weave through the bad stuff and then weave through the good stuff and decide which information is the best to use and when the right time to use it is. Though a very tedious process, it was a very useful one and served as great practice for the future.

            Through the entire course it’s just been up and down. Despite that, I do believe I learned some valuable things, especially in the research unit. I had never thought to paraphrase or even to summarize much but now I know how to do such things and when it is appropriate to do so. I also learned the value of peer review. I’ve always disliked group work because it’s always seemed to me that the other members don’t pull their weight. However, this time around my peers were very insightful and I received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. I also learned patience. The writing process comes slowly to me and I’m very impatient. Patience is a virtue, a virtue I must learn and improve on.

            As to the matter of what grade I believe I deserve, I think my work speaks for itself. Though I would like an A, I believe that the B I now have is a fair grade. I’ve done B level work and so a B I should receive. I’m pretty happy overall with the grades I have received. I have much to improve on and I hope to receive higher marks in the future, but for now I am satisfied.