Jefferson Kao

Professor Lynda Haas

Writing 39B
14 January 2016
Writing 39B Mid-Term Reflection Essay
Six weeks has passed this Winter quarter and there is much work to reflect upon.
Ive learned a lot of things throughout this class so far and there is still a lot left to learn.
A lot of this information was completely new to me and a lot was also a refresher to the
information I had already learned. Either way, this class has taught me to become a
better writer and also, to become better at analyzing writings. We spent class time going
over numerous fairy tales, exploring many rhetorical situations, learning about different
historical and cultural contexts and how they affect writing, receiving feedback and
reviews on my work from peers, participating in group work, and even a little refresher
on grammar and punctuation. All this has led to a great amount of information I learned
in Writing 39B. And I know that as this class continues, I still have a lot left to discover.
We went over many different fairy tales throughout the six weeks of the course,
starting from fairy tales written a long time ago to modern fairy tales. We analyzed and
discussed the rhetorical situation amongst the different versions of fairy tales and how
different aspects could affect the different works. For example, different audiences and
different historical and cultural contexts can change the tone and story of the fairy tales.
All this influences the rhetorical situation within the writings. I read and analyzed the
original versions of the fairy tales and how they eventually adapted into Disney versions.
The Disney versions would change certain elements to better suit a more modern and

younger audience, thus changing the rhetorical situation. I also learned how culture
affected writings, such as German Nationalism and Romanticism, the Salon Era, and
how women influenced writings. Along with that, I learned about Charles Perrault and
also about the Grimm Brothers and how they write according to different audiences and
the different culture at the time.
Doing annotations when I read a new tale, submitting my mini rhetorical analysis
essays on discussion forums and getting feedback from my peers and professor,
presentations I created to educate the class on what I learned and discovered,
completing assignments on Canvas, and posting weekly reflection blogs all helped me
progress as a writer. For annotations, I would take notes and focus on the differences
between different versions of the same tale. Then, I would use that and figure out the
rhetorical situations that lies within the different versions. A particular version might
focus on a certain group of audience while a different version might rely heavily on
culture. Submitting my mini rhetorical analysis on discussion forums allows me to get
feedback from my professor and peers. For example, Professor Haas said that my
entry needs use of outside sources to help you write authoritatively about cultural
values and attitudes. This will definitely be a focus point when Im writing my next
rhetorical analysis essay. Presentations also taught me the importance of working in
groups and collaborating with my group members to complete a presentation. Ive
gotten numerous feedback regarding my presentations, such as the inclusion of more
images rather than words. This allows me to change the way I make presentations so
that I can make it more audience friendly and interesting to the people viewing it.
Completing assignments on Canvas also helped me grow with better grammar. We

covered many topics, such as how to properly use commas and the importance of
proper sentence structure. At the end of all this, I would write my weekly reflection
blogs. This allows me to look back and reflect upon the week and realize all the
materials I learned. Looking back on my week one reflection blog to my week six
reflection blog, a lot has changed about the way I write and the way I analyze different
writings.
Looking back at all the things I completed in the class so far, I would like to do my
rhetorical analysis on different genre conventions. According to Canvas, the rhetorical
analysis is to explain how the conventions are expressed in such a way that they reflect
the attitudes and values of the 21st century audience and thus, appeal to and persuade
that audience and also introduce the idea that this film is a modern-day re-imagining of
the folk/fairy tale genre and some of its most well-known conventions. The films use
enough conventions of the genre that we immediately recognize these stories as
folk/fairy tales, but they re-imagine these conventions with a 21st century audience and
its values/attitudes in mind.
There are countless things I have done in this class that has allowed me to
become an expert on the topic I am going to write about in my rhetorical analysis essay.
I will be analyzing Charles Perraults Sleeping Beauty and Disneys Maleficent, which is
an adaption on the original work. I will focus on the different audiences and how culture
and time affected the different works. I will also be emphasizing on character motifs,
such as the hero and the villain. Research will be needed in order for me to successfully
write about this topic. For example, I will need to find out about how different time
periods created different stories and how in each time period, men and women are

portrayed differently. Feminism is a huge part of todays society so I will also be

researching more on that. The adaptation and remake shows to be successful with the
current audience as it allows young women, the main audience, to learn independence
and that they are perfectly capable of doing anything by themselves. Women dont need
men to save them at the end of the day. Females are just as capable as males are.
Instead, Maleficent focus on the importance of love between a mother and daughter
type of relationship. It doesnt make the female character rely on a man to wake her up
or save her and focuses on a different type of love. Disneys version clearly shows
differences when compared to Perraults version.
All of the materials we covered in class gave me a better understanding of the
course objectives. For example, I now have a clear understanding of what rhetorical
analysis means and how to write essays that touch upon that subject. I am better at
figuring out the rhetorical situation when reading various writings. Communication skills
was also something I improved on too, as I took feedback from my peers to make my
presentations better. I feel that I have also improved on the Habits of Mind. It made me
more curious about certain works and how the environment it was written in influenced
the work. I became more open to different ideas and realized that everyone thinks
differently and because of that, people will produce different works. I became more
engaged when interacting with my group and completing group works. I also became
more creative when making my presentations. I will need persistence in order to
complete the video project due at the end of the quarter. Responsibility was also a huge
factor because when everyone was assigned a certain task for the group projects, your
group members rely heavily on you to complete your part in order to produce a whole

project. I also became more flexible when I took peer reviews into consideration when
creating my presentations. Lastly, metacognition was also something I learned when I
would reflect upon my weekly work and realize for myself the information I have gained.
Even with all the things I learned in this class, I still room for improvement on a lot of
things. I thought I submitted quality essays for my rhetorical analysis, but I got feedback
that I needed to include more outside sources and incorporate that in my analysis.
All in all, the first six weeks have been solid, although in some areas, it was
tough finding enough time to practice my sport and complete schoolwork as well as
studying for exams. I think I have a better grasp of whats happening now and I
definitely learned how to manage my time better.