Evelyn Gooch

English Comp 111

28 April 2014

Table of Contents

1. 2 page Self-Assessment paper

2. Revision of my 1st paper, “Learning The Basics”

3. The original copy of “Learning The Basics”

4. One Sheet of Writing Critique

Self-Assessment Paper

I have learned a lot throughout this spring semester in English class. I have only had to

miss one class time, which was the very first class we had in English, so I really haven’t missed

much. I have made sure to complete in all class room assignments, as well as participate in class

room discussions and participate in exercises we would have as well. Just by participating and

being a part of classroom exercises, helped me understand the stories we were asked to read out

of the book, and it clarified the writing processes we were asked to write essays on as well.

When I bring up the clarification of the writing processes we went over, I take a look

back all the way to our first essay we had assigned to us; the Literacy Narrative. I remember

when I read and looked over the instructions on how to write a literacy narrative, I was extremely

confused and irritated. I was confused on how to go about and even how to start my literacy

narrative due to the fact that I have a terrible problem with remembering how I learned how to

read and write. I had to take a strong and deep look back onto my childhood. That paper was not

the easiest paper we have had. It was irritating at times, because even though I experienced this

time of my life, and I knew it was something I had learned from somewhere, I would get stuck

and forget some parts on how I became literate. It took some time and some deep, strong

thinking, but I eventually was able to write my first successful paper in the English class. It was a

much needed relief when I got on Jupiter grades and found out my grade, I would be extremely

satisfied with a B!

When it comes to the peer reviews, these not only helped my writing improve, it also

helped my grade improve as well. A, very, much needed 100 was what I was looking for

throughout the semester, so I made sure not to miss the peer review deadline. Of course, my last

peer review ever for the class had to mess up and I was a couple minutes too late turning it in, so

I had to settle with that grade, but it is okay. I learned by trial and error in this class. The peers

comments and marks on the paper were a great help for me to look back on when I would do my

final draft. I will even look back when I work on my revision. I really liked learning about the

turnitin.com website and jupitergrades website. These websites made it easier for me to know my

grad and for me to know when deadlines were. Helped keep me on point and organized.

The discussion Board posts were new to me. My first one I did not do too well on, but

like I said before; trial and error. I listened to what Ms. Jones would explain to us and read over

her e-mails she would send when it came to Discussion Board posts and I improved my writing

skills, when it came to summarizing and critiquing, extremely well. It took some practice and

with some stories I had to re-read the story over and over again, but I would eventually be able to

summarize and critique the authors work. It was not easy, but I made sure to participate and

complete all the ones the teacher asked us to complete.

By participating, listening and taking advice, I was able to become a much stronger

writer. I have learned how to cite sources and I have gotten a better understanding when it comes

to citing. Also, when it comes to criticizing someone else’s work, I have improved in this are

very much. That is just my opinion though. I believe that by just doing basic, simple things that

were asked of us to do in the class, it helped my grade.

I learned not to be afraid on what you write about. This happened on the last paper, our

Memoir; it was something very personal, and a very sensitive subject. I had a difficult time,

emotionally writing this, and I was not sure what to be 100 percent honest with when it came to

writing about this. The story is posted online anyways, but I forgot I mentioned a certain

someone’s name, so googling the teacher really got the full story, but I was surprised at the

outcome and how interested the teacher was in this Memoir I did. It definitely taught me I need

to strengthen in certain areas like confidence and security when writing personal paper; not to let

my emotions get the best of me, or there could be a “real story” out of it all.

Revision of “Learning the Basics”

Evelyn Gooch

Stacey Jones

English Comp 111

28 April 2014

Learning the Basics

I can remember at a very early age, picking out a handful of books right before bedtime,

struggling hard while carrying all of the books I had picked out for my mom to read to me. I

would sit curled up right against her and fall asleep in her bed. It’s one of my favorite memories I

have with reading. I would wake up the next morning, not knowing how I got there, but knowing

my mom must have carried me back to my room late after I had fallen asleep. I loved stories, and

I was always so interested and intrigued when it was “story time” at school or when someone

would read a book. The worse part about reading and writing was learning how to do it. It took

me, it seemed like, a century to learn how to read and write. There are good memories when it

comes to this and there are bad ones.

