Reflection Eternal

I started my first year at Howard feeling anxious about two classes: College Algebra and Expository Writing and Literacy Studies. The math class speaks for itself, but the anxiety surrounding my first college English course, stemmed from a lack of confidence. I love writing; I’m an English major. Yet, I often find myself stressing during the writing process. High school took the fun out of writing, I spent two years being timed and forced into strict formulaic writing as I took “advanced level” writing classes. I was intimidated by the idea that Expository writing and Literacy Studies might push me out of my comfort zone and as a result, I would struggle in the class. As the semester is now over, I’ve come to learn structure doesn’t have to equate to boring or non creative writing. In fact, This year I write different types of essays that varied in structure, yet I was able to learn certain writing techniques that keeps the intended audience interested.

The first writing assignment was to write a summary essay after reading author Roxane Gay’s piece: The Politics of Respectability. Before this course, I was historically bad at writing summaries. I tended to lose voice and was incapable of citing correctly. The art of explaining what an author is trying to convey to an audience without plagiarizing was my task for this assignment. Learning intext citations was really half the battle. Once I was able to correctly cite the authors idea, I was able to articulate the ideas of Gay’s piece with ease. I also learned to different methods for in text citations which made the essay have more of a natural flow. This assignment also required a response. I learned a very helpful structure that made thinking and writing the response much easier. Determining Ethos, Pathos, and Logos guided the response section of this essay.

Synthesis essays have haunted me in the past. The best way I can articulate the Literature Review essay is a conversation between multiple scholars on the topic of Reparations in America and whats important about their contentions. This assignment was a bit exhausting. This essay required a lot of reading, which I’m fine with but since all of the reading was on the same topic, it became easy to mix up who said what. I had several tabs open during the writing process. The amount of ideas that I was trying to piece together in a way that creates “the conversation” was a process to say the least. In the end, I think I did a good job at articulating each scholars points in a way that was objective and interesting for my intended audience. If I could go back, I would have managed my time better with this essay. I knew it was a lot of work but failed to dedicate the time to begin the process, this added my stress. This essay was exhausting but I low key enjoyed piecing the varying views together.

The last assignment (my favorite out of the three) was the research paper. Since we were able to pick our own topic, this essay instantly became the best essay of the semester. I chose to write about a topic I had been thinking about for a while. As I plan to become an educator in the near future, I’m always looking for innovative ways to progress stylistic aspects of teaching. My topic was centered around the idea that teaching Hip hop in English classes would encourage student participation, develop students language, and encourage them to make real world connections. This paper took awhile for me to write. In general my lack of confidence can get in the way of my writing process sometimes, but I also felt a responsibility to make this paper tell a story and make a strong case for using Hip hop in the classroom. During the process I learn how to properly cite sources in MLA and APA formatting. I also learned how to develop a working thesis into a final claim. I developed some important research skills and learned the structure of an argumentative essay. This essay was stressful but enjoyable. I learned a lot more from doing research on this topic and I really want to explore this more with educators and administrators who are interested in using Hip hop or music in classrooms.

I really enjoyed the reading we did this semester as well. The reading that stuck with me the most was, "Nah, We Straight": An Argument Against Code-Switching. While reading this piece, we explored the idea of Code-meshing. Which essentially is using dialect or local vernacular in a formal setting or in a formal assignment. Professor G often mentioned the idea of writing having a natural flow and encourage us to explore that through free writes. This piece affirmed what she was articulating to the class and made me want to explore that more in a teaching or educational setting.

This is class was great. I really believe I have become a better thinker and writer. I’ve not only learned writing techniques, but also important ideas in regards to the importance of how English or writing in taught in classrooms.

#ReflectionEternal #TalibKweli #HiTek #Hiphop