In Class Journal 1

In Alexies narrative he writes about his experiences of reading books and the
reason as to why he became such an avid reader. His father loved reading and so he
wanted to show his love for his father by also loving to read. He talks about how his
heritage as an American Indian created obstacles for achieving a proper education.
He also talks about how his knowledge was undermined and underestimated
because people of his culture and race were expected to fail and those who failed
were ceremoniously accepted by other Indians.
I thought that the way that Indians who failed accepted other Indians whom
failed made a sad and interesting observation by Alexie. Despite being an outcast to
both his people and the non-Indians Alexie worked hard to keep learning.
Unfortunately I cant say that I can relate to his ideas because in this day and age
students are all expected to achieve. There are so many programs to help students
achieve that those who dont are the ones that are looked down upon. Some may
claim that there are still some social groups that encourage failure but those are
dying out because more people are realizing that an education means power and for
some it means the ability to escape the unfavorable conditions they have been born
into such as Alexie. Although I dont feel as great a desire to read as Alexie, I still
want to learn and achieve a lot.

In Class Journal 2

Malcolm X talks about his black heritage and the history of the black man. He
expresses his concern for the knowledge he was lacking about who he and many
other blacks and non-whites are. He is writing to all the minorities that were put
down by the white man. Malcolm X talks about his experience in jail and how he was
inspired by another mans knowledge to pick up a book and educate himself.
Malcolm Xs literacy narrative included a lot of the knowledge that he gained
about black history and how the white man suppressed many non-white peoples.
Hid observations didnt really extend too much beyond that except of the
observations he made about himself as an uneducated man. Malcolm X expects the
reader to understand the power of education. It is clear through this narrative that
his eyes werent opened until he decided to read all those books while in prison.
On the other hand Lamott is an educated woman that talks about how to
write. She specifically writes about not being afraid to write shitty the first time
because it is all a process. She inspires writers to write shitty because sometimes it
helps writers get out everything that they have in mind.
In her literacy narrative she makes the observation that we are sometimes
too controlling and expect perfection the first time around. I thought it was so
interesting the observation she makes when she says that if we write like kids we
will sometimes get things out of our heads that we otherwise didnt realize was in
us. The idea of embodying a different persona is very interesting. I think I will try
that if I ever want to try some type of fiction writing.

In Class Journal 3

The reading by Rose primarily talks about the way that people function when
they write and how they process the information they have received to turn it into a
written assignment. Rose notes that when people write they have a certain set of
rules that helps them achieve their writing goals. In a clinical study that he did on
some of his students he made the observation that students who has writers block
were students who normally tend to abide by very strict writing rules. Furthermore
the students who followed a more heuristic rulebook were capable of writing with
greater ease.
It seems that what Rose really got out of his studies on students was the
ability to label rules writers enforce on themselves when writing and being able to
determine how each type of rule affects the writing process. It goes without saying
that to produce good literature of any kind the write has to set up some sort of plan
and rules to follow but it is the way that we decide to follow that plan that really
determines the fluidity of writing.

In Class Journal 4

In the writing by Swales the main topic is language and discourse
communities. His writing mostly consists of what a discourse community consists of.
It is hard to interpret what he is talking about since I dont have a strong
comprehension of what a discourse community is; I can infer that what he is trying
to tell the intended audience is all about discourse communities and how to
determine if it is one. Through the six points that define a D.C. and Swaless
extensive explanation on them, I can say that I have a pretty good understanding of
how to identify a D.C.
It was a tough read and I didnt have some of the base knowledge to
understand this but what I got from this is that discourse communities are quite
complex. Each community has their own genre, lexis (language), goals and means of
communication. When researching a discourse community we can see how each is
different and how each attracts different kinds of people. Although his writing is a
bit dense, Swales makes good observations when researching and studying
discourse communities. His explanations of the six properties of a D.C. seem
reasonable and informative enough to help anybody studying a discourse
community.

In Class Journal 5

The author writes about the way that the right questions can spark a good
argument in a paper. In the writing there are several points that have to be taken
into consideration when writing an argumentative paper. We have to take into
consideration what the right questions to ask are, what are the questions that will
help propel your argument into becoming a successful paper. Along with the
questions we also have to consider the other arguments that have been going on
about this subject before we decided to write about it. There is also the other
argument that is being used against your own. Greene writes about these topics and
others and how we are supposed to use them to help writers provide better
arguments on their papers such as an argument on a paper written about a
discourse community.
Right at the beginning of the chapter Greene writes argument is very much a
part of that we so every day. I agree with his statement because its not only true
but because successful arguing takes some skill and research so better support out
claims. We need to know how to use the information that we can acquire to build
good solid arguments because as writers we dont only want to inform people of a
subject but we also want to make them feel something. Through successful arguing
we can manipulate peoples feeling about a certain subject.

In Class Journal 6

It seems that in Aristotles Rhetoric the author is trying to explain to his
readers the processes by which someone might create a persuasive argument
through the use of rhetoric. He talks a lot about propositions and about enthymemes
as part of process. In the writing he also talks about how rhetoric is divided into
three sections which are determined by who is listening to the speech. The three
divisions are political, forensic, and ceremonial.
Most of the authors observations are hard to follow but something that
stood out to be was the way that he divided the uses of rhetoric into three sections.
It gave me a different way to approach my readers. By choosing to use one specific
type of rhetoric such as political, I can write a persuasive argument that will be
more likely to make my readers swing to my side. The author had a different way of
writing about the subject so it was to understand and to fully agree to what he was
saying. He may have over complicated the subject.

In Class Journal 7

The reading by Penrose and Geisler analyzed the writing authority of two
writers. The two writers were from different backgrounds, age groups, and with
different levels of education. The writing analyzed the way that the two writers
worked through the readings they were given. It was apparent that the two students
had different ways of analyzing and interpreting the information that they got from
the papers. The reading is trying to explain to us the way the people interpret
authority. The younger writer seemed to view authority as the facts and not much
else while the more experienced writer saw authority as a means to explain himself
with the evidence he was given. He was in a sense the authority. I found it
interesting the way that Penrose and Geisler noted the differences in the younger
students recorded thoughts and the actual information that made it onto her draft.
Its something that a lot of people probably do, I know I do. My assumptions are that
this happens because we lack authority and the ability to justify or refute the claims
that we come up with while in the thinking process.