Reflection 1 - Engagement
Not too long ago we began writing our Food Narratives and we had to research the food we wrote about. I spent a good chunk of time researching and trying to find out more about the food online. I also engaged with my family asking how they feel about the food and how it is properly prepared to meet expectations. I had to think about how this food is special to me and why it serves a higher purpose than any other food I enjoy. I feel like the big idea engagement helps with the writer to have a more personal connection to what they created. Without engagement my writing would have no substance to it and be really boring and dry. Engagement helps me get more involved with my writing and sometimes I can learn more things doing it.
Reflection 2 - Writing
Writing is everywhere and it has many forms of presenting itself. One person can use writing to publish a novel and someone else can use it for writing song lyrics in a notebook. Writing is mostly used to pass on information. Recently I used writing in class for one of my learning buffets and wrote about my experience of going to the Salt Lake Greek Festival, I shared details about what I did and learned from it. Me doing that is a form of writing and I was able to communicate to others through text. I can also express anything I want to with my writing being able to more comfortably rather than having to speak to a large group of people. Writing has been known to mankind for centuries now, dating all the way back to 3200 B.C.
Reflection 3 - Rhetoric
Rhetoric took me a while to understand and when I did I realized rhetoric is used for a lot of things. It helps the writer or creator find it's audience, an end goal, and tone. Rhetoric is pretty much everywhere, it's in commercials, shows, politics, etc. In class, I am writing my rhetorical analysis and I have to point out in my paper examples of ethos, pathos, and logos. Without rhetoric, readers who look at our work would be confused a lot of the time because you have to use different approaches to certain groups of people. For example, the way you talk to your friends is very different than the way you would talk to a kid in kindergarten. Ethos, pathos, logos can be used as good tools to also help you influence your audience a lot easier. Learning rhetoric will be a tool I can use my whole life to make my writing a lot better.
Reflection 4 - Action
When people want change in the world they most likely have to fight for it using action. Action in writing is a great tool for people to use to get their point across in an easy and understanding way. I'm using action in my English class for my civic engagement project, we pick a topic and talk about the change we want about it. I chose mine to be about how we need to make the education system more useful for students. Action can range from little things such as picking somewhere to eat with your family, to people like Martin Luther King Jr. fighting for equal rights. Action brings attention to things people stray away from or things at are a problem and no one seems to do anything about it. Action is the reason why the present is what it is today.
Reflection 5 - Deliberation
Deliberation can help you improve your writing by a lot because you look for many ways to deliver your thoughts and what you want the reader to take away from your writing. I am working on my civic engagement project right now and I am brainstorming ways to present my project with clarity and not make it just a boring power point that I read from. I really hate speaking in front of large groups so I looked for ways to present my project a different way so instead, I am making an info graphic for it. Using deliberation could also help you revise your work by always trying to find a way to make it even better than before. This could also be used if you are peer editing someone's work and want them to improve a lot more.
Reflection 6 - Contingency
Contingency can help your writing by giving it meaning to a cause you are writing about. I did my project in class about unhealthy eating and I thought of ways of how that my presentation could have more substance. If we aren’t writing to make sure our audience understands or writing to make sure our point gets across, the essay will ultimately fail. As a writer, it’s our job to effectively write a paper by addressing the audience, purpose, and context of the essay we’re writing. Doing all of this will create an effective essay the connects with the audience and leaves them with a strong impression.