Author: Caroline

At the start of this course, we were introduced to five course outcomes that would be developed throughout the semester. The first is to compose texts in multiple genres, using multiple modes. This was achieved over the course of the semester with the progression of our Literacy Narrative as well as the various sketch assignments we completed. While most of our writing consisted of creative writing in narrative form, we also analyzed autobiographies such as Stitches and Spinning, which are nonfiction. Our literacy narrative started out as an alphabetic narrative, then we transformed it into a comic, and then back into an alphabetic narrative. This process was unique to anything else I have experienced in any English class due to the fact that it required me to consider which images would be most effective to tell the story of my narrative. I found that I was able to express more emotions with the use of images. I took a different approach from the rest of my peers and used entirely photographs instead of drawings, which in hindsight definitely limited my ability to express my narrative fully. If I had the opportunity, I would go back and recreate my comic with drawings and compare the two to determine which one was more effective in telling the story. Translating the comic back into an alphabetic narrative helped me make my writing more cohesive. The progression of the literacy narrative was essential in fulfilling the third course outcome as well: to practice writing as a process, recursively implementing strategies of research, drafting, revision, editing, and reflection. Having the opportunity to compose and edit multiple drafts of our narratives, with feedback from peers, allowed us to produce our best work by the end of the semester. Our growth throughout the course can be represented by the progression of our literacy narrative, and can be symbolized by the growth of a plant. We all started with a simple foundation of dirt, and at the beginning of the course we had five seeds planted in our brains – the five course outcomes. The readings and various assignments we completed throughout the semester are symbolic of water and sunlight. The multiple drafts of the literacy narrative are representative of the plant growing over time, until it eventually blooms into a flower. Writing in multiple genres and both the alphabetic and comic form allowed me to be creative in the writing process and express my writing in different ways.

The weekly sketch assignments were essential for our growth throughout the course, as it helped us build up to writing our own comic – literacy narrative part two. In the earlier weeks of the course, we started with a singular panel comic. We increased to two, then three, then four panels. This process increased our comfortability with writing comics and what stylistic choices to make depending on the length of the comic. Other sketch assignments, such as the Visual Note Taking sketch assignment, have helped me outside of this course and will continue to do so in the future. For this specific sketch, we were instructed to take our notes from another class, and turn them into visual notes. I used my biology notes for this assignment, and found the visual note taking strategy to be extremely effective in enhancing my understanding of the content. I continued to utilize visual note taking outside of this specific assignment as a study strategy. 

The next course outcome is to summarize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the ideas of others as we undertake scholarly inquiry in order to produce our own arguments. This was achieved throughout the various texts we read throughout the year, including works by Hillary Chute and six comic books. Each book fell under the theme of trauma and healing, however every book varied in artistic style and literary expression. We had multiple assignments throughout the year to compare texts, such as the Tracing Pages and Halfa Kucha assignments. The Tracing Pages assignment gave us the opportunity to compare the artistic styles of two authors. We presented our argument in both a written and visual form by retracing the panels and analyzing the use of images and text throughout both books. When comparing the two storytelling styles in the assignment, I argued that “David Small uses more dialogue and sound effects throughout his novel, as opposed to Tillie Walden who consistently utilizes narration in order to tell her story. While Walden’s illustrations were descriptive and powerful, her narration was the more significant aspect of her storytelling. In contrast, Small included less narration and utilized his illustrations to leave the reader to interpret his story. Oftentimes, Small would have an extensive number of pages with solely illustrations, and no text or dialogue”. Assignments like this one forced us to not only take the writing into account, but the visual aspect as well. Through analysis of the dialogue and visuals, we composed arguments regarding the central themes of the books, as well as the emotions the author intended to convey. In contrast, the Halfa Kucha assignment was presented in an oral presentation format. These varying assignments allowed us to pose our arguments in a multitude of different ways, which will be helpful for other classes moving forward.

The last two course outcomes are specific for our specific class: demonstrate collaborative skills in classroom discussion and while working together on projects and presentations; and use technology rhetorically and appropriately, and engage responsibly in online spaces. The nature of the class was very collaborative, especially as a result of the small class size (16 people). As the semester progressed, our class became increasingly comfortable with one another and with expressing our ideas. I for one am very shy in nature and felt nervous to speak up in class discussions, but as the course advanced, I grew comfortable enough to make points in discussions. The utilization of websites in this course aided in collaboration and technology use. I had never made my own website before this class but now I feel comfortable in navigating the process of creating and maintaining my own website. This will be helpful in the future should I ever need to create my own website for my career. We had access to each other’s websites via our teacher’s website, therefore we were able to see each other’s work and offer feedback. The website format of our class allowed for easy collaboration and ability to give feedback on each other’s work. 

