2 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 2

                Since class was cut short last Thursday, beginning Project 2 was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I was ready to have a good explanation for Project 2 by the professor in class; however class did not go as planned.  Therefore, for the most part I was on my own for the paper.  I read over the description the professor posted on Sakai about ten to fifteen times.  Still, I was a bit confused as to what I should be writing in my paper.  However, after thinking it through, reading the Field Guide chapter associated with the project, and talking to a classmate, I think I have figured it out.  If I have not gotten across the right points in my paper, the peer editing sessions will direct me on the right track.  Therefore, I am not too worried about my paper yet.

1 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 2

                Before getting started with Project 2, the class was assigned to read three different articles.  One was an article about abortion, the second was an article about Martin Luther King, and the third was an article about Evolution.  We were to read each article carefully for a class discussion.  Unfortunately, the class discussion did not end as well as was hoped to.  I knew I wanted to write about the abortion article because my feelings towards abortion are very strong.  I read that article in detail, while underlining important pieces and writing side notes.  However, the other two articles did not interest me as much therefore I did not read them as carefully as I should have.  I feel as though a large portion of the class was in the same boat as me and that is why the class discussion did not go as planned.  Luckily, the professor was nice enough to give our class a second chance to read the articles carefully so that we could have a better discussion the next class.  I will be sure to read the articles as carefully as I read the abortion article.  I am curious to see how well the discussion goes on Tuesday.

Project 2

Danielle Silva

Professor M. MacKnight

WRT104

27 February 2011

Project 2: Analyzing a Text

In the article, “Abortion, Right and Wrong”, Rachel Richardson Smith, a student of theology, explains her views on abortion.  Rachel is not for abortion; however she is not against abortion either.  She, among many other people, stands in the middle between pro-life and pro-choice.  Throughout this article, she explains the pros and cons of each topic.  The people who put themselves on the pro-life side sometimes become a bit too overwhelming with their “scare tactics”.  Also, many of the people involved with anti-abortion campaigns are usually on the religious side.  Therefore, they follow these reasoning’s simply because of their religion.  Rachel explains that she leans towards the pro-life side because she simply does not like the idea that abortion is “the taking of human life”.  However, she feels as though our society needs to figure out the “value of human life”.  She explains that in our society abortion seems to be such a big deal because one is taking the life of someone who is not even born yet.  On the other hand, we seem to have no problem taking the life of a person who is born and grown in ways like “self-defense, the death penalty, and war”.  Overall, the author of the article feels as though she cannot take side.  She could never come to terms with herself to agree that abortion is a good idea, however, she also feels as though in some circumstances woman need the choice.

The way the author writes the article brings upon new ideas towards abortion.  Everyone seems to think they either need to be pro-life or pro-choice and there cannot be any in-between.  However, Richardson Smith explains her view in a new and interesting way.  She explains, “Even as I refuse to pass judgment on other women’s lives, I weep for the children who might have been”.  Taking a side to be against or for abortion is a confusing thought for the author.  There are so many different ways to look at each argument.  The author shows and explains each side perfectly and creates a new category which she explains as, “I find myself in the awkward position of being both anti-abortion and pro-choice”.  I feel as though a lot of people are unaware of this feeling and they themselves would feel this way after reading this article.

Abortion, Right and Wrong, explains and interprets each side of abortion so well, however makes the reader realize there is no right or wrong answer to abortion.  When one reads Richardson Smith’s article, first one agrees with the first side she is explaining and then one agrees with the other side, left with confusion.  However, when done reading the entire article, after thinking for a few minutes, it is concluded that there may not be a one side the reader can agree with.  It leaves one with feeling pros and cons on the pro-life side and pros and cons on the pro-choice side.  The author then explains how abortion is definitely not the right answer, however sometimes it depends on the circumstance.  She explains, “What many people seem to misunderstand is that no woman wants to have an abortion.  Circumstances demand it; women do it”.  She is illuminating how abortion is erroneous, however, in some cases with explanation it can be an understandable situation.

Personally, I feel as though this article opened up so many new ideas and feelings towards abortion.  Before reading and examining the text, I was felt very strongly about abortion.  Pro-life was my definite choice.  No matter how many times people tried to explain and convince me that pro-life was not the best way to go, I always stuck with it.  The reasoning behind the fact that I am was an anti-abortionist was simply because of the way I was brought up.  Coming from a religious family, my thoughts towards abortion were always evil.  Even as Rachel explains in her writing, “The pro-life groups, with their fundamentalist religious attitudes, have a fear and an abhorrence of sex, especially premarital sex”.  Thinking through the pros and cons of each side of abortion was never really a question in my mind.  Because of the way I was brought up, I simply always thought abortion was one hundred percent wrong.

