English 101
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Addyson Hiatt
September 15, 2024
Writing Task 1-8
In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, I marked a couple quotes,
but one that stood out to me the most was this quote. “The toughest guy in
school” (Graff,2). This quote stood out to me because it could have two
different meanings that roughly mean the same. Does this quote mean
physically the toughest guy in school? Or does it mean it mean intellectually
the toughest guy in school. This quote gives me that concept of being able to
think more rhetorically into it, instead of just skimming over it like just a
boring old quote. What I mean by that is I can see the argument that Graff is
trying to make here without reading the rest of the article. He is trying to
persuade me to realize that tough doesn’t always mean big muscles or A+’s
on a report card. It can be from being able to fix a car to being able to decide
what color shoes should go with a pattern shirt. As simple as this quote is, it
almost hits deep. As a child, we proved ourselves the toughest by winning
races or arm wrestling. As we get older, we start to become tougher in other
things. For instance, I am intellectually tough in Math and can solve loads of
problems. Stick me in an English class with a bunch of reading and writing,
and I struggle a lot. That’s because my toughness is a lot different in other
classes. Finding this quote was as simple as it was hard. I used the personal
view annotation which helped me realize that I had opinions similar to the
author. We both believe that everyone has their own strengths, which is the
author’s argument. They are arguing that everyone is smart, but in their own
ways. Some are smart in school. Some are smart in other things like cars, or
feelings.
As recalled in paragraph one I was able to connect more with my
annotation strategy. I came across this other quote that stuck to me a little.
“Is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to
see those interests through academic eyes.” (Graff, 4). When I came across
this quote, I first started to think that they wanted to help those who
unfortunately aren’t the brightest in academics. As I kept reading it, I started
to get a little frustrated with the quote. They wanted to “make” the kids who
are not bright in school see what they should be seeing in school. It
frustrated me because it felt like they were saying “survival of the fittest” in
a non-hatred way. I felt opinionated to this quote by the author because it did
not seem like they wanted to expand the world put to kids who are brighter
in other things. I felt somewhat in a disagreement with the author, because it
sounded like he just wanted the “street-smart” kids to be “book-smart” like
the rest of the kids.
The annotation I used will most definitely be more helpful in being
successful in my other classes, especially my future college courses. If one
day I end up back in an English class, and I need to write an opinionated
essay on an argumentative article, I will know my strengths and refer to my
personal view annotation strategy. I can read the article and form my own
opinions while agreeing or disagreeing with the opinions that the author has
already created. From this strategy, classes that will benefit from it is most
definitely an English class. Where I have to form my own opinions on things. I
will know how to make my responses sound more professional and grown-up.
I quite actually enjoyed this text that I used for writing 1-8. I felt that I
connected more with this text and the way that the author was speaking to
his audience. I felt somewhat connected to this article because I am a
student who struggles with “book -smarts”. I am good at cooking and baking.
I started playing volleyball a year ago and am already on a team that is two
age levels above me. I do struggle with comprehension, and I have gotten
better but I do struggle with following directions completely or just
understanding the material that is laid out for me. I did enjoy reading the
other texts from the other writing tasks, but I feel like I understood this
article more. The other articles felt like a burden to annotate and read, but
this article made me eager to read it and annotate it. I did not put very many
annotations, but I could look back at one and simply understand what the
text was about.
