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Marcy Garcia
UWRT 1101
Ashley Marcum
February 9,2016

Until taking in this class I considered my self the most atrocious writer out there I know it
might sound a little exaggerated but in all honesty that is the perception I had and the worst part
is my some of my past English teachers showcased that feeling towards my writing as well. My
literacies when completing this project has brought to my attention how my family has a huge
influence on what type of literacies I have discovered and experienced. Since the beginning of
this project I have learned a lot helpful writing strategies for example how to use voice and
vitality among others. I have had a lot of hardship when it comes to this project because I am not
successfully articulating my ideas as perfectly as I could because of my writing process. My
writing process is flawed due to the fact I overthink a lot when writing also dont use a lot
descriptive details.

I honestly never had actually taken revision into a lot of consideration until this project
because I had yet to learn the effect people have on each other especially when it comes to
writing. Revision helped me further and develop my writing by introducing me to new ideas on
how to improve which included storytelling and imagery. I used the feed back of my classmates
to help me determined were I could use more detail to help me create a clear picture for the

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reader. Also I used the feedback of my teacher to help me brainstorm new forms of making it
easier or more appealing to express my ideas.
My snapshot of My Favorite Writing Experience taught me most about writing and
revision. I had no idea where I was going with my snapshot until I sat down and went down my
memory lane and remember how much I enjoyed writing my senor project research paper for my
senior presentation. The first thing I did was make a list of the things that happen that day and
how I felt about the topic I was writing my paper about. Once I written the snapshot I felt like
something was missing so I decided I wanted to go meet with my teacher so she could give me
advice on my overall project she then told me how I should do some storytelling. If I had more
time I would further develop the essay by adding more information to my snapshots to make
them more interesting. I would revise the snapshot of my worst reading experience by adding
more details to make it easier to bring my point across.

Picturing a Reader
I envision a reader as someone that is extremely smart and has a very serious personality,
has large round eyes, full lips, unmanageable golden blonde hair, and thin. She reads books by
well known historian like Howard Zinn who wrote A Peoples History of the United States. The
reader I envision reads history books because they have the intelligence to follow along and
articulate the readings. The tools she uses when reading every book is a dictionary and
encyclopedia.
I am far different than the reader I envision because I dont read books by well know
historians on a daily basis. Also I am different than the reader I envision because I dont always
used the tools of dictionaries or encyclopedias every time I read a piece of literature. I read

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nonfictions books written by authors like Suzanne Collins who wrote The Hunger Games, Gayle
Forman who wrote If I Stay, and John Green who wrote The Fault in are Stars also Paper Towns.
My perception on what a reader looks like is based on what I have experienced seeing at my
local public library. The Glenwood public library is only five blocks away from my house it is a
beautiful red brick building with green doors once you entered the first thing that catches your
eyes was the colorful rocking chairs and desks they had near the hundreds of bookshelves. All
the readers would sit in this areas along with their favorite books.
My Reading Process
My feelings when reading for school is dreadful, depressed, and bored since the books we
read are based on concepts we have to learn in class which most of the times the writers of the
books write them dry and dull. On the other hand, my feelings when reading outside of school is
delighted, receptive, skeptical and calm because I read books that interest me like romance books
by Nicholas Sparks who uses a lot of details to paint a picture for the reader. Yes, my reading
process differs when I am reading for school versus reading outside of school because I try to
annotate and highlight for school readings and when I am reading on my own I just write down
quotes I like from my book or my thoughts. I find topics to read about by watching the news and
when I see something that interest me I go and do research. The other day I saw on the news
something about the effects of hypothermia in toddlers immediately I went on my computer and
googled more information about hypothermia in toddlers.
When I reading in Spanish my reading process involves the use of a dictionary,
annotation, and highlighting in. I have always used a composition notebook to store all the
Spanish definitions rather than for English because Spanish definitions are more complex than

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English definitions. I feel like with every year that passes I began to improve my reading process
to portray the things I learn from my teachers.

