Kirsten Smith ENGL 1101 Professor Hofmann October 16, 2013 Midterm Letter Dear, Mrs.

Hofmann I have been in your English class for nine weeks and I would like to address certain elements of the class that are crucial to my success in this course. We meet every Monday and Wednesday at 11:00am. The attendance policy in the syllabus states that three unexcused absences are allowed before one letter grade is dropped every unexcused absence after. I have had three unexcused absences so unless I have a doctors note or other documentation I cant miss any more days in the course. There are several different reasons that I have missed class: slept in, sick, and out of town. I think that time-management should cure any further issues with absences. My peer group is comprised of students: Basma, Armon, Shelby, and Jian. We work very well together and Im glad at how easily we converse and make conclusions. I think that I am a contributive member of the group because I discuss the in-class assignments, share opinions on various subjects and personal experiences that are relevant to our topic. I am comfortable with talking amongst a small group of peers but in our large class discussions I often find it difficult to voice my ideas because I feel that everyone is competing for a chance to talk. I have always been a soft-spoken person in large class settings and I normally prefer to listen rather than interrupt. The reading that I was most able to relate to was a paper that addressed the issue of Ebonics. The author, Delpit, in her story No Kinda Sense, wrote about the debating feelings she had over her childs speech habits that had been acquired from friends at school. This reading was easy for me to understand and it correlated with my own experiences with my mother and her sentiment towards Ebonics. I record my in-class assignments on my laptop and it makes it easier for me to find and organize my work anywhere I go. This is the first time I have used a computer for this purpose in a classroom. The negatives to doing all of your work on the computer are the technical errors that can occur, especially during the submission process which can result in a poor grade. My writings on the computer are still not as detailed as those I write in pen but it is great typing practice. There are also many tools on the computer that can help you write a paper. One particular in-class assignment that we did recently in class was more interesting than others. I enjoyed this assignment because it was fun to hear the different stories experienced by my peer group. We were asked to describe a time when we felt out of place. I wrote about this particular incident,

When I first started dating my boyfriend from Ukraine, and I met his family and friends, I was expecting it to be like past relationships where we talk about school and other simple light-hearted conversation topics. Sadly I was unprepared for the language barrier I was confronted with upon meeting his family. They speak Russian and a broken, fragmented English. They told me that many things dont transfer well over to English, like jokes. So I found myself in the uncomfortable position of listening to the family laugh and tell stories whilst not understanding any of it. I could tell they wanted to include me, but most of the time it was just too hard to make the translation. A similar thing happened upon joining the Russian club, which invites all nationalities, but still is a majority of Russian. If I knew the language, even the fundamentals, it would have been less unpleasant. I chose to write about this event because it was the first time I had been in a situation where I wasnt understood and I could not understand the people around me. Considering that this is a class with many international students I felt as though someone could relate to my writing. My investment level in the homework for this course is average. I have a lot of other classes that require serious writing assignments weekly and sometimes my English homework receives less attention. One assignment that I would like to discuss with you is the What Does My Speech Reveal forum posting. It was an interesting article in the PBS website that focused on how many people are judged by the way they speak. I read the entire article, rather than skimming it, and I put a lot of effort into what I wrote. It was one of the more interesting readings we had in the class. For my revised ILLI submission. I got positive feedback that it had good potential. I know that Im going in the right direction I just need to add more detail and possibly opinions or accounts from other people. I would like to add photos of my family because they are unique and important to my paper. I have not worked on it since the revision but plan to after my last midterm is complete. In my ILLI I have discussed topics such as Ebonics and included the Delpit reading as an example that I can relate to. The idea of creating a portfolio is intimidating simply because I have never created one before and I am technologically impaired. I would like it to look nice and have many unique features, but I am more concerned with its content. As the semester continues, I plan on working on my writings and improving them for my portfolio. I have many goals for this class that should help improve my grade and writing in homework assignments. I will need to manage my time so that I can proof read my work and answer questions with more detail. I want to visit the writing center because I have never gone and as a history major writing is very important. I need to go to sleep earlier so that I can make it to class on time. I also want to start in my projects early so I can get ahead in my work and not be tempted to procrastinate.

Sincerely, Kirsten Smith