Although I still do not agree with abortion, as I never will, the article brings up various exceptional points that I can cope with.  The way she states she is both anti-abortion and pro-choice is very appealing to me.  Thinking deeply into the subject never was a thought for me.  The author thought deeply for me in her text by allowing myself to read it.  Realizing many new ideas from the article, one thing I will do differently simply because of the reading is cut back on judgment.  Usually if anyone was associated with the word abortion, I immediately judged in a way I should not.  Unless I know the story behind one who has gone through this loss of self-respect situation, I will not put a negative title on anyone.  This text showed me, among many other things, not to feel so strongly about being so anti-abortion.  I’m sure many other pro-life men and women would conclude to feeling the way I do because of Rachel Richardson Smiths article, Abortion, Right and Wrong.  In the end of the article she states, “I suspect I am not alone”.  She is most definitely not alone, seeing as I agree with her explanations and interpretations towards abortion completely.

Summary of Abortion Article

Danielle Silva

Professor M. MacKnight

WRT 104

23 February 2011

Summary of Abortion Article

In the article, “Abortion, Right and Wrong”, Rachel Richardson, a student of theology, explains her views on abortion.  Rachel is not for abortion; however she is not against abortion either.  She, among many other people, stands in the middle between pro-life and pro-choice.  Throughout this article, she explains the pros and cons of each topic.  The people who put themselves on the pro-life side sometimes become a bit too overwhelming with their “scare tactics”.  Also, many of the people involved with anti-abortion campaigns are usually on the religious side.  Therefore, they follow these reasoning’s simply because of their religion.  Rachel explains that she leans towards the pro-life side because she simply does not like the idea that abortion is “the taking of human life”.  However, she feels as though our society needs to figure out the “value of human life”.  She explains that in our society abortion seems to be such a big deal because one is taking the life of someone who is not even born yet.  On the other hand, we seem to have no problem taking the life of a person who is born and grown in ways like “self-defense, the death penalty, and war”.  Overall, the author of the article feels as though she cannot take side.  She could never come to terms with herself to agree that abortion is a good idea, however, she also feels as though in some circumstances woman need the choice.

5 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 1

                After the peer editing session during class, I felt a lot better about my paper.  Before the session I was not feeling very confident at all about my literacy narrative.  However, after reading it and getting feedback from my editors, my feelings changed.  The feedback I got was mostly positive and I just needed to add a little more detail to my paper.  When I got back to my dorm to fix my paper on my computer, I first sat down with an extra copy of my first draft.  I then went through the entire thing, making my own corrections, and adding in the detail where I wanted to add it in. This made it a lot easier for me when I pulled my literacy narrative up on my computer.  I could use my hard copy of my paper to pin point exactly where I needed to add detail on the computer.  Before all of this, I was a bit nervous mine wasn’t going to get to three pages.  However, once I started adding all the detail in, three pages came quickly.  I am very thankful for the peer editing session we had in class because it really helped me to make my paper a lot better than it was.  After adding everything I needed and wanted to into my paper, I re-read it for the last time.  I am feeling very happy with my final product, which I did not think I would ever feel.

4 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 1

                Peer editing groups scare me sometimes and knowing it will be happening in class makes me nervous.   I have very low self esteem when it comes to my writing skills.  I have never been one to volunteer to read any paper I have written aloud nor do I ever want to.  When put into peer editing groups, I get very uncomfortable when allowing others to read my paper.  I always think they are going to be thinking how bad my paper is or they will get bored of reading it.  In class the other day when we were put into editing groups, I became very uneasy about the thought.  We were put into groups of threes.  After that, I found out the other two girls in my group were going to be editing my paper first.  Feeling more anxious and nervous, the professor then told us the writers would read their story aloud while the editors read along, making corrections.  Sarcastically, I thought, this must be my lucky day.  However, when I began reading my paper, surprisingly I really liked the way it sounded.  Before this, I thought my paper was terrible.  Reading it out loud made me think the opposite.  It also helped me to pick out the things I wanted to change in it.  I thought I was going to hate the aspect of peer editing in this class, but now I think that it really helped.

Literacy Narrative final

Danielle Silva

14 February 2011

WRT 104-27

M MacKnight

Literacy Narrative

            Senior year of high school is always thought of as the best year.  Ever since entering high school, I could not wait to become a senior.  It’s the year where one can finally relax and simply worry of what college they will be attending or what they will be exploring for the rest of their life.  For most high school students, senior year was a walk in the park.  However, for me, it was the most challenging year of all.  The classes that I had chosen for my senior year were not strenuous; it was simply the high school that I attended which made the year stressful.  In Rhode Island each public high school has specific graduation requirements.  One of the graduation requirements at my high school, Narragansett High School, was a senior project.  Senior project consisted of a presentation of one’s project, a portfolio, and a research paper.  It seemed as though senior project was a breeze for me except when it came down to writing the research paper.

