Lynch 1

Amy Lynch
Mrs. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 1, Skinny A
May 5th, 2015
I Just Wanna Be Average: DAP

I Just Wanna Be Average DAP

I believe that this paper was one of the strongest I have written this entire year. Not only
did I have to read and analyze Mike Browns I Just Wanna Be Average, but I also had to
compare his voice to an excerpt by James Baldwin. This really strengthened by ability to
understand authors voice and purpose while writing.
The strong parts of my paper were when I used quotes directly from James Baldwins
excerpt to strengthen my argument. For example, I wrote Baldwin declares education successful
once the student has the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions
(Baldwin). By using quotes directly from his excerpt, I was able to strengthen my argument and
further explain his voice. In addition, I believe that my thesis was very strong. I wrote In his
essay, Baldwin discusses the meaning of education, how the educational system favors the elite,
and how society wants the lesser students to accept being average.
My weakness in this paper was my full understanding of voice. It look me a long time to
figure out the meaning of voice, and I was beginning to feel patronized! I had to rewrite my
paper multiple times in order to fully grasp the concept. At first I believed voice meant opinion,
but I later learned that there is a great disparity between the two.
In the end, I had a strong paper. This essay really helped strengthen my writing abilities.