As the semester comes to an end, the compilation of my work is representative of my growth as a writer over the duration of this course. Starting off with little to no experience in creating my own website and comics, the assignments throughout the semester built up my knowledge and experience into full bloom. Throughout the course of my life, I will continue to grow more flowers in my garden as I continue to acquire knowledge in different subject matters.

This assignment was harder than writing an essay because I had a limited amount of time to say everything that I wanted to say. Speaking in front of an audience is also a lot more challenging and nerve-racking than writing a paper (in my opinion). When I knew what two books I wanted to compare, I didn’t know if I should go back and forth between the books with each slide, or I should go through each book in its entirety and then compare the two at the end. I ended up going with the first option because it allowed for more synthesis and comparison throughout the presentation, even though it may have been harder to follow. When choosing my visuals, I tried to think of the most powerful and impactful images throughout each story. When presenting I didn’t really talk about the images specifically and let the images speak for themselves. I felt as though I didn’t have enough time to make the key arguments I wanted to and explain the images. This presentation helped me learn to practice going over presentations. Normally, I wouldn’t practice a presentation as much, but because I knew that the slides were advancing automatically, I put in more time to practice. I liked how some of my classmate’s included images that weren’t from the books, which I felt made it more engaging because it was new material. If I were to do it again, I would probably include some images that were not from the books.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRxse4ftFSchbrIuLA03QxFRDK-2Ld9v5ooTTW6ZKdqIVK4xqkyUC1y0Hih08yrCIJWRZgHOwy2yJDf/pub?start=true&loop=false&delayms=10000

This literacy narrative project has been different from any other writing assignment I have had in english classes, due to the fact that I have never had to write a comic before. Writing alphabetically and in comic form with the same storyline proved to be challenging but fun. Having the ability to see other students’ work was also extremely helpful for my learning in the writing process. I liked how we started off writing alphabetically because that was what I was most familiar with. Turning the alphabetic style into a comic was the most difficult part for me because I struggled to fit the entirety of my alphabetic narrative into the comic effectively. When I transformed the alphabetic narrative into a comic, I realized how choppy my narrative was. Seeing the narrative in visual form allowed me to realize and acknowledge what changes I needed to make to my narrative to make it more cohesive. My comic was more like a photo collage than a comic, so I made an active effort to make my alphabetic version more story-like. I was glad that the third part of the process was to go back to the alphabetic and make revisions. Critiquing each other’s storyboard was an interactive way to learn throughout the process, as well as having access to everyone’s website and being able to see each other’s work. Along with never creating a comic before this class, I had never made my own website before. This class and this project has helped me learn how to create and utilize my own website, which will most definitely be extremely helpful in the future. After going through all three stages of the process, I see my narrative differently than I did before. Originally I was attempting to tell the story from the beginning of my life up to this current point in time. After going back, however, I connected the end of my narrative to the beginning in order to have more synthesis and conclusion.

If you flip through my elementary school yearbook, there is a series of pages with photos of each fifth grade graduate lined up in neat boxes. Under the photos, there are a few fun facts about each student; one being what they want to be when they grow up. While most of my peers aspired to be an astronaut or a lawyer, I had a different passion that I pursued throughout elementary school. When you land on my box, you will find an eleven year old girl in a bright purple sweater with the caption: “I want to be an author when I grow up”. 

On one of the first Christmases I can remember, I recall tearing open a gift from Santa to find a “make your own book” kit. Little did I know that this very kit would be the catalyst for my aspirations to be an author. The kit contained sheets of paper and markers to write and illustrate a story. That very day, I wrote and illustrated my first book: “Family Trip to the Zoo”. The story describes a family of four taking a trip to the zoo, the main character being my aunt Keara. I submitted the writing and illustrations, and in a few short weeks I received a hardcover version of my story. Over the course of my elementary school years, I wrote and illustrated a total of five books; which you can still find tucked in my bookshelf at home. My aunt holds the title of favorite relative, and I devoted four out of five of my stories to her – one being more centrally focused on her daughter. Aunt Keara has her own copies of each book, and would encourage me to write a sequel after receiving each new story.