            The very first day of my senior year every student in the senior class was assigned a senior research project.  Choosing a topic was difficult at first, however once I figured my topic out my project became more of a fun activity than an arduous assignment.  After thinking long and hard for a few days, the decision was made that I would run a half marathon for my senior project.  Relieved to have finally chosen a project, lurking in the back of my mind was the fact that I would have to write an eight to twelve page research paper on a topic which would be related to running.  Thinking about the paper made my palms sweat and head ache.  The next few weeks in school I researched topics that would work well with my project.  As I sat in front of one of many computers in my schools uncomfortably hot and muggy library, which did not help my situation, frustration came over me as I could not choose a topic that I knew I could write a well written paper on.  After staring at my computers screen and getting distracted by the millions and millions of shelves of books, finally, my school librarian, Mrs. Good, noticed my aggravation and she decided to sit down to the left of me and talk to me about the stress of my project that I was dealing with.  She grabbed a piece of computer paper from the printer and snatched the red pen that was stuck in her hair to help me come up with a list of topics for my paper.  After coming up with a short but good list, she helped me to make my final decision so I could finally get rolling on my paper.  After discussing topics with Mrs. Good, I felt so confident that my paper was going to be awesome and make my senior year a little less stressful than it already was.

            The next month of my senior year was completely dedicated to my senior research paper.  When my school librarian helped to come up with a topic, it was finally decided that my paper topic would be how nutrition enhances the performance of a long distant runner.  Not only did I think this would be an interesting topic to write about, I knew it would also benefit me because I would be running a half marathon.  Before writing my paper, I was to complete note cards that would map out the outline of my paper.  On each four by six note card was information from my research that had to do with my topic and an explanation of each fact. Every time I was forced to write these dreadful note cards, it made me cringe.  Hearing the word “note card” instantly gave me a headache.  However, knowing I had these note cards that I knew would delineate my entire paper left me feeling confident also.  The moment I finally reached the requirement for the note cards, excitement came over me because I knew I would never have to write another horrendous note card again and I was finally ready to get started on my paper. “Research paper” was another word which instantly gave me a headache.  However, as much as I despised writing papers, I tried to be enthusiastic about this one because it was a factor which would decide whether I would graduate or not.  Each day I would find time during and after school to type my paper, whether it be writing my paper in my schools hot, dull library or finding time at home where I would get distracted by the bright pink walls and long curtains in my bedroom.  Either way, all I was thinking about was reaching the deadline for when the paper was due and not so much what I should have been worried about.  In reality, I should have been concerned with the content that was going into this paper which would decide if I would graduate high school or not.

            Finally, December 1, 2010 rolled around and it was time to turn in my ten page research paper and never have to think about it ever again.  Being a National Honor Society student, reaching proficiency on this paper was not an issue that crossed my mind.  Little did I know, I should have been a bit more cautious and apprehensive about the material going into this.  A week later, in my senior English class, my paper was handed back to me.  My English class was a room that always brought happiness into my school day which obtained bright lights and always smelled of my teacher, Ms. Burns’, coco butter lotion.  However, happiness would not be a word to describe the setting this time.  All I could look at was the big red mark on the top of the paper that read, “not proficient”.  My palms began to sweat and I became red and hot in the face as my eyes were glued to the horrid words.  Questions raced through my mind at the speed of light.  Was this a mistake? How could I have not met proficiency? What did I do wrong?  After I had calmed myself down a bit I decided I would go talk to my English teacher after class.  Nervous, I awaited as every student is my class exited the room.  I slowly crept to Ms. Burns’ desk where she was neatly jotting down words into her agenda. With my paper in hand, I asked her about the ugly red mark.  She confirmed that the paper was indeed not proficient.  Quickly, I rushed out of the classroom and into the empty hallway.  I was tempted to run back into my English teacher’s room crying and begging for her to change the grade.  After sulking about my un-proficient paper for a day, I realized I needed to take action.  I had never been one to look over my papers, re-read them, make corrections, fix them, and then hand them in.  However, I had a bad feeling this was going to have to take place.  That day after school I sat myself down, segregated from noise and distractions, in front of my paper at my schools library, stared at the first page of the paper for a while, and thought I was never going to pass this.  Again, my helpful and courteous school librarian, Mrs. Good, noticed my frustration.  Even though she is always telling the students she has a busy schedule and not much time for help, she knew I needed her help.  She knew I was a well-rounded student who had come across a stump in my path.  Being so thankful I decided that since Mrs. Good was going to put in all this effort for me, I needed to give 100 percent back.  From that day on out, every day after school, no matter how much I dreaded it, Mrs. Good would tell me to make the corrections in the paper that I thought needed to be done and then she would make hers.  After this, I would open my research paper on the computer and make those corrections, print the paper out, and repeat the correction process until there was not one little, tiny, stupid red mark on my paper.

