Midterm Reflection Dear Miss Douglas,

This semester has really gotten off to a quick start considering that I am writing this midterm reflection letter. I was in your class this previous semester and feel that I have a grasp on how you like to run your class and what you are looking for in the things you assign. Just like many of the students in the class that are new to having you as a professor it took them a while to understand what you were looking for when grading daybooks and possibly didnt even know what that was. I see this as an advantage to me considering I went through those same stages last semester, but this time I knew how much effort and time needed to be put into the daybook assignments no matter how long it would take. To be honest I slacked off with the first assignment in our daybooks hoping it would be good enough for you to accept it, but boy was I wrong, then it hit me I needed to start putting in the work that I knew I had to put in so I could receive the grades I wanted. I went back through and re-done the assignments and made sure there was more than plenty of effort and time that needed to be spent on the daybook entries. I see myself right around a B as of right now with the work that we have done in them so far, I can assure that I spent more thought and time when doing my entries than the average person in our classroom. I want to work even harder and strive to see if I can be above and beyond in the area of daybooks, but I know that this will take a lot of hard work and time to pursue. Participation means a lot of things to different people; I understand that participation goes beyond just coming to class. I love the way class is and love

discussions, but it does take something that interests me to really get involved in the discussion. Personally I would say that my attitude towards this English class is different than most English classes, rarely do we get to choose something of our own choice and get to research it and write about it for the entire semester, this is why I enjoy most of the things that take place in and out of the classroom. I try my best to be as involved as possible while we are doing an activity in class whether it is a classroom wide discussion or just a small group discussion, no matter the activity I do my best to be involved in the class. Giving this information is the reason that I give myself an average to an above average grading in this category of the class. I am not going to lie there is a few areas that I need to work on and could be a little more involved in the class than I am already, but that is for me to work on the second half of the semester. This semester the class is based on a line of inquiry that we were able to choose by ourselves as long as it passed during our proposal sessions a couple weeks back. A huge part of this assignment is gathering information and researching tons about the topic we chose. I have gathered a few sources that I will be using when completing my line of inquiry and they are really informative but are also two sided which makes it a little bit difficult. I know we are supposed to be getting different information from different viewpoints that the topic or issue affects and this is where I am having to search a little bit more to find reliable sources. I do not really have any questions so far along in the assignment but I am sure eventually something will come up. My overall grade so far in this course at the midway point; I really thing that I deserve an above average grade which is a B. The reason that I say this is because of the extra effort I have put into the assignments in my daybook, which is where we receive

most of the work for this class in. Also, I tend to be a critical thinker when completing an assignment for this class, which takes more effort and time to do the assignment, but to me it is worth it. This is why I think that I should currently have around a B for this course as of right now. I am not exactly satisfied with the performance I am currently putting out; I hope to receive an A at the end of the semester for this course. I know to get an A it is going to count on me spending more time and putting in more effort towards the assignments and participation in this class. I know I am not there yet, but hopefully I can put in the extra work and it will pay off in the long run.

Sincerely,

Justin Holland

Ethos, Pathos, Logos I chose this piece of advertisement from the organization PETA, an organization created to protect animals. The reason that this piece of advertisement was made was to try and stop or decrease the amount of seals that wee being killed in Canada. To be honest I would have never paid this piece any of attention if it were not for the big picture of Steve-O. So one of their main choices was to go with Ethos and use a popular celebrity that most people know to get there attention to just read about the issue in Canada. If you look at his facial expressions you can tell that whatever he is thinking about or presenting is not a good thing. Another thing is that he is earing a shirt that has a picture of a seal on it, which to me is a little different to see Steve-O wearing something of that nature. Also they use Logos to grab the attention of the reader so they dont think that this information is just made up or coming from nowhere. Each year, tens of thousands of seals, many of whom are still babies, are massacred. Its time to demand a permanent end to Canadas cruel seal slaughter. This is logos because of the statistics that is used in the quote; this really grabs my attention being the number person I am. I am a guy so I try not to be a really emotional person but Steve-O also does not appeal to be an emotional person either, but when you view this picture you can tell that something inside of him is churning. This is where the Pathos comes into play. The quote that I wrote earlier is even pathos along with logos, yes it does show numbers and statistics, but I do not know of many people that can sit there and read about seals getting slaughtered and killed as babies and it not get to their emotions. I have never really gotten a piece of advertisement and actually thought about what each and every detail meant.

