Dear Group two,
Thanks for making this English class such a positive experience. From my previous experience I have notice group projects tend to be pushed aside and not taken very seriously, but this time things were different. Right from the start, I felt this group was focused on finishing this presentation as quickly as possible without sacrificing any quality. And in the end, it all paid off greatly, as shown in our grade. This goes to show the amount of effort and thought you guys put into your schoolwork, and I greatly appreciate all of your hard work. However, just as any group ever formed, the work is never divided up evenly. I apologize for being the lagging tail in group discussions, I have never been one to actively engage in discussions, but I can assure you all I was always actively listening. I hope that if given a chance in the future, I can contribute more towards discussions, instead of regretting my absence. Nonetheless, it has been a great time working with you all in completing this course, and I wish you all the best of luck in your future studies. Sincerely, Jesus A. Lopez What’s up everyone,
First, I want to say that I had a great time in this class with all of you. This was really my only class where I knew pretty much everyone and I felt like we were studying in a little “armadillo” community. I’ve learned a lot from this class, but the main thing I took away was thinking outside the box when writing. Before I write a blog post, I always view the other posts and see how everyone’s ideas and approach to the topic are different and unique and this allowed me to not just answer the topic in a standard way, but to critically analyze it and write my piece in a distinctive style. I also thoroughly enjoyed the small group discussions because I felt comfortable expressing my ideas and listening to others’ opinions and seeing how everyone reflects on the topic differently. Working on and presenting with my forum group also improved my presentation skills and showed me that presenting in front of a class is not all that scary. Well, it’s been real 12:00 class, happy holidays. -Jacob Pesek Hey y’all,
You guys have been a wonderful classmates. You guys have pushed me to become a better writer because you guys bring the heat. I'm not the most creative person or the best writer out there, but I have improved. I thought it was going to be scary for my classmates to be able to see how I write, but it's not, you guys help me out. Through the groups and class discussions I've come out of my shell. I'm not really a shy person, but if I'm pressured or put on the spot I instantly become quiet because I don't want to get judged, but you guys helped me overcome that. I didn't feel judged sharing my feelings or feedback. Like I said, you guys are the bomb and don't be scared to say hi when you see me on campus. ~Jocelyn Pitlick Dear Mr. Brown and The Writing Team, INC.,
I can safely say that I am content turning in my writing. At the start of the writing process, I knew exactly what to write about. Music is always on my mind (as a major, it’s difficult to think of much else) and music education, especially its funding, has been a hot topic within the school system, so I thought this assignment would be a great way to integrate all of my studies while addressing an important issue and advocating for something I truly care about. Research was easy to come across; there is so much information out there about how music is important to teach to all students because it benefits them in so many ways, even if they choose to not become a musician or even make music their hobby. I knew I needed to communicate this information in an effective way, so it didn’t take me long to realize that this message needs to be directed specifically to those who choose to make cuts, which is what prompted me to pose my writing as a presentation to a theoretical school board that is prepared to eradicate all music programs within the district. The main thing I struggled with while writing this was making the speech sound like a speech. I found myself writing topic sentences for new paragraphs that didn’t transition into the my next point as smoothly as I would have like it to, and I notice that my language isn’t as colloquial as it probably would have been had I actually given the presentation aloud. Nevertheless, I do think that my “presentation” expressed all my points effectively and concisely. I really tried to convey the importance of music for every student’s education and explain all of its benefits, and I think I could have convinced the school board that putting money forward for music programs is worth it. Thank you for taking time to read my writing. I hope you find it engaging and that it convinces you that music education is an essential to the educational experience. Sincerely, Annie Stanger My writing process is very up and down. I enjoy researching my topic and finding evidence that works for and against my piece because that enables me to see the point from both perspectives and also allows me to think of more creative or concrete ways to either defend my position or refute the opposite. Some areas where I struggle at in my essay writing are transitioning from one idea to the next and elaborating on my thesis statement. I needed to get more in depth with my main points instead of briefly going over what needs to change and why that would be effective. Those phases were a struggle for me because I had trouble connecting the previous and the next paragraph to each other and because at first and second glance I thought I had delved deep enough into those points but that wasn’t the case. Having peers read my work really opened my eyes to the weaknesses in my writing and that allowed me to see what I was doing wrong in ways I wouldn’t have been able to see without their help. I feel like my work is generally very stat/fact heavy with main points and support for those points following the facts so I can also integrate the three better. All in all my writing needs a lot more work but I think I have the mindset and teaching to improve it.
