Lesson 15, #1, Write a letter to someone (other than your instructor) introducing yourself as a writer.

January 9, 2011

Caroline Wolf

Special Education Coordinator

West Valley High School

3800 Geist Road

Fairbanks, AK 99709

Dear Ms. Wolf:

I want to thank you for your support of me to work hard at the University Alaska of Fairbanks. I love that you encouraged me to succeed. If not for you, I would have lost the motivation to stay in school and become successful. Now I know that I can do anything and be a success because you had shown me that I can be successful in the end.

I support your special education program. I have been spending time working with some students and I can see that they need more help with their English. I would like to help them someday. Now I am successful in college and I am improving in my use of the English language. I hope that you can read my resume and see the accomplishments I have achieved in my English courses.

Thank you for your time to read this letter. If you have any questions or concerns for me, I would love to take the time to work with you. Once again, thank you.

Sincerely,

Kimberly MacLeod

Student

Enc.

 

Kimberly MacLeod

kfmacleod@alaska.edu

Objective         To improving writing, expand ideas, and strength through written experience

Academic Writing Experience

Fall 2010:        University Alaska of Fairbanks

American Sign Language III-ASLG F203

·         “Education for Deaf People”: Wrote a 3-page comparative essay about deaf resident schools and mainstream schools for deaf students

Methods of Written Communication-ENGL F111X

·         “I Can Exist in a Hearing World”: Wrote a 3-page essay about an experience in my life where I learned about myself

·          “Education for Deaf People”: Wrote a 2-page one-sided argument essay about an experience of a strength or weakness in my life

·         “A Chance for the Next Generation of Native Americans”: Wrote a 4-page argument essay about Effie Kokrine Charter School

·         “Homeschool is the Best Education for Children”: Wrote a 5-page argument essay about homeschool education

Additional Writing Experience

Summer 2010: University Alaska of Fairbanks

·         Wrote and presented reports to the  Director of The Office of Equal Opportunity and supervisor of Student Support Services program

Spring 2010:    Kaleidoscope in Motion Home School

·         Wrote a syllabus for the semester

·         Prepared and presented reports to parent

Lesson 14, #1, On your blog, write about what you wish you had done differently while you worked on your paper.

It would be nice if I didn’t have writer’s block that prevented me from finishing the first draft earlier so I could visit the Writing Center. I could improve on how to better ask questions of a librarian to help me find correct sources easier. I also would have liked it if my health problems didn’t affect me during the fall, then I could have kept on track with my English course more easily. I know that I’m not regretting the topic that I chose for my research paper. I want to learn more about homosexuals and their fight for equal rights. This research helped me to learn about some issues for homosexuals. I do regret that I couldn’t find anything about the opposing side’s perspective on homosexuals in the military. I also need to remind myself next time to not collect a lot of sources in one day or that could turn me off from focusing on the research.

Lesson 13, #1, Write about your experience consulting with someone about your writing. Include what that person told you about your writing.

I totally forgot that the Writing Center is closed during the winter break. I was so busy with other classes and focusing on finals. Then, I decided to take a break from school to enjoy the holidays. That was my mistake. I asked my dad to help me with my research paper. He is my consultation. I don’t have anybody to ask for help. I’m glad that my dad was willing to take the time to read seven papers and give me some feedback on them. He enjoyed seeing my opinion on the topic of homosexuals and their fight for equal rights. My dad and I discussed the topic and both of our opinions are mostly the same. He was surprised at my sources and learning something new about the topic. My dad wants to learn more about the sources that I have been collecting. I also explained to him about the history of homosexuals. He actually learned something from my paper and I feel so good about that. I also learned something new from reading over 20 different sources. I enjoy learning more about homosexual rights because I keep on hearing many current events related to homosexuals. I learned that I have improved on writing and my skill has improved on the essay format. My dad told me that my writing has been improving. I also feel that I have been learning a lot about the essay format from my English 111x course. I’m glad that I decided to take this course and it helped me learn something new about writing. I know that I still have problems with grammar. My dad can see that I am slowly improving on grammar. He also helped me with my grammar by editing my paper. I need to remind myself to stop and read over my paper to see if it is making sense to me. Then, I can start adding more information to my paper. That was a suggestion from my dad. I also noticed that I have struggled a bit with some of the paragraphs that do not look like they flow well into other paragraphs. I was concerned about that part and my dad feels that it is flowing better but still needs bit more something. I was not sure if I should add more source information or I should reduce on sources? I debated with myself about if I should add one more visual element in my paper. I did not realize that doing this research paper would take so much time to complete. I have learned that now and I will improve on it the next time. I’m glad that I have been improving on MLA formats, essay format, and my skills in writing. I hope that my research paper will turn out good. I feel a bit frustrated about the opposing paragraph because I know that it was not my best work. I wish that I could have found one source that supported the idea that homosexuals should not be allowed in the military. I could not find at least one and I feel so frustrated. Maybe I should have asked a librarian for help but I had asked them three times for help on adopting, marriage and equal rights. I also learned that I should ask a librarian for assistance by using better and more focused questions.