Looking back on the frustration and embarrassments I had when I would be called on by

my teacher to read something out loud in class, was not a fond memory. I remember when I

would be in class and the teacher would have each student read at least one paragraph from the

book. I would always be so stressed out and worried the whole time until it was my turn to read.

I would be so worked up, my heart would start beating non-stop, and my stomach was in knots

the whole time. I had a hard time paying attention to what others were reading out loud, so I

wasn’t learning anything. I mean figuratively all these negative emotions consumed me. The

only way out of these emotions was when the teacher would call my name and I would then read,

the whole time hoping and praying I wouldn’t get stuck with a word that the teacher or someone

else in class would have to help me with; so embarrassing. Those times were horrifying.

I struggled with sounding words out and I had to go to a speech therapist to get

my R’s and W’s right. I had a hard time differentiating between the two. My speech therapist

would hold up cards with words on them and I had to sound them out. This did help me

tremendously. I remember having an awful time with the word “fork” and the word “whale” or

“well.” Those are some specific words that troubled me the most. These are the words that have

stuck with me throughout all of the years.

However, there was one teacher in particular that taught me how to read and write. I will

never forget my teacher, Mrs. Lee. She was a family friend and the nicest, most gentle lady you

could ever meet. She was very soft spoken, patient with her students and made class time fun.

She interacted with her students and always had fun activities. I really enjoyed her class. She

had a reading section in her room where she would choose a student to pick out a book and she

would then reads it to us, as we all sat in a large circle around her. She took time and showed us

each picture as she read the story. It was always my favorite time of the day.

When it comes to writing the hardest part was cursive. I had such a hard time learning

cursive. It seemed like time went by so slow when I would have to write in cursive. It took me a

while to learn how to not pick up my pencil in between letters. I had just learned how to write in

plain print and now I had to start writing in another style and it got confusing. I definitely

struggled with this style of writing. The z’s, r’s, f’s, and j’s were the hard letters for me to write.

It took a lot of practicing and continuous writing of the same letter over and over again on one

piece of paper to learn how to do this.

I have an older sister, Jennifer. She was the oldest out of all four of us kids. She was

bossy towards all of us, and we listened and followed and did whatever Jennifer did. She was the

coolest one because she was the oldest one basically. I always looked up to Jennifer and wanted

to be like her. Even though she was bossy and mean to us most of the time, she was also very

protective toward us as well. She would yell at us and scream at us if we were not doing

something right or if she did not like what we were doing at the time she would get upset and

frustrated at us. She would not let anybody else yell at us the way she would yell at us, though.

She would stick up for us. Say we were in a fight or argument with our neighbor, or somebody

random. Jennifer would get on our side and she would not let anyone bully us around. She left

that up for herself to do. She wanted to make sure we were doing okay and helped us whenever

she could. She would help me with my homework when we would get home from school, and on

the weekends she would play school with us.

It would be my little sister, Barbara and me. Barbara was the youngest sibling,

and she just followed Jennifer and me around and did whatever we would do. Even though she

couldn’t do some of the things we could do, Barbara did play with us when we played school.

We had a playhouse in our yard, and it was what we called the “school house.” We had a dry

erase board, and we would use our homework we had assigned from our teachers in “real

school.” Jennifer would print off tests, and assignments for us to do. She would grade our work

and this was us having fun. For some reason its way more fun to play school rather than having

to actually go to school. It was a lot more fun for us.

Playing school with my sisters gave me more practice when it came to reading

and writing. The assignments and the little things we did when we played school helped me with

learning how to read and write. Jennifer had a few years on us, so she had already gone through

all of this, learning how to read write stuff, and that was why she was the “teacher.” It

contributed tremendously to my ability now to read and write. It also gives me great childhood

memories to look back on, because it was fun to us. We had the whole set up in our playhouse.

We had books and desks and the teacher’s desk was right by the small stand up dry erase board.

It looked like a real schoolroom. It was fun. And it helped me with “real school.”

When I look back on the experiences and emotions that came with learning how

to read and write, it all worked out. I went on and advanced to different grades and started

writing essay papers, started reading books that were smaller print, without pictures and more

than 100 pages. I was able to attend spelling bees in school and got close to winning some. When

I entered high school, I was selected to be in an advanced English class. Honestly, I never

thought I was any good, but someone thought I was.

