Midterm assessment: My Advancement in WISE

Jasmine Franklin

Wise English 105-01

October 27, 2010

Professor Peterson

Midterm Assessment

                                          My Advancement in WISE

            At first being in this program was kind of confusing to me because I did not get the concept of why we had to write in forms of technology or connect our literary work with technology. For instance, writing in blogs was irrelevant to me because I thought English writing was supposed to be in paragraph form and on regular standard computer paper. As the semester continued, being in WISE made more sense to me, because it teaches a student how to write in certain circumstances, for conciseness and writing for the rhetorical audience and not just because. I have learned more about how I write from being in the program than being in an honors english or regular english class, because everything is easier to grasp and analyze. From this class I have learned how to be concise, adhere to the rhetorical situation, and use my references as guidance for my assignments, thus leading to me writing more efficiently.

             When I had to write my first blog, it was difficult for me because I had to summarize everything within ten sentences and I’m use to giving detailed analysis. Writing blogs for this class, helped me get straight to the point and be concise in my writing. For example, the blogs Anti-Intellectualism and” Ode on a Grecian Urn” that we responded to had be detailed enough for the audience to comprehend the concept; however, they could not be long and overdrawn because it was still a blog. Being efficient and straight to the point helps me in my work because it gets my point across without the unnecessary detail.

            Since the WISE program is connected with two classes, history and english, some of the assignments are joined. For example, the cultural analysis essay has to be presented in both classes, but they have to be different in the rhetorical content. Having the same assignment means that as a student has to give a detailed writing aspect in an English context and a historical context. Composing literary works with the same backgrounds is a learning experience to me because I never had to take the same research and use it for two different subjects and make sense of it. Therefore, I am attaining how to take the same research and manipulate it so that it adheres to both English and history rhetorical situations. The cultural analysis is also helping me by teaching me how to go deeper into my writing so it can be well organized analysis of my topic.

            The hardest and most tedious assignment to date in the class to me is the annotated bibliography. Even though I made sure to do a good job, I still had some difficulties that hindered my grade. Working with CMS and having to give precise detail to each citation and note was sort of easy because I just had to follow the directions. What was hard for me was just how tedious the assignment was. I had to make sure I put my commas and periods in the right place and also make sure that I constructed italicized words correctly. It was accommodating that the task of the annotated bibliography was done in stages, because it made me stay on target and be more thorough while giving my annotations. I would have to say this is one of my best works because it shows how hard I worked to make my citations correct and how effectively I set up for annotations for the paper.

            Being in WISE has also helped me follow directions better. I try to refer to the rubric more often so that my work is at its best. The Arti-factual interview can best describe this point for me because there was a certain way the paper had to be constructed or it would have been all wrong. This assignment was fairly easy to me because it did have certain instructions on how to compose of it. To demonstrate, I work best when everything is put together for me, such as the length of the assignment and what the teacher is asking for. That way when I begin to think about what I am going to say I know that I can’t go over board with the details and it allows me to gather enough information on my subject. The only thing that was difficult for me was having to cut some of the information out of the interview. That was hard because I had to base my central idea around something new rather than just having an ordinary interview.

            I have noticed the difference in my writing from the start of the semester to the mid point of it. Though I have been in WISE composition for a short period of time, my writing skills have improved drastically. I now eat, sleep, and breathe the concept of rhetorical situation because really without it there is no purpose for what a person is writing for. Also engaging in topic, restrictive and illustrative sentences (TRI) has also benefitted me while writing because I stay on the main focus and do not put something in my writing that is irrelevant to the subject’s purpose. Some of the strategies I use to make my writing better was going back and re-reading my paper and having one of my peers read over it again for me before submitting it. I also noticed that prewriting aids in my writing process because it stimulates the ideas I am searching for on a certain topic so that I can document them on my literary work.

            Overall, I being in composition WISE and in the WISE program in general has benefited me greatly. It has engaged me to think more critically and to get straight to the point while writing, and it has demonstrated how technology has come to help in the writing process. I have improved on some of my grammatical elements and I am still working on correcting them fully. Most of my improvements are on my analytical and writing skills. To illustrate, my writingfor the most part is meeting the requirements and have gotten stronger to adhere to the rhetorical situation. As a whole, this composition class was not anything that I expected. I thought I was just going to be wasting my time blogging about technology but I have learned a lot from my matriculation from the beginning of the semester to the midpoint of it.

Revision of legalism blog

In an ancient civilization some kind of rule or order must be exemplified, to unsure the governing process is stable for the king or higher power to be in control. In Ancient China the practicing of legalism can be illustrated as one of most effective ways to administer the land and to promote power over the people. In my practice of legalism, there is only one ruler in charge and everyone must abide by him and the laws or face consequences of harsh punishment. Anything such as speaking against the emperor or disclaiming of your state or country will result in death. Everyone must demonstrate loyalty to the emperor, country and appointed magistrates, which would be the individuals I chose to help regulate the law of the land. In order to keep supremacy I would command that everyone not speak against my rules and to follow them punctually, without doubt of order. My main focuses would be the well-being of the state and its stature, honoring of the ruler and lastly the wellness of the civilization. Without any of those, the status of the civilization will be in havoc because the people would not know what to do and the problems of the nation will still continue to be unbalanced. This would be a great form of government because the people would respect the laws and adopt them out of fear from the consequences they would have to face.

