Final Draft:
Reference Letter:
Dear Danielle,
My first semester at Delco is going better than I thought it would. I enjoy all of my classes which I didn’t think would happen coming into college. Though one in particular definitely stands out from the rest and that would be my English Composition class. As you already know I have always dreaded writing because I am terrible at remembering all the little rules. But this class is different. We don’t do the conventional five paragraph essays or projects like in high school. My professor has a different way of approaching writing then I have ever experienced before.
The first few days of class after learning names and playing a few games we started to make websites. On these websites we would put all of the work we would be doing in class. I of course loved this because it lets me use my creativity and makes writing a little more interesting. We started writing in blog posts on our website each week. We would discuss what happened in class and what happened outside of class in each post. Personally this was very nice because we weren’t focusing on the grammar in what we were writing we were focusing on the substance. Doing this also gave me a way of talking about Colleen and what she is going through. It gave me a way to talk about what was happening without telling someone and feeling uncomfortable because I am upsetting them.
Other than just doing blog posts we also were given readings to go through each week. This is to help us focus on our reading process. We tried different ways of remembering what we read such as writing a summary next to each paragraph or drawing a picture next to a section. I am more of a visual learner so drawing the pictures helped me the most. I could probably still tell you what I read based on those pictures. We also looked at different types of writing through the readings we were given. In particular we focused mainly on showing and telling scenes. The reading that helped me understand this the most was Everyone Knew I Was Gay Except for my Brother. We also did a blog post where we described two different scenes using showing and telling. Once everyone had a firm grasp on the difference between showing and telling we moved on to looking at each of our writing processes. We did this while we began writing our Creative Nonfiction Essay so we could grasp what we do that helps or hurts our writing. We had many readings about writing process but the one that stood out to me the most was 6 ways to becoming a Hemingway level badass. In this reading it talks about the different steps in which Hemingway took to write. These steps were all listed and explained through the reading. We also did a blog post which mirrored Hemingway. We described the different steps we took in writing the first draft of our Creative Nonfiction Essay and described what didn’t. Before I pictured writing as this big daunting task where I didn’t even know where to start. Doing this blog post and breaking my writing down into steps made writing seem a lot less difficult. It also helped me figure out that handwriting outlines really helps to get my mind ready to write. And of course since I did procrastinate on finishing my draft it was a nice reminder that doing so is not a very good idea.
For the creative nonfiction essay we could either take a moment from the past month and describe it or talk about the entire month. For the past month the biggest thing going on was Colleen’s treatment so that is what I chose to write about. All of my blog posts were about her so it wasn’t very difficult to remember things to talk about. The only trouble I was having was with is the theme. Is the theme just cancer or the journey she went through to get better? I was just writing about what happened so I wasn’t quite sure and still am not. This makes me nervous because my professor said the theme is the most important thing in your writing. Of course it is. So as of right now I believe the theme is Colleen’s journey and that’s what I’m sticking with! Writing about what was going on with Colleen was difficult at times. It really brought up old feeling that i went through when first hearing her diagnosis. It also was a reminder that we still didn't know what was going to happen. Though at times it was difficult it did also really help me. It gave me a way to talk about what was going on and how i felt about it without feeling selfish. I would constantly feel like i was being a wimp when I wanted to talk about how her sickness was effecting me because she is the one fighting with cancer and isn't complaining at all. With my blog posts I was able to talk about all of this without feeling guilty.
Coming into the second semester instead of focusing on reflecting in our blog posts we began focusing more on news topics. Topics such as food, women's rights and Ebola. In class we began to watch short clips on different topics and write about them in our blog posts. We also watched a great movie called Food Inc. We began doing these things to help us find a topic for our I-Search Paper. After watching the movie Food Inc. i decided that was what i wanted to do my I-Search Paper on. I was shocked at how misinformed I was about where my food was coming from and wanted to know more.
