As we embarked in our first year English composition course, we explored the connections between writing, reading rhetoric and critical thinking. The professor had prepared for us an organized four phase workshop in which the topic was to engage and discuss the “Politics of Language”. The goal behind the topic of language was to explore what roles do language and literacy play within the U.S society. One of the most important purpose of this course was for us to understand the relationship between literacy and social differences in order to incorporate in our writing.

Phase 1 started with the introduction of various perplexing literature readings like “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, “Nobody Means More to me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan” by June Jordan and “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes, to name a few. We were instructed to write a personal narrative of a meaningful moment of a language or literacy experience. Once we had composed a draft, we shared our snapshots with a group of classmates and provided positive feedback on each other’s work. To wrap up incorporated a spoken version of our language and literacy essay and presented to the classroom.

For phase 2 we studied deeper into analyzing texts for their rhetorical features. We learned how to use the rhetorical analysis worksheet to further summarize two of the literature introduced to us in phase one including our own personal narrative. It was in this phase that we also learned how to create a cover letter and use it introduce our writing composition.

Now that we were extensively prepared, we started phase 3 and were ready to start our research paper. We choose a topic that underlined the influence of language and were instructed to search eight great sources that would support our argument. This was one of the longest and intense process of writing that required many hours of research. Once we had all the information needed it was time to put everything together using synthesis, precis and a lot of critical thinking. All the skills acquired since day one of this course allowed be to become a stronger writer and I learned many useful skills that allowed my writing to become more fluent and direct. I have always enjoyed writing, but I think after taking this course I found a new passion for cultural literacy that reflect with personal experiences. Most importantly I feel a lot more confident in my work and take away many tools that I will most definitely use through the rest of my college years.

Link to Self-Assessment Essay – Phase4.RachellePerez

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