Kelsey Franklin Ms.

Caruso ENGL 1103 29 August 2012 Literacy Memoir Overall Response and Reflection

After this project I definitely see my literacy history differently after this project. I now realize that I am not as literarily inexperienced as I thought that I was before this project. I am not as experienced as some people my age but I have some writing experience and I am not as bad as I believed I was. In my memoir I presented myself as a victim of writing and someone who was not a good writer after reading my partners response I realized that I have been too hard on myself and I do have some talents when it comes to writing but I need to have more confidence in myself and my writing. In my writing I included details about how I become to love reading, I spoke of the books that I read and how my dad was the one who read them to me. In my opinion that shows how much I truly love to read because I included so many details about the book and it was the main part of my paper that was a little narrative. However when it came to writing I was not as descriptive, I did not spend as much time on my teachers and their style as I could have and I also did not name the topics that I had written about in the past. In my opinion that shows that I am not a big fan of writing because I did not spend as much time describing my past writings and instead I just jumped from topic to topic the writing portion of my memoir was what made my memoir also a big narrative. The other person had pretty much the same view of my essay that I did, however the other person admitted that part of my narrative was a victims account whereas I was too scared

to admit the truth that I really was a victim. They agreed with me on my specific events especially in the part with Harry Potter and reading. When I was reading the other persons memoir I realized the amount of details that I was lacking in my essay, details that could have added to my papers detail and depth and could have made my paper one hundred percent little narrative instead of on the fence between the two. It made me think of all the little details that I could have added but I believed would have been too much, like the topics of the essays that I wrote and the types of help and the advice given to me from my teachers. My attitude towards my future in writing and this class stay the same, I am still positive that I can do better and with reading my partners response to my essay I realize there are some concrete things that I can do to change my writing and make it a lot better. I have more confidence in my writing and now that I know what can change I feel like I can become a better writer in the future. It made me call into question how I handled my junior year writing when my teacher did not help me, it made me realize that I could have still worked hard even though my teacher did not read anything, and I could have gotten outside help instead of resigning to the fact that I was not going to get any better because my teacher did not care. There still were things I could have done to make my writing better instead of reverting and honestly not caring. I still do not see myself as I writer, I am not someone who will get excited over a writing assignment, and while I dont see myself as a terrible writer anymore, I dont see myself as a writer writer. I think in order to see myself as I writer, I need to enjoy it, and be really good at it.

Last Name Ms. Caruso ENGL 1103 27 August 2012 Responding to 22 This writer starts out playing the victim, they talked about how during their first two years of high school no one helped them with their writing and they felt alone. However unlike most victim stories this writer ends up a success story. They ended up having good teachers to help them through and make them grow as a writer. I feel like this person did a really good job writing a little narrative. They were very descriptive in their details, and this story could not be about numerous people. This person values the respect they have for writing and their knack for fiction stories. This person is missing the key aspect of prewriting and revising. They are aware that just writing with the flow and not editing and revising their papers makes their papers even harder to understand however they do not change their habits. I believe that this person really needs to sit down and write down their ideas and organize them. With doing this their papers would be better written and make more sense. I believe in doing this their writing would greatly increase and possibly it would make them actually enjoy writing. I think the main thing this person should concentrate on this semester is prewriting and revising. They are two necessary key points in writing and something that every writer should do no matter how good or bad they are at writing. I think what will most help this person in this class is the fact that we will have such a long time to write our final paper so it will force this writer to revise their paper and be able to turn in the best possible final product.

Last Name Ms. Caruso ENGL 1103 27 August 2012 Responding to me This reader could not be characterized as a victim or a success story. They are not acting as a victim they know their strengths and their weaknesses however they are not a successful writer. They are a person who knows what they can write well and what they really need to work on in the future. I believe that this writer wrote a little narrative in my opinion this essay could not have been written by multiple people, it is just specific to this one writer. The writer talks about what they like to write about and what books their dad read to them when they were growing up which turned them into a reader. This person values the fact that they do well at prewriting and research papers; they are this persons strength and something that they can use to their advantage. What this person is lacking is the fact that they are bad at taking their time on papers and also not using every source that they can to get information and help. I think that the main thing this writer should focus on this semester is taking their time with their writing, not rush through the prewrite to get to the actual writing and get the paper done. They also need to work on not using other sources as a crutch and working to the best of the ability before they get help. I believe what will help this writer the most this semester is the fact that there is a place for them to get help with their writing and get advice on their papers. I also think what will help is the fact that this paper is going to be written throughout most of the semester so there is no way that they can rush through it.