There were a lot of different topics that go along with Food Inc. that I could have focused on. In the beginning i really anted to just go after the food companies and talk about everything they were doing wrong. I wanted to expose them for what they really were, a money hungry business. Though i wanted to do this is my essay i thought it would be bland if that was the only thing i talked bout so i decided to also focus on an alternative to big business food which is organic. My professor also gave me a great idea to talk about whether it was even possible for a average family to afford organic food every week. With all of this in mind i decided to begin my essay focusing on what companies were doing wrong then move into the alternative organic food. I would discuss whether organic food is actually better for you or not then move into my project where I would buy fifty dollar's worth of regular food and fifty dollars worth of organic food to see how much of each i would be able to get. The results i got were somewhat obvious because I knew i would get less organic food but. The part that was shocking was how much less i actually did get. I was able to get four loaves of regular bread for the same price of one natural whole wheat loaf. That's like having a sale of buy one get three free. Ridiculous! Also a gallon of organic milk was close to seven dollars!
The things that helped me during my writing was having all the research already done. Before i started writing I did a lot of research on organic food and made sure i had enough that I wouldn't have to go back and research again half way through my paper. This made writing a lot more fluid. I also really enjoyed going out and testing my topic in real life. This was actually really fun to do and opened my eyes to a lot of new food options. The only thing i wish i was able to do differently while writing this paper was have more time. Just as we started writing this paper I was starting my second job at Ups. I was still figuring out how to balance my time and make sure i had enough time to get everything done. I really cared about the topic of this paper and wanted it to be perfect. But in the end i found myself having to rush through it to get it done in time. This of course effected how good it was. Although my essay wasn't perfect and up to my highest standards it did help me to learn a lot. From writing this essay i will be taking away information that I will probably use for the rest of my life. It changed my perspective on food and from now on I will be trying to buy organic whenever possible.
My English Composition 100 Class was really one of my favorite classes this semester. I was taking five so there were defiantly a few to chose from but this one i really enjoyed. In class we didn't always have to focus on our grammar while writing our professor just wanted up to write. He looked for more substance then the conventional teachers I have had. Because most of my old teachers only focused on grammar which i really struggle with, it really lled me to not enjoy writing anymore. But this class helped me turn that around and really enjoy it again. Hopefully my next English classes will be similar to this one. I hope you are doing well at Penn State and hopefully I’ll get to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Michelle King
Dear Danielle,
My first semester at Delco is going better than I thought it would. I enjoy all of my classes which I didn’t think would happen coming into college. Though one in particular definitely stands out from the rest and that would be my English Composition class. As you already know I have always dreaded writing because I am terrible at remembering all the little rules. But this class is different. We don’t do the conventional five paragraph essays or projects like in high school. My professor has a different way of approaching writing then I have ever experienced before.
The first few days of class after learning names and playing a few games we started to make websites. On these websites we would put all of the work we would be doing in class. I of course loved this because it lets me use my creativity and makes writing a little more interesting. We started writing in blog posts on our website each week. We would discuss what happened in class and what happened outside of class in each post. Personally this was very nice because we weren’t focusing on the grammar in what we were writing we were focusing on the substance. Doing this also gave me a way of talking about Colleen and what she is going through. It gave me a way to talk about what was happening without telling someone and feeling uncomfortable because I am upsetting them.
Other than just doing blog posts we also were given readings to go through each week. This is to help us focus on our reading process. We tried different ways of remembering what we read such as writing a summary next to each paragraph or drawing a picture next to a section. I am more of a visual learner so drawing the pictures helped me the most. I could probably still tell you what I read based on those pictures. We also looked at different types of writing through the readings we were given. In particular we focused mainly on showing and telling scenes. The reading that helped me understand this the most was Everyone Knew I Was Gay Except for my Brother. We also did a blog post where we described two different scenes using showing and telling. Once everyone had a firm grasp on the difference between showing and telling we moved on to looking at each of our writing processes. We did this while we began writing our Creative Nonfiction Essay so we could grasp what we do that helps or hurts our writing. We had many readings about writing process but the one that stood out to me the most was 6 ways to becoming a Hemingway level badass. In this reading it talks about the different steps in which Hemingway took to write. These steps were all listed and explained through the reading. We also did a blog post which mirrored Hemingway. We described the different steps we took in writing the first draft of our Creative Nonfiction Essay and described what didn’t. Before I pictured writing as this big daunting task where I didn’t even know where to start. Doing this blog post and breaking my writing down into steps made writing seem a lot less difficult. It also helped me figure out that handwriting outlines really helps to get my mind ready to write. And of course since I did procrastinate on finishing my draft it was a nice reminder that doing so is not a very good idea.
