• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

DISCOVERING THE STUDENT, DISCOVERING THE SELF ENGLISH 100 SPRING 2015 Department of English and Modern Languages Missouri Western State University Introduction: Dawn Terrick The essays that appear in this publication were selected by the English 100 Committee from submissions from English 100 students from the Spring and Fall 2014 semester. The criteria used to evaluate and select these essays included content, originality, a sense of discovery and insight on the part of the student writer, control of form, language and sentence construction and representation of the various types of assignments students are engaged in while in this course. ENG 100, Introduction to College Writing, is a developmental composition course designed for students who show signs of needing additional work on their college-level writing before starting the regular general education composition classes. In this course, students learn about and refine their writing process with a strong focus on the act of revision, engage in critical reading, thinking and writing and write both personal and text-based essays. ENG 100 prepares students for the rigors of college-level writing and introduces them to college expectations. It is our hope that these student essays reflect the struggle and the joy, the hard work and the rewards that these students have experienced both in their lives and in the classroom. Furthermore, these essays reflect the diversity of our English 100 students and the uniqueness of this course. Our students are entering college straight out of high school and are returning to the classroom after years of work and family, come from urban and rural areas, and represent different races and cultures. And this work is truly their work -- the committee has not made any revisions or corrections to the essays. And as you read, we hope that you will discover the same things that the students have discovered: during their first semester in college they are discovering themselves, realizing that they are part of many communities and defining themselves as individuals, students, scholars and citizens. English 100 Committee: Dawn Terrick, Director of Developmental Writing Dana Andrews Cynthia Bartels Stacia Bensyl Kara Bollinger Patricia Brost Bill Church Steve Frogge Brooksie Kluge Joe Marmaud Leanne Murray Beth Reinert Mary Stone Kristy Weiberg Director of Design and Layout Erin Seabolt Missouri Western State University Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism English 100 – Introduction to College Writing 2014-2015 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS A CHANGE OF HEART MY LITERACY AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY JAMELA GRIFFIN BY CHRISSY REEVES PG. 4 PG. 38 A CRY FOR HELP MY LOVE OF BOOKS BY PRINCE CHUCK MOSLEY BY CHRIS KELLEY PG. 6 PG. 40 A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE MY WATCHING COMPANION BY KENYA WILLIAMS BY SARAH BERTRAM PG. 8 PG. 42 AGAINST ALL ODDS OF ISOLATION BUT NOT DEFEAT BY SUSAN KIRSCH BY HALEY KIGHT PG. 10 PG. 44 CHOICES PAIN IS TEMPORARY BY ABBY LOWE BY JAMELA GRIFFIN PG. 12 PG. 46 DOWN AND OUT FOR 180 DAYS PICKING UP THE PIECES BY SARAH BURTON BY SARAH BURTON PG. 15 PG. 49 ENCOURAGEMENT VS DISCOURAGEMENT PICTURES TO WORDS BY SARAH BURTON BY TAMARA GRUBB PG. 17 PG. 51 THE EPISODES OF LIFE READING, WRITING AND BY SUSAN KIRSCH OTHER DISASTERS PG. 19 BY DEJA JENNINGS GENETIC TIME MACHINE PG. 53 BY PATRICK FLINT THE HOUSE THAT RAISED ME PG. 21 BY VICKI BRUSHWOOD GROWING UP WITH READING PG. 55 BY MON’TRA QUALLS-WOODS THE INTERSECTION PG. 23 BY DARIN MCCRACKEN HOW MY MOTHER HAS INFLUENCED MY LIFE PG. 58 BY VIOLA TOMA THE MALE IMAGE PG. 25 BY JAMELA GRIFFIN HOW WE GAIN LITERACY PG. 60 BY VIOLA TOMA THE NOT SO STORYBOOK LIFE PG. 27 BY DARIN MCCRACKEN IS SCHOOL REALLY WORTH THE EFFORT PG. 63 BY MON’TRA QUALLS-WOODS THE PLACE THAT MADE ME WHO PG. 30 I AM TODAY IT'S NOT MY FAULT BY KATIE KEAVENY BY DARIN MCCRACKEN PG. 65 PG. 32 THE STRUGGLE MOMMA MADE ME DO IT BY PRINCE CHUCK MOSLEY BY ALEXIA WILLIAMS PG. 68 PG. 34 THE VILLA RIDGE CASTLE MY BOOKS, MY ESCAPE BY ROBERT SCHARFENBERG BY BRODERICK TATE PG. 70 PG. 36 ABOUT THE AUTHORS PG. 71 3 A Change of Heart Jamela Griffin The majority of children in today’s society don’t know how to read. It’s not that children don’t know how to read, but that they can’t comprehend what they read. You can read a book and still not know what the story was about. Children who grow up in homes where books and reading aren’t heavily