1) Lydia’s story:
“Crouched there, she watched the water continue to rise. Her ceilings, she
knew, were 12 feet tall. The water rose to above her height, then to above six
feet, finally to about seven. Lydia waited, cramped on the top shelf of the linen
closet, until the water finally began to recede.” Page 130 para. 2
2) Proficiency
narrative: “How could I have screwed up writing? I surely spelled every
word correctly, used good grammar, and even used big words in proper context.
How could I have failed?” Paragraph 3
3) Lydia’s story:
“We were struck by the chemical odor of a cleaning solution so strong that it
seemed toxic. Coming from the hot humid weather outdoors, we found the inside
uncomfortably cold from air conditioning. The cackle of a television set was
the only sound.” Page 1 para 2
4) Brainstorming:
history day. Writing in second grade. Book reports. DBQ papers
5) Purpose: I am sharing this memory/story to fulfill and
assignment
6) Audience:
Readers are likely to share similar experiences since we are all students of
similar educations. I assume that I won’t have to explain much to help them
understand my perspective.
7) Stance: My
attitude towards this project is a bit self-critical because I’m not a big fan
of writing and I don’t usually get very good grades on my writing assignments.
8) media/design:
My narrative will be posted to my blog most likely without photos or
illustrations.
9) What do you see?
First I see my elementary school and myself writing cute little stories with colorful
illustrations that always got good grades. Then I see my middle school
transferring to a harder English class and struggling to write book reports and
history papers at such a high level.
10) What do you hear? I hear my teacher saying to my class
in only sixth grade that we are writing at a college level and that as
accelerated students, we are perfectly capable. However, in my own mind it was
hard for me to piece together my thoughts in a presentable way. Especially when
it came to history day papers that were being looked over by judges. She would also yell things all the time like "Don't change tenses!" while banging a stool on a desk to make us remember.
11) What do you smell? Ink pens?
12) what do you feel? I felt a little out of place and
nervous because I was in a new class with new people and it was much different
that the easy 100 percent I was used to getting in my standard level English classes.
Now I was going to have to work much harder and write full length essays that I
had never done before or understood how to do. I also felt anxious because I wanted
to do so well in the class and maintain and A.
13) What do you taste? Gum because I would always ask other
people for gum in class
14) Describing characters: My second grade teacher was an old slender woman who would
always praise my writing with little comments and smiley faces. She would always encourage her students to keep writing and improving. The in middle school my advanced English teacher was a crazy woman of slightly above average height and dark hair that fell across her forehead in short bangs. She liked to yell a lot for emphasis and she had this mentally crazy quality about her that is hard to describe. She would either be smiling or scowling and you never knew which it was going to be on any given day.
15) Dialogue:
Me: I really just don't understand this book report structure.
Friend: She did say that we are writing at a college level.
Me: how are we supposed to write at a college level when we just got out of a regular 6th grade English class! I've never written any thing this complicated in my life.
Friend: I guess you're just going to have to get used to it
Me: I've always been ok at writing but this, this just doesn't make sense.
16) Summarize what happened: By the time I got into 2nd grade I loved to write. I would write short stories in class and at home. My first year of middle school I was still doing well with my writing, getting good grades on my papers and feeling like I was pretty good at it. Then everything changed, I joined an advanced placement English and history class. I was so excited that I was doing so well in school that my teacher wanted to move me up to a more challenging class where I could really prove myself. Soon enough our first book report was assigned and my Easy Peasy world of effortless writing came crashing down. I took one look at the assignment and had no clue how I was going to structure my paper in the way my teacher wanted. I was shaking in my boots as soon as my Intimidating teacher announced to the class that we should be writing at a college level and that this advanced class shouldn't have a problem with it. College? Are you kidding me? I've only gotten half way through the 6th grade so I surely couldn't accomplish this. As time went on my mom would help me with my book reports and I would get good scores but It always remained a struggle to write this way on my own. This is when I realized how complex writing can be and as time went on it would only get harder for me.
17) Significance: This event is significant to me because it changed the way I felt about writing. I used to love to write because I thought I was good at it but as time went on it got more and more challenging for me to wrap my head around the structure of certain papers and to convey my message in a way that satisfied my teachers. From my last year of middle school on, I've been getting less than desirable grades on my papers and it made me have a certain distaste for writing in school.