As the years passed through middle school and into high school, my books collected dust on my shelf. My passion for reading and writing slowly faded into the background, as school and basketball took hold of my focus. It wasn’t until my first heartbreak that sparked up my passion for writing once again. My first break-up occurring in my junior year of high school snuck up behind me and knocked me out. In the midst of the messy ending, I sobbed for weeks on end; physically unable to eat, sleep, or function. I desperately needed closure, which he was unwilling to provide. I sent him paragraph after paragraph, with no response in return. I realized my desperation was only pushing him further away, and that I needed to find closure on my own. In a moment of hopelessness, I resorted to journaling. Every time I wanted to text, call, or reach out, I would write everything I wanted to say to him in my journal. Flipping through my journal entries is the epitome of an emotional rollercoaster. One entry will be beautifully written, reminiscing on how “perfect” our relationship was and how I would do just about anything to get him back, while the next entry would be written in all capital letters about how horrible he treated me and made me feel. No matter how tempted I was to send him these entries, I held my ground and kept them to myself. The more I wrote, the better I felt. Eventually, I no longer depended on my journal or felt suffocated by the urge to reach out. We broke up at the beginning of May of my junior year, and my last entry was July 21st. The irony of it all is that a few months later, he reached out to me begging for me back and apologizing for everything he put me through. Unfortunately for him, by then I had moved on and soon after met someone new. Healing is a process, and without utilizing writing as an outlet, I am unsure as to whether or not I would have made it through.

Starting that very summer (the summer of my breakup), my mom hired me to tutor my younger brothers in English. She paid me twenty dollars an hour and posed the tutoring sessions as distractions from my emotional distress. While I grew up with a natural passion for reading and writing, my brothers struggled with finding the same motivation. I created lesson plans consisting of basic reading comprehension, grammar, and writing. Conducting these lessons contorted my vision as a writer, due to the fact that I had the lens of an instructor rather than a student. Creating the lesson plans and teaching my brothers led me to plunge further into the details of the language, and fine tune my own writing in the process. I used samples from my own writing in the lessons, which proved to be beneficial for both my brothers and me. The process gave me awareness of the hidden errors in my writing: teaching grammar resulted in a closer analysis of my own. While my tutoring days are over, I learned a lot from taking the role of teacher and improved my writing as a result. 

If someone were to now ask me “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, I would most definitely have a different answer than my fifth grade self. My answer today would probably be a PA (physician’s assistant), but who knows what the answer will be a year from now. Regardless of what my final decision will be, I am almost certain that writing will be a key aspect of any job I wish to pursue. The ability to communicate, whether it is through writing, speaking, or through visuals, is a universal necessity. My growth in writing throughout adolescence, while it may appear to be insignificant, will prove to be important in the grand scheme of life. 

It was different writing my literacy narrative as a comic because I had to use significantly less text, and come up with images to match my writing. It was challenging to decide which key components I should take from my narrative and include as text. With the addition of the visual component, I had to think about how to transform my words into images. I decided early on that I wanted to use photos instead of drawing, which in a way made things a lot more difficult because I had to search for photos that could tell my story. I had to be creative at some points of the story, especially towards the end because I didn’t have many photos that I felt could tell the story of my breakup as well as tutoring my brothers. The visual component helped me piece together the story and have a better overall flow. My thinking process when creating the comic was definitely different from when I was writing the narrative. I found it easier to write the narrative as opposed to creating the comic, due to the fact that the comic had a lot more moving parts that I had to think through. I struggled with figuring out how to include any dialogue in my comic while telling my story. I also felt as though I included too much text at times, and could have done better with telling my story through more visual components. The main changes I made from my storyboard to my final draft included adding more visual components to add more creativity and better flow to the story. I felt as though my visual components were best on the first page, due to the fact that my mom was able to take pictures of the books I created when I was younger as well as my elementary school yearbook. I felt as though these photos were crucial for my story, because the books I couldn’t describe as well with words. I also felt that the progression of my age in the photos helped with the flow of the story; you could see me age across the panels. I tried to use colors in order to set the mood for my story. The first page depicting my childhood, I made an effort to use vibrant colors, while on the second page, I tried to use black, white, and grey tones as much as possible in order to depict a low point in my adolescence. The revival of colors on the third page is supposed to symbolize the way writing helped me push through the low points and process my negative emotions. In my final draft I added little emojis in order to add some humor to a relatively depressing slide. This was in order to show that with reflection, this “low point” wasn’t as dark as it really felt at the time. Overall I thought that the process of changing my literacy narrative into a comic made the flow a lot better, and provided a visual representation of my story.