My piece was about the cruel cycle of poverty and education and how they directly affect each other and can only be fixed with help from the other. I think I was very clear on my stance regarding what needed to be fixed and I think I had strong, relevant facts to support my stance. However, I could have used more personal examples or narratives that would have appealed to the reader’s emotions. My piece could have flowed better in addition to elaborating on how the teaching methods could be improved and how that would positively affect both education and poverty. I was really trying to get through to parents and board members in those struggling communities/districts. They are the ones who can make a change in the education system because of their power and influence on laws and regulations. I tried to state as many facts as possible, which would appeal to their logic, but I should have put more emotional narratives and examples into my piece. John Olson Dear Mr. Brown,
First of all, I'd like to say thank you for considering my work as perhaps a suitable fit to your team of experts. I'd also like to say that I am a huge fan of your work and I believe I would fit in well with your business. To really emphasize exactly how I felt during my writing of this piece, I first must say how emotionally invested I have been. My piece's topic of school shootings has been very controversial recently, and it is a hard one to approach due to the catastrophic happenings in Umpqua, Oregon a week ago. I'd have to say that my most difficult time with this topic was figuring how to approach it. How could I leave a lasting impression upon the public of that would reflect my anger, but also would be professional and would offer satisfactory solutions to the issue at hand? The only way I could overcome this curious predicament was to just dive in. When I began to discuss my topic as professionally as I could, I believe my anger was brought forth, but not with complete malice. Some 'aha' moments in my paper included after i had finished the paper altogether. During the writing process, I felt my paper was terrible, but once I read it aloud in peer review, I felt like it was genuine and offered solutions while still being backed by sources. The topic I chose made writing the Unessay quite difficult. Although I may have been a bit 'fired up' about the topic because of current events at the time, I could not relate to it in many ways because I have never been involved in any school shootings. Shootings rarely, if ever, happen in my home town, and I have never had to worry about them. It felt almost like my paper was a good start, but the topic of choice left me with no credibility to back up my thesis. I was just another writer discussing his own opinion, which pathetic when it comes to making much of a difference in the world. Despite this setback, I felt like the best part of my Unessay were my sources. Because I had no credibility myself, I attributed to others' works to back up my own. I believe my audience of the general public would have listened to someone else's voice other than just my own. Once again, I would like to say thank you for considering my work, and I look forward to any future meetings we may have. Rory Loe Mr. Brown,
Thank you for your interest in my writing. My piece I submitted dealt with the influence parental involvement has on a student’s academic success. When composing my piece, I experienced numerous stages of struggle. The first struggle I encountered was choosing a topic for my piece. I wanted a topic that was broad enough to write a well composed piece, but still specific enough to not be too general and focus on a prevalent issue. This topic-phase has always been a week point in my writing process because I try to choose a topic that I am passionate about, but also one that has enough information and relevance to write on. Eventually I decided to choose a topic I was interested in, regardless of the amount of information or relevance it contained because I realized writing a piece is more natural and effective when the writer is fully engaged and enthusiastic about the topic. The next problem I faced while writing my article was putting my thoughts into writing. I usually think about what I am going to write for a long time, but never really transfer my thoughts onto the paper. Finally I decided to write whatever thoughts came to my mind on my paper so I had at least some form of writing to work with. After writing my thoughts on paper, I altered phrases, words, and some ideas so that the piece flowed smoother and adequately conveyed my thoughts. There were many aspects about my article that I thought I did both well and poor on. I felt like I was able to capture the audiences’ attention with my article because of its format. Instead of using a traditional essay style, I opted for a magazine article look. Since my intended audience was aimed for parents and students, I determined writing an article would gather greater attention and appear more interesting to read than a standard essay format. However, I felt like I needed better supporting evidence to back my claims. I think I should have used a larger range of sources and quotes in my article so it sounded less like my opinions and more like facts and true statements. Another area that I felt needed work was the length of my piece. Overall I thought the piece was sufficient, but adding more detail and explanation to certain ideas would have made the article more complete. I hope you enjoyed my submission and I look forward to working with your writing team. Thanks, Jacob Pesek Dear Mr. Brown,