Reading the words “proficient” on my senior project research paper was one of the most proud moments of my senior year.  Not only was I proud because I had actually and finally reached proficiency, but I was also proud of how far I had come.  This paper made me realize the effort I am capable of and I am capable of producing something wonderful because I now understand what it takes to get to proficiency.  Writing this paper truly changed the way I go about writing papers in the present and how I will write them in the future.  Still, I may not be the greatest writer there is, however, I now know that if I keep working at it, I can eventually produce a writing piece that will be proficient and one that will leave me feeling proud.

3 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 1

                During the first and second weeks of classes, there had been a lot of snow.  Due to the snow, URI cancelled classes a few times.  Because of the weather conditions, writing 104 had been cancelled the whole second week of classes.  Until this past week, the writing class had only taken place on the first day.  Therefore, I was to live through the class and find out my assignments through Sakai.  One of our assignments that was explained through Sakai was the literacy narrative.  I was a little bit nervous when I figured out we were going to have to write this paper without going to class and having it explained to us thoroughly.  However, I knew I would have to write the paper regardless.  Going from what I thought we should write the paper on, I wrote my literacy narrative.  I then found out we were going to have an extra day in class where the professor would go into detail about the paper and the peer editing process.  This made me feel a lot better about handing in and having people review my literacy narrative.  Although I did have to go back into my paper and adjust a few key concepts, I think I did well writing my paper without a detailed explanation from the professor.

2 of 5 Independence Process Blog for Project 1

                When I first sat down to write my literacy narrative I thought it was going to be very difficult to write two pages for the draft.  Stressful thoughts aroused in my mind as I was sitting in front of the computer screen.  I knew exactly what I wanted to write about I just had no idea how to start the process.  As I began writing my first sentence I got about four words down and realized I didn’t like how it sounded and I started over.  After repeating this process about three times, I finally came up with something that I could be content with.  Writing the intro paragraph took me such a long time that I almost thought of coming up with another topic to write about.  However, I figured since I had already gotten this far I might as well try and write a decent paper about a challenging paper I had to write in high school.  Just as I almost gave up I began writing about my actual story of what I faced when writing this challenging paper.  Surprisingly I had no problem doing so and I found myself unable to stop typing.  I was so happy that I could produce an ample amount of writing on the topic that I had chosen.  I even found myself trying to cut pieces out of the paper because I didn’t want to make it too long for the draft.  I wanted to leave space to see what others thought about my paper and see what they thought I should add to it.  Overall, I was so happy with my ending result of my literacy narrative which was so great seeing as I had felt very unconfident at the beginning.

1 of 5 Independent Process Blog

                As I was reading through The Norton Field Guide to Writing, Portfolio Keeping, and The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers while thinking about ideas to write about for Project 1, a lot of good thoughts came to mind.  At first, I wanted to write about something interesting that would excite other readers.  However, as I got to thinking I realized I could not come up with something overly exhilarating that has happened in my life related to reading or writing.  I then decided I wanted to write about something that nobody else would write about so my paper would be a little different.  Yet again, I could not come up with anything.  It seemed as though all my ideas were dull and predictable.  After that, I wanted to write about a moment I went through as a child so that I could bring myself back to my childhood.  I figured it would be interesting to describe myself as a child and also bring in my story of how I began to read.  After making a list and thinking for a good amount of time, I finally decided I would write about something that was important to me and meant a lot to me.  I decided my literacy narrative would be on a challenging paper I had to write in high school.  It changed the way I felt about my writing and how to be more cautious with my writing.  Although my idea may not be extremely exciting or unique, it still means a lot to me.

Literacy Narrative

Danielle Silva

2 February 2011

WRT 104-27

M MacKnight

Literacy Narrative

            Senior year of high school is always thought of as the best year.  It’s the year where one can finally relax and simply worry of what college they will be attending or what they will be exploring for the rest of their life.  For most high school students, senior year was a walk in the park.  However, for me, it was the most challenging year of all.  The classes that I had chosen for my senior year were not strenuous; it was simply the high school that I attended.  In Rhode Island each public high school has graduation requirements.  One of the graduation requirements at my high school, Narragansett High School, was a senior project.  Senior project consisted of a presentation of one’s project, a portfolio, and a research paper.  It seemed as though senior project was a breeze for me except when it came to writing the research paper.