Just recently I have started school back. This is my first year in college since I

graduated High School. Writing this paper shows me just how long being out of school can get in

the way and cause my writing skills to be lower than how they were when I graduated

highschool, especially myself. I’m a little “rusty,” to say the least. At any point I can always look

back on my experience when it comes to reading and writing and see how far I’ve come, even

when I feel like I’m not doing so well, I’m a whole lot better and advanced than when I had first

picked up my pencil for the first time, or first picked up a book to read for the first time.

Learning how to read and write is very crucial in one life. Almost everything we

do today involves some sort of reading or writing. Everyone should know how to read and write.

For example: needing to read and understand the signs that are on the side of the road,

warning/danger labels you need to be able to read and become aware of to prevent harmful

interactions, and being able to get an education; all of these things involve you needing to be able

to read and write at some sort of level. It’s required and very important. Without my experience

and other people there to help, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.

My teacher Mrs. Lee, my sister Jennifer, my speech therapist: all of these people

helped me in some way to learn how to read and write. The memories I have in my playhouse

were great memories. Playing school not only brought enjoyment and happiness to my life, but it

helped me advance and progress in my education. Without all of these people helping me I

wouldn’t be where I’m at today. Reading and writing, learning the basics, is something that is

taught and practiced. These people helped me tremendously with that.

Original Copy of “Learning the Basics”

Evelyn Gooch

Stacy Jones

English 111

10 February 2014

Learning the Basics

I can remember at a very early age, picking out a handful of books right before bedtime,

struggling hard while carrying all of the books I had picked out for my mom to read to me. I

would sit curled up right against her and fall asleep in her bed. It’s one of my most favorite

memories I have with reading. I would wake up the next morning, not knowing how I got there,

but knowing my mom must have carried me back to my room late after I had fallen asleep. I

loved stories, and I was always so interested and intrigued when it was “story time” at school or

when someone would read a book. The worse part about reading and writing was learning how

to do it. It took me, it seemed like, a century to learn how to read and write. There are good

memories when it comes to this and there are bad ones.

All the emotions that come out when you’re in the process of learning how to read and

write are incredible. It’s something I really had never thought about until I received this

assignment. Looking back on the frustration and embarrassments I had when I would be called

on by my teacher to read something out loud in class, was not a fond memory.

I remember when I would be in class and the teacher would have each student read at

least one paragraph from the book. I would always be so stressed out and worried the whole time

until it was my turn to read. I would literally be so wound up, my heart would start beating non-

stop, and my stomach was in knots the whole time. I had a hard time paying attention to what

others were reading out loud, so I wasn’t learning anything. I mean literally all these negative

emotions consumed me. The only way out of these emotions was when the teacher would call

my name and I would then read, the whole time hoping and praying I wouldn’t get stuck with a

word that the teacher or someone else in class would have to help me with; so embarrassing.

Those times were awful.

I struggled with sounding words out and I had to go to a speech therapist to get my R’s

and W’s right. I had a hard time differentiating between the two. My speech therapist would hold

up cards with words on them and I had to sound them out. This did help me tremendously.

But there was one teacher in particular that taught me how to read and write. I will never forget

my teacher, Mrs. Lee. She was a family friend and the nicest lady you could ever meet. She was

very patient with her students and made class time fun. She interacted with us kids and had fun

activities. I really enjoyed her class. She had a reading section in her room where she would

choose a student to pick out a book and she would then reads it to us, as we all sat in a large

circle around her. She took time and showed us each picture as she read the story. It was always

my favorite time of the day.

I think when it comes to writing the hardest part was cursive. I had such a hard time learning

cursive. It seemed like time went by so slow when I would have to write in cursive. It took me a

while to learn how to not pick up my pencil in between letters. I had just learned how to write in

plain print and now I had to start writing in another style and it got confusing. I definitely

struggled with this style of writing. The z’s, r’s, f’s, and j’s were the hard letters for me to write.

It took a lot of practicing and continuous writing of the same letter over and over again on one

piece of paper to learn how to do this.

