Capstone Reflection

Im not sure why, but when you ask almost any college student if they like english as a subject, they will most likely say no. I have never understood this because english has always been my favorite subject. I may not be that good at it, but in the end, its the class that I invest the most time and interest in. I think the reason most people hate english is because they are intimidated by writing papers. All throughout our life, at least for me, my teachers taught writing as either right or wrong. Your paper was either really good, or really bad. If you forgot to put a comma where there was supposed to be one: automatic 5 points deducted. So yes, coming into English 1101 in college I was definitely nervous. I knew I enjoyed english, but if I struggled in high school, then I knew I was for sure going to struggle in college; however, that wasnt the case. The first day of class we started off going through the course guildlines and followed up with our first journal writing. From then on we normally started the class with a reading or a discussion and then would journal about it. This journal process was so helpful because it allowed you to get all your thoughts, opinions, and emotions down on paper without having to worry about someone grading it. These journals forced me to think more in depth into our discussion and apply myself to it and how I may relate. Sometimes my journals were more complex than others, but each one meant something and showed what I had learned from that day. Whether it was two paragraphs about my own literacy, or just a few important quotes from readings that stuck with me, each journal was significant to my learning. Looking back, I used to dread all the long readings that we were required to read and annotate in this class. There were a select few that I did not mind reading, which are the ones in my portfolio, but several of them I had to force myself to read. When it came time to start my portfolio, I reread all of the readings. As long as this took, it was extremely useful for making my portfolio. Rereading these helped me fully grasp what the reading was trying to say, and contributed to my understanding of literacy. Reading about so many different literacy stories and narratives of people from different cultures and backgrounds definitley opened my eyes to how important our literacy is and how it is impacted by the experiences and sponsors around us. Seeing many different points of view of literacy widened my perspective and gave me a chance to in depth think about something that many people dont even realize we have. Paule Marshalls piece Poets in the Kitchen and Deborah Brandts Sponsors of Literacy are the two pieces that really stuck with me through this class. These two readings really gave me a better understanding of what literacy means and what contributes to shaping our literacy. I can also personally relate to these readings which also made it more important to me. My favorite part of this class and this portfolio is my ethnography. When we completed our mid semester writing prompt that was our first draft of my ethnography, mine wasnt that good. I was still somewhat onfused about my literacy and which domain has truly influenced it. My first draft was really wishy washy and after hours of working on it, I wasnt even that proud of it. However, after reading

Anne Lamotts Shitty First Drafts I felt much better about my writing. I realized that it was just the start to my final piece and that I still have plenty of time to turn it around into something really good. I came to the conclusion that my literacy has been impacted the most by my home life, and decided to take a whole new direction on my final product. I started to type a paper and realized that by just typing words, it wouldnt fully show my audience what I was trying to say. I then decided to collect old pieces and artifacts that I completed as a child and gather many different pictures that demonstrate my literacy and put it into a movie. I also interviewed my mom and had her explain how her and my dad have influenced and encouraged me to develop my literacy to give the audience a more personal and creative look at my own literacy narrative. I can now say that through all of this work and long process, I am finally proud of my ethnography. Overall, this class has not only been my favorite class of the semester but has also taught me so much more than I thought I would learn. Going into this class I wasn't sure what I was going to learn; to my surprise, we learned about something way more memorable and impacting to my life. Learning about other peoples literacies and then researching our own, definitely gave me a wider view of the world and more insight on myself. By writing journal entries every week and annotating readings about our opinions and thoughts, it allowed me to get everything out and then to have a foundation to my formal work. I not only learned more about literacy and the significance of it, but I have learned a lot more about myself as well. I have a more open mind about different cultures and backgrounds in the world, and how everyones literacy is developed differently and thats what makes us unique. This class has guided me to not just simply think about something, but to analyze it and then reflect on it to full grasp the meaning of it. Before this course, I simply just thought literacy was the ability to read and write. I cant say that I am now an expert of the true meaning of literacy, but I can say that literacy is so much more than the ability to read and write. Your literacy is a refelction of how your environment and your surroundings have influenced you. Your literacies allow you to be unique and connect with others and learn, and if you aren't able to do this, then you aren't able to grasp what the world is really like. I can now proudly sumbit my portfolio with a smile; knowing that I was not just successful in this class, but took away so much that will stick with me for the rest of my life.