My Worst Reading Experience

My second year of high school was going really great especially in my honors English
two class until my teacher announced we were going to begin reading a Shakespeare play called
Macbeth. My immediate reaction was outraged because Shakespeare isnt my favorite I despised
him since I had to read a poem he wrote before the name of the poem was It was a Lover and
His Lass. Shakespeare isnt my favorite because of how challenging his work is to me because
of how I lack the appreciation of his work at the time. When I think of Shakespeare the first thing
that comes to my mind is his very hard to understand early English language in which the play
Macbeth is written in. Every time I read one of his pieces of literature I am always frustrated,
puzzled and clueless. The thing that made it worst for me as a reader was how my brother could
understand any piece of literature so easily when I struggled to understand.

The Literacies of Someone I know

My older brother Luis is the most intelligent person I know because of his strong
vocabulary that makes him sounds like a walking dictionary. Since I was a young girl I always
knew he was so intelligent because he could read books way above his age level and understood
the books so effortlessly. The older my brother got the more intelligent he became due to all his
long hours sitting in his dark grey desk with his red chair reading books in the genres of history,
science and mathematics. My brother Luis had the second biggest bedroom in the house in order
to fit the the huge custom bright red bookshelves my father made for him. When you enter my

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brothers room the first thing that catches your eye is the how pack his bookshelves were he had
no gaps between books also the huge circle black labels on top of the bookshelves. The labels are
named history, science, mathematics and Luis favorites books. Inside the really full Luis
favorites book shelve you can find my brothers favorite fiction, nonfiction and sci-fi books. My
brother wasnt the only person in the family who had a form of literacy in their life.

Oral Literacy
My family loves to host gatherings just to tell stories which happen every single Saturday
during that time we explore the family oral literacies. Saturday mornings at my house are filled
with laugher and strong loud voices talking in Spanish and the smell of fresh rice and chicken
soup. Stories told in my family range from very happy to very sad. In my family the two people
who tell most of the stories are my awesome father and my sweet grandma. My fathers stories
were mainly about his adventures when he goes to work in different states. For example, last
week my father went to work in Atlanta, Georgia for the week he described to the whole family
his adventure of going to the Georgia aquarium which is the one of the biggest aquariums in the
world. He began his story with how he was face to face with a huge whale shark that was a dark
grey color with white dots on its back while standing near the glass of the aquarium. My
grandma would tell sad stories about how some of her friends died due to illness of certain
diseases like heart attacks or stomach viruses in Mexico to make us aware of are health. The
stories my family told are to be entertaining or raise awareness of a certain cause. I believe
having a Hispanic culture allows an opportunity for you to experienced unique storytelling that
has been in your family for generations when shaped your literacies.

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Picturing a writer
How do I picture a writer? I picture a writer as someone who has an astounding
intelligence which is display in how they can use the simple tools of a journal and a pen to create
master pieces of writings. The writer envision probably writes in a huge desk with space to fit all
the pens and journals to store her writings. She probably has a perfect chiseled face that carries a
relaxed smile her hair is a bright chestnut brown color that she sometimes hides in a messy bun.
Also her figure is lean her posture is a little slumped since she has to lean over for hours over a
desk. The attire she wears is a simple grey fleece jacket with a short shelve shirt and sweatpants
with some comfortable sneakers. Lastly she never lacks confidence when it come to her writing
no matter how challenging a piece of writing can seem. I am nothing alike to the writer I
envision I cant write a paper or any kind of writing so effortless. I experience trouble when it
comes to articulating my ideas on paper due to my lack in confidence when writing. My
perception of a writer comes is based on the writers I seen in my surrounding for example
school. At my middle I took an introduction into writing class for narrative essays as I watched
how the best writers would be dressed and their attire which was way different than mines I only
wore jeans and a basic short shelve shirt and I would always sit up straight when writing never
would I slumped over my desk.
Favorite Writing Experience
On the chilliest December morning I sat outside patiently waiting on an unoccupied
greenish rusty bench in my high school quad outside awaiting the results of my senior project
grade from the judges. While I waited I took a moment to glance at my phone when I felt a soft
pat on my shoulder when I looked up I saw my best friend Maria who apart of the other group of

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presenters while waiting we decide to talk about how we believed we did on are presentation
then we quickly scanned the quad to see nothing but frightened facial expressions. For the senior
project presentation, we were spilt up into groups of ten students who have aspirations of going
into the pediatric career field. The group of judges were alumni who attended my high school at
some point over the decades who were accompanied by the senior English teachers. Finally, after
an hour of waiting the grades from the judges were posted on the wall of the auditorium as I
approach the poster I was so terrified once I got to see the grade beside my name I was pleased
because I had gotten a perfect hundred.

