Burns 1

Jake Burns
Sandra Alden
ENG 1101
3 December 2017

Dear Ms. Alden:

To be frank, English 1101 is a class I am required, by the school board, to take to achieve my
long-term goal of becoming an Engineer. For me all there is to life is factshow things work,
function, and why they work and function that way. Throughout my academic career, I have
been met with, what feels like, barrier after barrier when it comes to my English courses. I
always maintain high As and Bs is the other core subjects, such as Math and the Sciences, it
often discouraged me when I would express my creative views and then be shot down
immediately by various teachers throughout my life. Coming into this class I genuinely did not
believe I would make it past the first essay, and I almost didnt. I've never believed in my ability
to write outside of a scientific or research genreto be honest it frightens me.

The first major writing assignment was a literacy narrative. A literacy narrative is a personal
experience with reading, speaking, or writing. The text will include aspects of descriptive
language, similes, vivid detail, and time frame to give the reader a more in-depth view of the
author's life and mind. In my literacy narrative, I talk about my method of memorization and
love for vocabulary. I have always been someone who needs to understand why things work the
way they do, and that is reflective in this essay. I go on in the essay in depth about how I was
eager for more of the technical and mechanical aspect of language arts, for example, seeing if I
could find the Latin or Greek roots. My essay also follows a chronological order, in my opinion,
very well, beginning my essay with an elementary school experience, then to middle school and
high school, and ending with the present day.

However, I have made changes to make the flow more efficient. At the end of the third
paragraph, I had initially alluded to my high school English experiences. Now, I have made an
addition to the last sentence and turned that sentence into a paragraph to speak on one of the
hardest assignments I have written (to date) and the experiences that went along with thatas
well as other stylistic and technical changes. Furthermore, I did change and delete some of the
unnecessary wording throughout the essay. By doing this, I think it will help the readers
understand why I view non-STEM related writing the way I do.
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For my two course objectives, I have chosen the second and third on the list. I chose these two
because I feel I have made progress, not only, as a writer but also as a scholar overall in these
areas. For example, regarding the second objective, the organization of this paper flows in a
logical and chronological order. Another example of this would be the Rhetorical Analysis essay;
in that essay, I talked extensively about Maseratis various methods of appeals to todays
femmistand came out of the essay with a perfect score. Furthermore, the third objective was a
massive struggle for me coming into this class in some areassuch as collaboration, and
planning. I have always been terrified of being shot down for my writing, mainly because it has
felt that way for the larger part of my life. However, I took a chance this semester and asked for
help from several different people, and was met with primarily positive review and
encouragement. An example of both asking for help and positive review is the time earlier in the
semester when I came to see you in the SRC. I, until that point, had not ever had the courage to
meet with a teacher and ask what I did wrong and how to improveand I want to thank you, Ms.
Alden, for being patient and working with me.
As we come to the close of our semester, I can now reflect on how I have grown and what areas I
have improved and still need to improve in. I feel confident in my ability to move forward as a
writer, and academic professional because of these and many other things I learned this semester.
A few things I still struggle with are fragmented sentences, repetitive language, and organization.
I often will be so lost in thought that I will repeat what I already said, or I will get off track and
state a bunch of unnecessary information. I often use the same words multiple times throughout
my writing such as the use of the words furthermore, however, and expanding. In addition, I
have caught myself using fragmented sentences when writing about something I am very
passionate about I will often stop one thought but reference something in the previous statement.
However, I feel I have still made great improvements in these areas and look forward to how this
class will help me in the future. I know that the fundamental and core norms and values I learned
from this course will hold true throughout my academic and professional career.

Best,
Jake Ryan Carhart Burns
 Burns 3

Jake Burns
Sandra Alden
ENG 1101
2 December 2017

Self -Programmed

I have never been good at creative writing. In fact, I hate it. It is a long-detailed process

of describing things or events that I dont think are relevant to the greater picture of my own life.

However, this is not to say I dont find language arts interesting; in fact, I used to love to read,

write, and learn about our complex language when I was younger.