Most often for the me, the hardest part of the writing process is choosing a topic. This is especially true because most essays and articles fully depend on their topic and thesis. If the topic is well defined and the thesis flows smoothly and leads to the conclusion, then the article almost writes itself. Furthermore, by finding a topic that I am passionate about, I can turn the rest of the writing from simply more work into a challenging and fun learning experience. In the instance of the article that I submitted on the Involvement and Empowerment of Parents in Education, I was lucky enough to find a topic that interests me. From that point, there was just the simple matter of some research through books, online databases, and websites to find a broad perspective of information on my topic. This allowed me to formulate my thesis and at the same time organize the structure of my article. The actual writing began as a small struggle as I tried to find an interesting way to introduce the topic and grab the reader’s attention. I decided to instead begin the body of the article and come back to the introduction later to see if my perspective would change. Since I had already highlighted and sorted the facts that I would use in the essay, the body went pretty smoothly. Once I finished most of the article, I revisited the introduction, the conclusion, and a few other sections that I thought needed some livening up. I struggled in my attempts to liven up the text for the reader, but I just kept at it until it was where it needed to be. After I finished, I waited a day to let my ideas settle, then I returned to the article to revise it and strengthen the aesthetics of it. Finally I had my finished product! Upon looking back on my article, I realize that I did complete some parts well, but other aspects still require work. Some of the positive characteristics of my essay include the structure, support, and flow. When rereading the article, I don’t notice any places where the argument breaks down or jumps from one idea to the next randomly. The argument is supported by the given evidence and fully relates back to the thesis. In addition to these aspects, the overall use of language is accurate and rarely contains any grammar mistakes. Despite these positive qualities, the piece is still missing some creativity and power behind it. The article successfully reaches its audience of students, teachers, parents, and even students, but the text still needs to connect a little more to some underlying characteristics or emotions of this audience, especially to the school and teacher aspect of the audience. With a few more creative connections to its wide range of readers, this article would be a fantastically compelling argument. Overall, I believe that, despite its few flaws, this article is a good illustration of an engaging argument that clearly exemplifies my writing process. I hope you enjoy it. Sincerely, Damon George Dear Mr. Brown,
I have heard that you are looking for someone to add to your team of writers at The Writing Team. I am writing back to inform you that I believe that I am the perfect candidate for your opening. I have attached a sample of a recent writing called an 'Unessay'. This unessay gave us total control over the type of paper we wanted to write, expanding past the typical 5 paragraph paper My writing sample does so in that I wanted to create a informational piece of writing, so I formatted and wrote like a magazine article. I struggled over the general format of a magazine article at first, but I was able to convey my argument in such a way that the reader will not lose interest in my topic, though it heavily consists of research. In my 'Unessay' I feel like I was able to bring up great outside sources that supported my overall beliefs and arguments. I made sure to bring up facts about children that stem from outside the problem of education and instead arose from the development of children themselves. However, I feel that I could format and organize my ideas better as to keep on track with my topic and weave my personal experiences into my paper better as I am more accustomed to doing research type papers. Now, whoever you choose, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity. With Regard, Shane S. |
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