Revision of civilization blog

In ancient times, many individuals had to learn a series of ways to flourish and thrive in a civilization. Some of which came through trial and error while others came through plain knowledge. In order to keep a civilization maintained and stable, many people had to abide by a ruler or do things on their own. Each civilization had their differences in the ways they went about maintaining their land but they also had some similarities. For example, most civilizations had deities or gods they followed to help with order, different social classes to keep everything in line and a militia for war.

The period of legalism (247-206 BCE) is a great example of how an empire had to follow the laws of their leader. Invading and conquering other civilizations to gain land or outside resources became the thing to abide by to get what you needed. For instance, Ancient Egypt and Nubia went back and forth invading each other because they both had resources that they wanted and because they wanted to expand their land. Also a critical component to establish a strong civilization was to silicify what role each individual had.  In particular, a civilization would have its hunters/gathers, priest, slaves, agriculturist, kings and merchants each of which would have to fulfill its own role in order to maintain a well environment.

In all keeping and maintaining a civilization can be viewed as a difficult thing to do. However, if a civilization has all of its key components to flourish then there would not be a problem for them to be stable and survive during ancient times

Revision for Medea Blog

In the original play Medea by Euripides, the main character is a woman who is tormented by her surrounding love for her husband Jason. Since she is so much in love with this man she goes crazy after he leaves her for another woman. Not only is she angry with her ex- lover Jason but she takes out revenge on everyone else including her children. She goes to the extreme to kill the king, his daughter and her two children because she is terribly in love with her husband. Today, different elements of this play are seen through society as a theme highly represented in different forms of work.

One reason why this character keeps getting reimagined in different circumstances is because most women at a certain time in their lives have been hurt and it changes the way they think and feel. For example, in Tyler Perry’s “Medea” movies most of the focuses are troubled women from awful and   malfunctioning relationships. From these damaging predicaments, the women in the movies start to be revengeful on their ex-boyfriends or husband and take their anger out on the world. Back in the author’s era of writing, the male figure is in charge of the household and is the keeper of the family. So when Jason leaves Medea she ultimately has nothing because all of her resources are gone, Which can make her go crazy because she has nothing left but a feeling of hopelessness from lost love and revenge from her hurt. This theme of having nothing left, whether it is emotional or physical, after a lost love is illustrated amongst today’s society. Most women tend to fall apart as Medea does and begin to do abnormal things as the character Medea. Even though the original Medea is from Greek literature most of its popularity can be seen throughout the black culture. To demonstrate, on black television most of the shows are centered around a women who are stressed about a relationship and tries to do whatever she can to try to get her lover back or try to inflict pain on other people because of her issues.

Instances like the original Medea will forever be in the mainstream because it relates to most people at some point and time in their life. A person gets crazed and over emotional about love and that is why the character Medea keeps getting reimagined in different circumstances.

For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf

             The stage reading of “For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf,” was hosted by the speech communication and theater program. This event took place in the CAU art gallery in the Trevor-Arnette building. In about “For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf,” colored women who were abused in some way or had different obstacles and struggles that they had to face. Once inside of the room there are the characters of the different women who are in the stage reading. Each of them has on different colored scarfs and is dressed different. The scarfs that each character wore were to portray each different character and perhaps symbolize the rainbow in some way.

                At the beginning of the reading the lady in the brown colored cover up illustrated how hard it is for a young girl to grow up into a woman when she colored. She describes the different circumstances and what hardships are placed on young women who are colored. I can relate to this because I have gone through many obstacles with me being black and growing up in America, and I felt all of the characters emotion. After she is done speaking all the other characters come running in shouting different things such as cities and some problems that they had.

                First the scene was of little girls playing around and having fun like an innocent child should, but that halted quickly. The characters expressed their emotion and shared their different struggles to the audience and it was like you could feel everything that they were feeling. The experiences that were expressed were not only about them, it symbolized every women or young female who is colored in the U.S. While at the reading I noticed that each character used a form of art to describe their feeling and to express their emotions. For example, a character expressed her frustration through music while another one expressed herself by dancing. Even though the stories were horrific the sage reading still had a great mood about it.

                “For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf,” was powerful and touching. When all of the girls come together at the end it portrays the unity of the rainbow and how they all stand together as colored women.

Medea blog

In the original play Medea by Euripides, the main character is a woman who is tormented by her surrounding love for her husband Jason. Since she is so much in love with this man she goes crazy after he leaves her for another woman. Not only is she angry with her ex- lover Jason but she takes out revenge on everyone else including her children. She goes to the extreme to kill the king, his daughter and her two children because she is crazy in love with a man. Today different elements of this play is seen through society as a theme highly represented in different forms of work.

One reason why this character keeps getting reimagined in different circumstances is because most women at a certain time in their lives have been hurt and it changes the way they think and feel. For example, in Tyler Perry’s “Medea” movies most of the focuses are troubled women from messed up relationships. From these messed up predicaments the women in the movies start to be revengeful on their ex-boyfriends or husband and take their anger out on the world. Another example of that is the main character Medea, she gets her name from the original Medea because just like her she is crazy and mean. Even though the original Medea is from Greek literature most of its popularity can be seen throughout the black culture. To demonstrate, on black television most of the shows are centered around a women who is stressed about a relationship and does whatever she can to try to get her lover back or try to inflict pain over other people because of her issues. Another source where it is seen is from hip-hop music or r&b love songs because most of them talk about relationships and how they are dealing with it. For example, Beyonce’s crazy in love portrays a women who is so madly in love with a man that she goes crazy over him and will do anything for him.

Instances like the original Medea will forever be in the mainstream because it relates to most people at some point and time in their life. A person get crazed and over emotional about love and that is why the character Medea keeps getting reimagined in different circumstances.