In elementary school every Friday we would have a spelling test based on the vocabulary

words in our language arts book. The list usually consisted of between 10-25 wordsthe more

words you knew, the better you didand included the definitions and parts of speech; if we were

lucky, they had a root definition as well. When Friday would take its turn passing through the

week again, and after the test had been administered, we would be given our new set of vocab

words for the week. I remember anxiously taking the paper from my teacher and immidetly

separated the words by their first letter. I did this, you see, to make each word easier to

memorize. I would divide them into groups of 2-5 words and spend time each night memorizing

each group. I used to test my knowledge by matching definitions with words, practice the correct

spelling by writing the word over and over againsometimes letter by letteruntil I could recite

it by memory. I would take apart the word, seeing if I could find the different Latin or Greek

roots. Learning how the word was put together helped me understand it better. This can be said

of many things in my life.

 Burns 4

Going into middle school (sixth grade) I was hopeful that my hunger for deciphering the

complicated language of English would be fed by my English course that year. I think back

about how I was so infatuated I was with the fact that there was an entire course just for learning

about the English language. Unfortunately, my hopes of discovering the more complex and

philosophical aspects of our language were met with a hard set of norms and guidelines that are

set in place, and are expected to be followed. This information, while helpful in my everyday

student life, has proven difficult for me to learn. I would begin my essay outline, create a thesis,

and ask for assistance from my teacher, who would then would tell me to redo the paper due to

lack of descriptive language and imagery. I thought to myself What? What do you mean lack of

descriptive language?. Frantically rereading my essay, I saw descriptive writing in abundance,

and wondered where I had gone wrong. It took a long look to understand that looked at what I

thought was descriptive was read by others as analytical.

My set of vocabulary, and the way my mind is set to communicate with others is often

very different from what is considered normal. Typically, I am very straight forward and have

always been many years ahead of everyone my age when it comes to areas of interest and level

of independency when it comes to learningthis has proven to be both a blessing and a curse.

For example, my Junior year of high school, the final project that year was to choose a religious

event and write a research paper on the subject. My subject was the Spanish Inquisition, and my

focus was the Cathars. I spent hours researching, learning, and reiterating information on this

subject, molding the details into a beautifully crafted essay. However, when I submitted it to my

teachers (we had a TA from UNM that year as well) they blatantly told me there was no way I

could have written this because of the complexity of the subject, the vocabulary, writing style,

and information that was contained. Although my sources were cited correctly, apart from one
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incorrectly cited quote, they gave me a 30% on the paper. I had spent hours upon hours working

on this essay just to have the results of that hard work fail me through that course that yearand

it forced me to re-take it over the summer the following year.

I now enjoy computer programing, because of the similarities in fundamental aspects of

each language and I allow myself to get lost for hours programming. I am self-taught in 3 of the

5 major modern programing languages (Python, Java, Robot C) and used similar techniques to

teach myself how to program. The fundamental aspects of academic and creative writing can be

considered parallel to the fundamental structure of most programming languages. For example,

both include concreate statements within the first sentence that stand true through and set the

tone for the text. This comes in the form of a thesis or hook in the introductory paragraph of an

academic or creative writing piece. Furthermore, this can be compared to the void setup ()

statement in Robot C programming sketches. The void loop set up is comparativeble to the thesis

statement because of the similarities in the way they are utilized. Expanding, a void setup

statement is a statement referenced called when the sketch (a unit of code uploaded and run on

your microcontroller) initializes, and is not explicitly stated again throughout the sketch.

Likewise, this is taught to be true for a thesis statement should set the tone for a piece of writing,

but explicitly referencingrefrencing it repeatedlyrepededtly throughout the piece is the equivalent

of hitting the reader with a metaphorical hammer. as well.

Learning about the mechanics of the English language has been an extremely helpful to

my ability to self-teach myself many subjects. While I may not always have an enthusiastic or

passionate attitude towards learning the institutionalized version of our beautiful and complex

language, I do acknowledge its importance. Regardless of my complicated feelings towards and

 Burns 6

stugglesstruggles with the subject of English from a young age, language arts have proven to be

the root of my ability to of my autodidacticauntodidactic experience. While my experience with

writing has been a long and confusing one, there are a few things that have remained constant

throughout; Firstly, my continuous struggle to follow the hard set of norms and guidelines;

secondly, my continued love for discovering the structure of writing and language as a whole

the build block elements; and finally, my continued dedication to showcasing the infinite ways

that this complex language can be taught.