Reflection The main reason that I ended up choosing this daybook entry was because I have never really critically thought about advertisement before. I never knew there were such categories companies used to place the information they placed on their advertisements. I actually spent some time on this assignment looking at different pieces in curiosity of all of the famous companies that use these three tactics. The main reason that I chose this exact piece is because I was shocked to see Steve-O standing up for the seals in Canada. I really learned what Ethos, Pathos, and Logos mean from this assignment. Question 1 Page 628 There are many different hat groups out there standing strong in what they like and obviously do not like. The argument is whether or not hate groups should be able to distribute information out in public or not. I believe that it is their right to set up and distribute all of the information they want. I know that some of the groups information is offensive to some people and they do not want to have to see them or hear what they have to say. On the opposing side to that argument, who is sitting there forcing you to take their information or forcing you to listen to what they have to say. If I see a hate group where I do not believe in the same thing that they do I will just turn my head or tune them out. I understand that some may be against it, but if there is a group then some people have to be for it. How are they supposed to get their information out to others and grow in size if we make it where they are not allowed to distribute information? This is where we are trying to control to many things, you as a citizen have the right whether you want to receive that information or not. I think that they should definitely be able to distribute

information to the public, there is no reason they shouldnt, most people does not even pay no attention to them how it already is so why take that right away from them. Reflection This question really made me think and wonder about how I would feel if I was apart of one of these groups in the public distributing information and they took that right away from me because someone got offended. The reason I chose this entry was the amount of thought that I put into the question before I answered. If I feel strongly or can relate to what the question is asking then I enjoy responding to it and love the amount of thought it takes for me to respond. Line of Inquiry Questions What kinds of effect does school shootings have on gun control laws? This is a rising conflict that has been growing over the past couple of years. Many people believe that these shootings occur because of the lack of gun control laws that are in place. The main reason in me choosing this topic is because the verdict on the issue will end up affecting me along with the rest of our country. I have grown up with firearms my entire life, whether it was shooting recreationally or going hunting. It is a good tool to have in a household just in case someone tries to break into your home and harm your family. There are a great number of people out there in the public who react to these public shootings in the wrong way. Citizens see on the news where a certain number of innocent people were killed in a shooting and these citizens automatically want to tighten up the laws we have for guns in our country. The reason that this question is worth answering to me is the affect the outcome will have on our whole country and me. When it is in our bill of rights and was created by our founding fathers I do not think it is a good idea to

take that away from us. All of these public shootings that keep happening are influencing these decisions, the question is should they be or not. There are many controversys out there saying these shootings are happening just to get the public to think that the firearms is the problems. It is probably pretty obvious that I am on the side of the issue where these shootings should not impact gun control laws like they are right now. There are many questions that come into my head about this issue, one is, who says these laws are even going to prevent anything. If a person can already get his hands on illegal objects now what is going to stop him from doing so with a gun. I have already read about how the government put some laws into affect to prevent these shootings from happening and a couple of months later, boom another shooting happened. I do not think these laws are going to do anything but hurt our country. There is going to be a lot of research that needs to be done so that I will be prepared to present this line of inquiry. I know what needs to be done and I know what I have to do to get it done so I think that I am well prepared on my line of inquiry. Reflection The reason I chose this piece out of my daybook for you to read is because this really showed me how much research needed to be done. There was one question that asked what questions came to me about the subject and I had a lot which opened my eyes on how much I was going to have to research to try to find the answers to all of these questions I had. Also, it made me kind of look ahead and prepare myself for the future assignments I am going to complete going along with this line of inquiry which is a plus.

5.13 Each year, more and more students with disabilities are coming to college. All colleges should accommodate more for students that have disabilities. Everyone benefits when people with disabilities benefit. For example, if we accommodate for a disabled student then everyone on campus will benefit because it will most likely make it easier for both disabled and non-disabled students to function. Therefore, I think that we should do whatever it may take to make sure these students have those accommodations than they are already receiving. Not, everyone agrees with this view, however, some people argue that we do not have enough funding to be making these extra accommodations for the disabled students. This argument misses the point. When colleges welcome disabled students it will increase the size and population of the school. For this reason colleges should increase spending on disabilities accommodations because the fundings will most likely return to their pockets from the increase in student population. Reflection The main reason I chose this out of my daybook was I showed me the basic outline for a deductive argument. I like how it gave me the basis of the argument and let me fill in the rest. Also, a little earlier in chapter five it tells what goes throughout a deductive argument but this really let me see how one is written. I am a visual learner and when I get to see it in front of me I usually learn better just like in this case.