enforced struggle with this often. This leaves a big impact on their ability to strive in school. Teachers make learning harder for these students by providing learning material that doesn’t catch the interest of the child. In the story of “The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriguez, he proves that you can read a lot to gain knowledge, but still not comprehend the reading. Just like Rodriguez, I had trouble comprehending the reading until I got the help I needed to understand. Parents don’t encourage their children to read in the homes which causes the child to not know the importance. Growing up, reading was not enforced and was only done for homework and at school. My parents didn’t keep books around the house. We had all magazines of all kinds like Vibe, XXL, Ebony, People, and Vogue. I would look at the magazines for all the pictures and ads. My parents did not look at them and would always let me rip them up. The only reading my parents did is when they had a bill or something to sign, or to help me with my homework. Rodriguez parents didn’t enforce reading in his home growing up either. He expressed, “For both my parents, however, reading was something done out of necessity and as quickly as possible” (293). Both Richard and my parents only read when they had to and didn’t give us the importance of reading as a child. If I had the knowledge of the importance of reading as a child more, I would have cherished reading more. At a young age both Rodriguez and I had awful experiences with reading. In 1st grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Spider. She was an old wrinkled white lady, with a distinctive voice that was low. She was mean too. During story time, everyone had a copy of the short stories she was reading. We would popcorn read around the class which is when the teacher picks a person randomly to read. I didn’t talk much in the class so when she picked me to read I would read slowly and stumble on my words. The other kids would laugh and Mrs. Spider would get mad because she thought I was trying to be funny. This made me embarrassed to read and I didn’t like to read for a long time. And I stuck to not liking to read. In 6th grade, reading was a little more enforced. We picked a chapter book of our choice. We had to read for homework and write down how many minutes we read for homework and each week after completing a chapter we right a summary on each chapter. Then we had a book report about the whole book after we were finished. Doing my summaries, my English teacher noticed I needed help because I could never really give a full understanding of what happened in each chapter. She made me take a reading test called the SRI and my score was low. I was put in a class called Literary Skills to help me with reading. Everyday going to the class I would be angry. Why am I in this class? I can read words I thought to myself. I would not accept that fact that I had problems reading. Rodriquez had similar complications with reading such as I did. Rodriguez reveals, “I needed to look up whole paragraphs of words in a dictionary. Lines of type were dizzying, the eye having to move slowly across the page, then down, and across….” (294). Rodriguez later declared, “Shortly after, remedial reading classes were arranged for me with a very old nun” (294). We both were put into a reading class to get the help we needed. It was only for the good because we needed to get the skills of reading. My Literary Skills teacher did a satisfying job on teaching me to improve my reading just like the nun that helped Rodriguez. Her name was Mrs. Smith, an older lady but had a kind, loving heart. She gave the students a lot of personal and one on one time. During our one on one time in the back corner of the class room, she gave me a book to read to her out loud. Reading the book I read slow and still stumbled my words and when I came to words I didn’t know, I would skip over. She stopped me and told me when I came to words I didn’t know use a dictionary. She would sometimes read to me with fluency and when she read she made it seem as she was the character telling the story. Rodriguez had a nun he met with after school every day for 6 months to read in a small storage like room. During the sessions they had together, they would take turns reading. Rodriguez revealed, “Playfully she ran through complex sentences, calling the words alive with her voice, making it seem 4 that the author somehow was speaking directly to me” (294).

Load more

  73

Copy Link