English 2010
English 2010 builds on what you know and have already learned about writing, both in English 1010 and in the previous writing you’ve done. You’ve already learned about writing as a process, about critical reading, about academic writing practices, and about revision. We’ll keep working with these practices, and add an emphasis on a few more: genre, medium, and mode as tools for writing; writing using research and sources, writing in multiple mediums and modes; and writing for public or civic contexts, with an emphasis on local issues.
Learning to let go and fly
This semester has been very beneficial for me because I learned to let go and fly and just write what I wanted to write. What I mean about letting go and flying is I was able not to worry so much, and I was able to do my best and improve my best work. I was able to let that all my worries go and just go with the flow.
For the topic this semester, I started with many different ideas on what I could research. I had made this list at the beginning of the semester:
In the beginning, I felt like I had to get very precise with only one social issue about bees. I had found that my mind frame was limiting what I could do with each assignment. I shared my frustration with my teacher, Beth Bailey, in one of our lab sessions, and she helped me by telling me that my topic is just about bees. After that, I reached new areas that I couldn’t before, and I could sore instead of sink. That way, my perspective on my subject was continually changing with each assignment.
In the memoir, Learning to love bees, I was able to link my personal experience of being allergic to bees and overcoming my fear of bees to finally having rooftop beehives. In this memoir, I had considered adapting it into a comic or a cartoon. Still, I felt that it was better to keep it as text-based because I could fully explain what had happened and explain why I thought I needed to change my perspective on bees to continue to have a life out of fear. I did go back and add some photos from my notebooks that helped me link my experience with my topic. I feel that those photos help the readers think that they could relate to my story in their way. I had a lot of fun with this during the revision process. I was able to go through it and rewrite it so that my readers could experience what happened to me by taking out the parts where I was telling, and added more showing into the story. I am pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish with the memoir.
In the profile, Keeper of the bees, I interviewed my father, Bill Green, to recall his first memory of beekeeping and why he decided to become a beekeeper in a big bustling city. I had a lot of fun writing this profile piece on my father-in-law because I could combine storytelling and use information from the interview to create a story that my readers could experience for themselves. I also learned that I should not just write things up in google docs because it limits my ability to add visuals and audio into the project.
I struggled on the Information Project at first, and I accidentally wrote up a proposal instead of an information piece. After talking to Beth Bailey, I chose to use what I wrote for my next project. I was going to let it be, but it bugged me not completing this assignment, so I decided to change it completely. For my last notebook assignment, I decided to change the information project into an Infographic about how pesticides cause Colony Collapse Disorder and bee deaths. I am pretty proud of myself for not just giving up on this assignment because I helped me to grow.
For the Persuasion Effect Project, What is happening to the honey bees, and how we can help, I decided to use the failed information piece and rewrite and revise it into a working proposal. By taking the advice from my peers, I was able to add to it and make it easier for my readers to understand. I also added more visuals, quotes from my sources, and images to visually appealing for my audience.
For the final magazine project, I decided to make a new Weebly site because I wanted to see how I had progressed and changed through this semester. By making the new site, I was able to see for myself that I have grown as a writer and as a storyteller. From my observations, I learned that being a writer is different from being a storyteller because both use different techniques to convey information. A writer uses sources with factual evidence to convince the reader that they can be trusted to tell the truth. A storyteller uses emotions and sensory details to make their writing feel personal for their audience.
In my magazine, Beekeeping Utah SLCC School Magazine Project, I used many of my notebook exercises to make the site easy to understand and make it visually appealing for my intended audience. I used three of my fun notebooks on the website. I gave the satire story, “Dancing with the bees,” a dedicated page because I thought it was an entertaining piece, and it also added visuals, humor, and sound to my site.
I also added a “Beekeeping Utah Classes” page on how my readers in Utah can find beekeeping classes near them. On this page, I incorporated two other notebook entries, “Save the Bees PSA” and My “What I know vs. What I don’t know” list that I made because I felt that they fitted nicely with the beekeeping class section. My goal for the magazine was to make it easy for the general public to get something useful from the information that I presented to them.
For the topic this semester, I started with many different ideas on what I could research. I had made this list at the beginning of the semester:
- Beekeeping in Utah
- Should protesters practicing free speech be charged with crimes?
- Gardening and canning home vegetables in Utah communities.
- People in Utah refusing to wear masks during this pandemic.
- Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women in the state of Utah.
In the beginning, I felt like I had to get very precise with only one social issue about bees. I had found that my mind frame was limiting what I could do with each assignment. I shared my frustration with my teacher, Beth Bailey, in one of our lab sessions, and she helped me by telling me that my topic is just about bees. After that, I reached new areas that I couldn’t before, and I could sore instead of sink. That way, my perspective on my subject was continually changing with each assignment.
In the memoir, Learning to love bees, I was able to link my personal experience of being allergic to bees and overcoming my fear of bees to finally having rooftop beehives. In this memoir, I had considered adapting it into a comic or a cartoon. Still, I felt that it was better to keep it as text-based because I could fully explain what had happened and explain why I thought I needed to change my perspective on bees to continue to have a life out of fear. I did go back and add some photos from my notebooks that helped me link my experience with my topic. I feel that those photos help the readers think that they could relate to my story in their way. I had a lot of fun with this during the revision process. I was able to go through it and rewrite it so that my readers could experience what happened to me by taking out the parts where I was telling, and added more showing into the story. I am pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish with the memoir.
In the profile, Keeper of the bees, I interviewed my father, Bill Green, to recall his first memory of beekeeping and why he decided to become a beekeeper in a big bustling city. I had a lot of fun writing this profile piece on my father-in-law because I could combine storytelling and use information from the interview to create a story that my readers could experience for themselves. I also learned that I should not just write things up in google docs because it limits my ability to add visuals and audio into the project.
I struggled on the Information Project at first, and I accidentally wrote up a proposal instead of an information piece. After talking to Beth Bailey, I chose to use what I wrote for my next project. I was going to let it be, but it bugged me not completing this assignment, so I decided to change it completely. For my last notebook assignment, I decided to change the information project into an Infographic about how pesticides cause Colony Collapse Disorder and bee deaths. I am pretty proud of myself for not just giving up on this assignment because I helped me to grow.
For the Persuasion Effect Project, What is happening to the honey bees, and how we can help, I decided to use the failed information piece and rewrite and revise it into a working proposal. By taking the advice from my peers, I was able to add to it and make it easier for my readers to understand. I also added more visuals, quotes from my sources, and images to visually appealing for my audience.
For the final magazine project, I decided to make a new Weebly site because I wanted to see how I had progressed and changed through this semester. By making the new site, I was able to see for myself that I have grown as a writer and as a storyteller. From my observations, I learned that being a writer is different from being a storyteller because both use different techniques to convey information. A writer uses sources with factual evidence to convince the reader that they can be trusted to tell the truth. A storyteller uses emotions and sensory details to make their writing feel personal for their audience.
In my magazine, Beekeeping Utah SLCC School Magazine Project, I used many of my notebook exercises to make the site easy to understand and make it visually appealing for my intended audience. I used three of my fun notebooks on the website. I gave the satire story, “Dancing with the bees,” a dedicated page because I thought it was an entertaining piece, and it also added visuals, humor, and sound to my site.
I also added a “Beekeeping Utah Classes” page on how my readers in Utah can find beekeeping classes near them. On this page, I incorporated two other notebook entries, “Save the Bees PSA” and My “What I know vs. What I don’t know” list that I made because I felt that they fitted nicely with the beekeeping class section. My goal for the magazine was to make it easy for the general public to get something useful from the information that I presented to them.