For the creative nonfiction essay we could either take a moment from the past month and describe it or talk about the entire month. For the past month the biggest thing going on was Colleen’s treatment so that is what I chose to write about. All of my blog posts were about her so it wasn’t very difficult to remember things to talk about. The only trouble I was having was with is the theme. Is the theme just cancer or the journey she went through to get better? I was just writing about what happened so I wasn’t quite sure and still am not. This makes me nervous because my professor said the theme is the most important thing in your writing. Of course it is. So as of right now I believe the theme is Colleen’s journey and that’s what I’m sticking with! Writing about what was going on with Colleen was difficult at times. It really brought up old feeling that i went through when first hearing her diagnosis. It also was a reminder that we still didn't know what was going to happen. Though at times it was difficult it did also really help me. It gave me a way to talk about what was going on and how i felt about it without feeling selfish. I would constantly feel like i was being a wimp when I wanted to talk about how her sickness was effecting me because she is the one fighting with cancer and isn't complaining at all. With my blog posts I was able to talk about all of this without feeling guilty.
Coming into the second semester instead of focusing on reflecting in our blog posts we began focusing more on news topics. Topics such as food, women's rights and Ebola. In class we began to watch short clips on different topics and write about them in our blog posts. We also watched a great movie called Food Inc. We began doing these things to help us find a topic for our I-Search Paper. After watching the movie Food Inc. i decided that was what i wanted to do my I-Search Paper on. I was shocked at how misinformed I was about where my food was coming from and wanted to know more.
There were a lot of different topics that go along with Food Inc. that I could have focused on. In the beginning i really anted to just go after the food companies and talk about everything they were doing wrong. I wanted to expose them for what they really were, a money hungry business. Though i wanted to do this is my essay i thought it would be bland if that was the only thing i talked bout so i decided to also focus on an alternative to big business food which is organic. My professor also gave me a great idea to talk about whether it was even possible for a average family to afford organic food every week. With all of this in mind i decided to begin my essay focusing on what companies were doing wrong then move into the alternative organic food. I would discuss whether organic food is actually better for you or not then move into my project where I would buy fifty dollar's worth of regular food and fifty dollars worth of organic food to see how much of each i would be able to get. The results i got were somewhat obvious because I knew i would get less organic food but. The part that was shocking was how much less i actually did get. I was able to get four loaves of regular bread for the same price of one natural whole wheat loaf. That's like having a sale of buy one get three free. Ridiculous! Also a gallon of organic milk was close to seven dollars!
The things that helped me during my writing was having all the research already done. Before i started writing I did a lot of research on organic food and made sure i had enough that I wouldn't have to go back and research again half way through my paper. This made writing a lot more fluid. I also really enjoyed going out and testing my topic in real life. This was actually really fun to do and opened my eyes to a lot of new food options. The only thing i wish i was able to do differently while writing this paper was have more time. Just as we started writing this paper I was starting my second job at Ups. I was still figuring out how to balance my time and make sure i had enough time to get everything done. I really cared about the topic of this paper and wanted it to be perfect. But in the end i found myself having to rush through it to get it done in time. This of course effected how good it was. Although my essay wasn't perfect and up to my highest standards it did help me to learn a lot. From writing this essay i will be taking away information that I will probably use for the rest of my life. It changed my perspective on food and from now on I will be trying to buy organic whenever possible.
My English Composition 100 Class was really one of my favorite classes this semester. I was taking five so there were defiantly a few to chose from but this one i really enjoyed. In class we didn't always have to focus on our grammar while writing our professor just wanted up to write. He looked for more substance then the conventional teachers I have had. Because most of my old teachers only focused on grammar which i really struggle with, it really lled me to not enjoy writing anymore. But this class helped me turn that around and really enjoy it again. Hopefully my next English classes will be similar to this one. I hope you are doing well at Penn State and hopefully I’ll get to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Michelle King