Good day, Professor Garfinkel. I hope all is well. Today, I will discuss how I developed as a writer this semester. First, I will discuss my first writing piece, “Reading from Inside.” This narrative essay discusses my experience learning Spanish, specifically with a class for native speakers, and presenting in Spanish for my class. During this writing, I wanted to highlight the significance of being a non-native and taking a class for native speakers, as there is a seemingly forced idea that individuals need to speak in a certain way for proper communication, like how teachers usually teach English in the United States. I wrote this intending to “Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.” 

        Like how I felt in my native Spanish class, one may feel like a fish out of water when speaking in a way that said person considers foreign. The significant difference in my story was how my class never forced me to conform to a specific type of Spanish. Unlike kids, for example, who are not given such a choice and forced to follow a distinct kind of English deemed correct and not use other types of English seen as improper and wrong. This imposing mindset that is detrimental to someone learning another language is something I wanted to juxtapose with my writing. In my story, my teacher and classmates never said the Spanish of our class was the only correct way of learning but rather one way to convey a message of my choosing, as that imposing mindset was not there. Due to this, I drew numerous connections with my primary language, English, other languages I have learned, and different types of Spanish. This factor is essential when learning another language, as this allows someone to grow with the language rather than use said language as a situational tool. Phase 1 is about growth, as seeing this highlights the importance of not imposing the idea that there is only one way to convey a message effectively. 

        This exigence motivated me to “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations,” so I used genres like poetry to show multiple ways to convey a message. For example, the feelings I convey towards presenting in front of my class are not undermined but underscored due to my usage of Spanish and poetry in my message, as this further demonstrates my growth from when I was in my native class. Therefore, this stresses that my fear did not come from inability but from the fear of messing up. I did this to highlight the importance of supporting multiple forms of communication as that allows for growth rather than restricting someone’s speaking. When revising my first phrase and other phases, I focused on the main themes for my writing and how each connected with the importance of acknowledging other ways of speaking. I wrote for the second phase assignment about how my peer Michael learned genuine communication through the journey with his mother towards English, and the third phase on how Minecraft can help with communication with people with mental disorders or autism, providing community and health benefits. I concentrated on the clarity of these messages, which allowed me to “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” With the help of my peers, we discussed how using creative approaches, like using different genres, unique topics, and metaphors, will allow the idea of there being no specific way to be correct with communication to reach a broader audience. I wanted to extend to a wider audience with my writings, so I decided to focus on ethos and pathos, allowing me to “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.”  I thought about how logic is an efficient way to convey an idea to numerous individuals due to making my writing more objective, and even if the reader disagrees, the reader will learn something while disproving the topic. For pathos, the reader will be able to understand where my perspective comes from and learn about a new type of perspective.

        I knew my writing was digital, so I could use numerous sources to educate people about my topic of interest, convey the seriousness of my topic, show the benefits of being educated on the subjects, and allow the reader to look further to gain a better understanding. Therefore, I learned to “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” For example, for my first phase assignment, if someone cannot understand the Spanish I used, the reader can look up the translation to understand the message I wanted to convey and why I used Spanish for said message. For my printed versions of my writing, this allowed my writing to reach the audience of my classmates, which allowed me to receive feedback that improved my writing. All five-course learning outcomes allowed me to improve as a writer as I learned more about conveying a message to a broader audience.

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