            The very first day of my senior year every student was assigned a senior project.  Choosing a topic was difficult at first, however once I figured my topic out my project became more of a fun activity than an arduous assignment.  The decision was made that I would run a half marathon for my senior project.  Lurking in the back of my mind was the fact that I would have to write an eight to twelve page research paper on a topic which would be related to running.  The next few weeks in school I researched topics that would work well with my project.  Frustration came over me as I could not choose a topic I knew I would be able to write a well written paper on.  Finally, my librarian, Mrs. Good, noticed my aggravation one day and she decided to talk to me.  She helped me to come up with my topic so I could finally get rolling on my paper.  After discussing topics with Mrs. Good, I felt so confident that my paper was going to be awesome and make my senior year a little less stressful.

            The next month of my senior year was completely dedicated to my senior research paper.  When my school librarian helped to come up with a topic, it was finally decided that my paper topic would be how nutrition enhances the performance of a long distant runner.  Not only did I think this would be an interesting topic to write about, I knew it would also benefit me because I would be running a half marathon.  Before writing my paper, I was to complete note cards that would map out the outline of my paper.  On each note card was information from my research that had to do with my topic and an explanation of each fact. Knowing I had these note cards that I knew would delineate my entire paper left me feeling confident also.  Once I finally reached the requirement for the note cards, I was ready to get started on my paper.  Each day I would find time during and after school to type my paper.  All I was thinking about was reaching the deadline for when the paper was due and not so much what I should have been worried about.  In reality, I should have been concerned with the content that was going into this paper which would decide if I would graduate high school or not.

            Finally, December 1, 2010 rolled around and it was time to turn in my ten page research paper and never have to think about it ever again.  Being a National Honor Society student, reaching proficiency on this paper was not an issue that crossed my mind.  Little did I know, I should have been a bit more cautious and apprehensive about the material going into this.  A week later, in my senior English class, my paper was handed back to me.  All I could look at was the big red mark on the top of the paper that read, “not proficient”.  Questions raced through my mind at the speed of light.  Was this a mistake? How could I have not met proficiency? What did I do wrong?  After I had calmed myself down a bit I decided I would go talk to my English teacher after class.  She confirmed that the paper was indeed not proficient.  After sulking about my un-proficient paper for a day, I realized I needed to take action.  I was never one to look over my papers, re-read them, make corrections, fix them, and then hand them in.  However, I had a bad feeling this was going to have to take place.  That day after school I sat myself down in front of my paper at my schools library, stared at the first page of the paper for a while, and thought I was never going to pass this.  Again, my school librarian, Mrs. Good, noticed my frustration.  Even though she is always telling the students she has a busy schedule and not much time for help, she knew I needed her help.  She knew I was a well-rounded student who had come across a stump in my path.  Being so thankful I decided that since Mrs. Good was going to put in all this effort for me, I needed to give 100 percent back.  From that day on out, every day after school Mrs. Good would tell me to make the corrections in the paper that I thought needed to be done and then she would make hers.  After this, I would open my research paper on the computer and make those corrections, print the paper out, and repeat the correction process until there was not one red mark on my paper.  Reading the words “proficient” on my senior project research paper was one of the most proud moments of my senior year.  Writing this paper truly changed the way I went about writing more papers in the future.  Still, I may not be the greatest writer there is, however, I now know that if I keep working at it, I can eventually produce a writing piece that will be proficient.

List of ideas for Proeject 1

1) Early memory about reading: When I was in first grade at my elementary school we had reading levels.  Each week we had to read a certain amount of books and the teacher would observe our reading to decide whether we could move up a level or we still needed to work on our skills.  I was always excited to keep reaching further and to get up to the highest level and this made me excited about reading.

2) Someone who taught you to read: When I was young, my mother always read a book to me each night before I went to sleep. She would switch off between a few books until I started to learn them and then I would eventually read the book to her before I went to sleep.

3) A writing task found challenging: Senior year in high school I was to write a senior research paper.  My writing skills aren't the greatest and I had difficulty with the paper at first. I did not reach proficiency and therefore I had to keep working at it to make it better and better until I finally had a proficient paper.

4) Origins of attitudes about reading & writing: Reading; I used to love reading as a child and even in middile school, but as I got older and the books got more challenging I lost my interest in reading.  I can truly only read and comprehend a book if I enjoy the book. Writing; I like writing more than most academic assignments, however has not always been my strongest quality and therefore I sometimes struggle with writing.