Last Name Ms. Caruso ENGL 1103 22 August 2012 Literacy Memoir As far back as I can remember literature has been in my life. I have always loved to read ever since my dad read the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone to me as my bedtime story. Writing is a different story; I have never been a fan of writing. I never feel like I can get my words down on paper the same way I can imagine them in my head. When it comes to research papers, I love looking up all of the information and learning about a new topic; however, I have never felt I could make my research paper show how important the topic is like I can do with speaking. The value of reading and writing has helped little kids have a greater imagination and help them dream. When they are reading they can imagine in their mind the story that is unfolding right before their eyes, instead of television which does not let their minds grow. I see that value in place in my daily life because my dad chose to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone to me and I fell in love with reading. I love the mental images that I get from reading a good book. I like how the words can make me feel happy or sad and make me laugh or cry. I have always felt that reading a good book is better than watching the movie because the book makes people have to think and imagine the situation in their heads instead of the ideals that Hollywood has created for them. Good writing can change a persons life. J. K. Rowling has touched millions of people with her amazing and talented writing. It is writers like her that make little kids want to pick up a book and actually read. She has made young children want to

read more and made some of them want to grow up to be writers. Good writers can change peoples lives and make them more literate. I have had several people influence my writing. My older sister and my sister in law are both teachers, and they have shared their expertise with me trying to make me a better writer. I had amazing junior and senior year English teachers who made writing more interesting for me then it was in the past, and they made me want to pick up a pen and try my hand at writing again. They helped me grow as a writer. I still am not near as good of a writer as I could be, but I am hoping one day something clicks with my writing. I also had a teacher who made me hate writing; she would never grade our papers or give us feedback, and instead she would just hand out As on papers because she did not feel like taking time to grade all of our papers. Even though I got As on the papers I know I did not always deserve them. That class did not help me grow as a writer but stunted my growth and in some ways made my progress revert. My past writing classes have all been different. In junior year I took a language class where we tried to prepare for the advanced placement exam but I did not have a good teacher. I was not able to write as much as I wanted too. Also in my junior year I took an honors English class and for that class we practiced writing research papers as well as speeches that class taught me more than any class has before. During my senior year I took advanced placement literature and we practiced writing for the advanced placement exam every day. I also took honors English four where we reiterated what we learned in English four. My advanced placement literature, and honors English three and four made me a better writer and made me look more positively towards writing. In the past I have mainly written research papers and practice essays for the AP exams. I have written two big research papers in my life. They are my favorite papers to write because they are

based solely on facts. I love writing research papers that make me think, and make me have to look into a lot of different websites and find all of the articles and peoples opinions of the topic. My favorite part of a research paper is being able to learn something about my topic, especially if it is a topic that I already have some knowledge on I really like learning information that I have never heard about. I also really enjoy writing a research paper about a topic that people dispute because I love being able to argue and prove my point. I really did not like to write the practice essays for the AP exams. They were really boring topics and I did not like the pressure of having to write under the time limit, I did not feel like I was able to do a good enough job with a time limit. I really dislike papers where you have two different articles and you have to compare and contrast them, I always am worried that I am not getting the concept and I am writing about something that is not even in the two essays and just something that I am trying to force something into the paper that was not even there in the first place. I also am not comfortable in writing essays about poetry for the same reason. I would rather write papers where there are solid facts and there is no way that I can interpret it incorrectly. My writing process is the same for every paper that I write. I first start out with a prewrite and write down my ideas. Then I write a rough draft and combine all of my ideas into fluid sentences. Then I walk away from the computer and work on other homework or take a break and then come back and write my final copy. Then I will walk away again and reread the next day with fresh eyes and if I have time reread it again a few hours later to make sure that I have written the paper to the best of my ability. I need to change a few things about my writing. I need to take my time in the beginning and not rush through the prewrite. I also need to take my time in the final draft and read over what I am writing so that I dont have to rewrite and reread my paper numerous times. What would make writing easier for me is having someone who can

read my paper for me and give me advice on what I did wrong and how I can improve my paper. I think that this semester holds a lot for me, I feel like this is going to be a class that really helps me grow as a writer. I am looking forward to getting a really long time to work on one paper, and utilizing all of my resources. I really hope that this class will make me a better writer. I am excited for this class however I am really scared. I am scared that because the final project is worth so much and I am worried that I am not going to be able to do well and that my grade will reflect that. I hope that if I put in the optimal amount of time and effort that I will be able to get a good grade in this class.