I had an older sister, Jennifer. She was the oldest out of all four of us kids. She was bossy

towards all of us, and we listened and followed and did whatever Jennifer did. She was the

coolest one because she was the oldest one basically. I always looked up to Jennifer and wanted

to be like her. But even though she was bossy and mean to us most of the time, she was also

protective of us. She wanted to make sure we were doing okay and helped us whenever she

could. She would help me with my homework when we would get home from school and on the

weekends she would play school with us.

It would be my little sister, Barbara and me. Barbara was the youngest sibling and she

just followed Jennifer and I around and did whatever we would do. Even though she couldn’t do

some of the things we could do, Barbara did play with us when we played school. We had a

playhouse in our yard and it was what we called the “school house.” We had a dry erase board

and we would use our homework we had assigned from our teachers in “real school.” Jennifer

would print off tests, and assignments for us to do. She would grade our work and this was us

having fun. For some reason its way more fun to play school rather than having to actually go to

school. It was a lot more fun for us.

Playing school with my sisters gave me more practice when it came to reading and

writing. The assignments and the little things we did when we played school helped me with

learning how to read and write. Jennifer had a few years on us so she had already went through

all of this and that was why she was the “teacher.” It contributed tremendously to my ability now

to read and write. It also gives me great childhood memories to look back on, because it was fun

to us. We had the whole set up in our playhouse. We had books and desks and the teacher’s desk

was right by the small stand up dry erase board. It looked like a real schoolroom. It was fun. And

it helped me with “real school.”

When I look back on the experiences and emotions that came with learning how to read

and write, it all worked out. I went on and advanced to different grades and started writing essay

papers, started reading books that were smaller print, without pictures and more than 100 pages. I

was able to attend spelling bees in school and got close to winning some. When I entered High

School, I was selected to be in an advanced English class. Honestly, I never thought I was any

good, but someone thought I was.

Just recently I have started back school. This is my first year in college since I graduated

High School. Writing this paper shows me just how long being out of school can mess with

somebody, especially myself. I’m a little “rusty” to say the least. At any point I can always look

back on my experience when it comes to reading and writing and see how far I’ve come, even

when I feel like I’m not doing so well, I’m a whole lot better and advanced than when I had first

picked up my pencil for the first time, or first picked up a book to read for the first time.

Learning how to read and write is very crucial in one life. Almost everything we do today

involve some sort of reading or writing. Signs on the road while driving, warning/danger labels

you need to read and be aware, school and getting an education so you can get a career and be

successful in life. Everyone should know how to read and write. It’s very important. Without my

experience and other people there to help, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.

My teacher Mrs. Lee, my sister Jennifer, my speech therapist, all of these people helped

me in some way to learn how to read and write. The memories I have in my playhouse were

great memories. Playing school not only brought enjoyment and happiness to my life, but it

helped me advance and progress in my education. Without all of these people helping me I

wouldn’t be where I’m at today. Reading and writing, learning the basics, is something that is

taught and practiced. These people helped me tremendously with that.

Writing Critique

I feel like my best piece of writing that I submitted this semester in English would be the

informative report. Not only did I make the highest grade on this piece of writing, but it was the

easiest one for me to do as well. None of my strongest writing pieces would fall under the copies

I did for my rough draft, I spent and worked a lot more on all of my final piece of writings. I

made sure to select a topic that would not be a very boring or something that I could easily be

interested in writing and discussing about in my essay. I am the type of person that becomes

bored and tired with topics easily, so I had to pick “picky.” I watched video clips and an hour

long CNN news report on this painter con-man, Wolfgang Beltracchi. All together I understand

that I had some grammatical errors, but I feel like my final draft was the strongest one I have

written this semester. It is the most interesting one I have written as well.

My weakest piece of work would have to be my memoir. I feel like if I did not let my

emotions get in the way of my writing capabilities, then I could have written an awesome

memoir, and brought to life the devastation, and pain and misery, that year really and truly brings

me. I feel like I could have been more honest as well. I left out the way I found out about henry’s

death, because I did not want to be judged. My ideas for improvement would be to stand strong

and confident when writing something as personal and real as a memoir is to you. Be honest and

truthful not only with yourself but your audience you are writing to as well. Memoirs are not

make believe. I also feel like I need to be more detailed and have a wider vocabulary and use of

words when it comes to my writing capabilities. I need to work on strengthening my vocabulary

and my word choice.