My senior year of high school became my best year of my academic career due to my
outstanding grades which lead me to graduate with honors becoming a Magna Cum Laude. In
order to graduate I needed to complete a brutally intense senior project which consisted of
research paper on a topic that fell into our career or college major. The college major I wanted to
pursue was Public Health. I decided to write my research paper on minority chronic pediatric
disparities. The main reason I chose the topic of minority chronic pediatric disparities is based on
how myself and my younger brothers experienced these conditions growing up. By having
experience with the topic I wrote about in my paper gave me the education to raise awareness for
others. The top three common minority chronic pediatric condition disparities I intensely talked
about in my paper were asthma, hypertension, and diabetes. Once I began high school I devoted
myself to doing research on controversial topics in health which is my passion. Even today in
college I use my research paper to prove a point in a class discussion for my healthy topics class.
After I presented my research paper for my senior project my teacher Ms. Andrews was stunned
and amazed she expressed that by telling me Marcy the presentation you just did was very good

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you use good facts to help you come off as well educated which showcased that was the best
work you have done all semester. Ever since I completed my senior project research paper I
have been striving to make a paper equally successful. I believed I still have a long journey to
learning how to successfully become an exceptional reader and writer.

In a sentence, indicate the degree to which the draft shows promise of

fulfilling the assignment.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this draft besides a few typing
errors now and then it had turned out really well.
Is the writer's tone appropriate? Who is the audience?
The audience is the class, and the tone matches this
Looking at the essay as a whole, do the snapshots taken together give
a clear picture of the authors literacy history and present?
Very good picture, yes
Are the needs of the audience kept in mind? For instance, do some
words need to be defined? Is the evidence (for instance, the examples
and the testimony of authorities) clear and effective?
I think the words used are appropriate for the audience, it is easy to
read and relatable to the audience
Can I accept the assumptions? If not, why not?
I had not problems reading this paper and if I can read it and
understand it I think most can
Is any obvious evidence (or counterevidence) overlooked?
Not that I noticed
Does the author show the cultural, political, socio-economic, etc.
factors that influence his/her literacy?
Yes she mentions here family multiple times and school and influencing
her throughout the essay
Does the author use storytelling to relate significant literacy events
with techniques of creative non-fiction, details, descriptions, dialogue,
imagination, risks, etc.?
Yes very well, the new into sets up for the snapshots very well and the
revision of the Favorite Writing Experience really opens it up to a great
story
Looking at each paragraph separately,
o What is the basic point?
The development of Marcys literacy
o How does each paragraph relate to the essay's main idea or to
the previous paragraph?
Breaking down specific moments and ideas that explains Marcys
literacys well

o Should some paragraphs be deleted? Be divided into two or more

paragraphs? Be combined? Be put elsewhere? (If you outline the
essay by writing down the gist of each paragraph, you will get
help in answering these questions.)
No
o Is each sentence clearly related to the sentence that precedes
and to the sentence that follows? If not, in a sentence or two
indicate examples of good and bad transitions.
I did not notice this
o Is each paragraph adequately developed? Are there sufficient
details, perhaps brief supporting quotations from the text?
I believe so
o When using sources, does the author introduce the title and
author of the work before quoting or paraphrasing from the
article? Are books, magazines, and newspapers in italics? Are
articles, chapters, and shorter works in quotations?
The titles are underlined I was not sure on the rule here but it is a
quick fix, Marcy introduces the authors and titles appropriately
What are the paper's chief strengths?
The collection of stories chosen to illustrate Marcys literacys
Make at least two specific suggestions that you think will assist the
author to improve the paper.
Just fix the space problems, and rewrite the sentence I commented was
confusing