 Burns 7

Jake Burns

Sandra Alden

ENG 1101

9 October 2017 Commented [SA1]: Make sure your heading is in TNR 12-
point font.
Self -Programmed

I have never been good a creative writing,; in fact, I hate it. It is a long-, detailed process

of describing things or events that I dont think are relevant to the greater picture of my own life.

However, this is not to say I dont find language arts interesting; in fact, I used to loved to read Commented [SA2]: When I was younger and used to
essentially state the same thing.
and write when I was younger.

In elementary, school every Friday we would have a spelling test based on the

vocabulary words in our language arts book. The list usually consisted of between 10-25

wordsthe more words you knew, the better you didand included the definitions and parts of

speech; if we were lucky, they had a root definition as well. When Friday would take its turn Commented [SA3]: Terrific use of the em dash and
semicolon!
passing through the week again, and after the test had been administered, we would be given our

new set of vocab words for the week. I remember anxiously taking the paper from my teacher

and separating the words by the first letter. I did this, you see, to make each word easier to

memorize. I would divide them into groups of 2-5 words and spend time each night memorizing

each group. I used to test my knowledge by matching definitions with words, practiceing the

correct spelling by writing the word over and over again until I could recite it by memory. I

would take apart the word, seeing if I could find the different Latin or Greek roots. Learning how

the word was put together helped me understand it better. This can be said of many things in my

life.
 Burns 8

Going into middle school (sixth grade) I was hopeful that my hunger for deciphering the

complicated language of English would be fed by my English course that year. I think about how

I was so infatuated with the fact that there was an entire course just for learning about the

English language. Unfortunately, my hopes of discovering the more complex and philosophical

aspects of our language were met with a hard set of norms and guidelines that are set in place,

and are expected to be followed. This information, while helpful in my everyday student life, has

proven difficult for me to learn. I would begin my essay outline, create a thesis, and ask for

assistance from my teacher. Who then would tell me to redo the paper due to lack of descriptive

language and imagery. I thought to myself What? What do you mean lack of descriptive

language?. Frantically rereading my essay, I looked at what I thought was descriptive but was

analytical.

I now enjoy computer programing, because of the similarities in fundamental aspects of

each language. I am self-taught in 3 of the 5 programing languages (Python, Java, Robot C) and

used similar techniques to teach myself how to program. The fundamental aspects of academic

and creative writing can be considered parallel to the fundamental structure of most

programming languages. For example, both include concreate statements within the first

sentence that stand true through the text. This comes in the form of a thesis or hook in the

introductory paragraph of an academic or creative writing piece. Furthermore, this can be

compared to the void setup () statement in Robot C programming sketches. The void loop set up

is comparative to the thesis statement because of the similarities in the way they are utilized.

Expanding, a void setup statement is a statement called when the sketch initializes, and is not

stated again throughout the sketch. Likewise, this is taught to be true for a thesis statement as

well. Commented [SA4]: Exceedingly nuanced and complex

commentary makes a comparison (void setup to thesis) that
informs and engages the reader. Well done!
 Burns 9

Learning about the English language has been an exceptional enhancement of my ability

to self-teach myself many subjects. Even though I may not always have an enthusiastic or

passionate attitude towards learning the institutionalized version of our beautiful and complex

language, I do acknowledge its importance. Regardless of the struggles and my personal

convoluted emotions with the subject, from a young age I have found English, from a young age,

has provided theto be the base for the multifaceted Diamond that is my learning experience. Commented [SA5]: Effective imagery.

While my experience with writing has been a long and confusing one, there are a few things that

have remained constant throughout; firstly, my continuous struggle to follow the hard set of

norms and guidelines; secondly, my continued love for discovering the structure of writing and

language as a wholethe build block elements; and thirdly, my continued dedication to

showcasing the infinite ways that this complex language can be taught.

Rubric
99.5 A+ Outstanding literacy narrative, Jake!insightful observations illuminated through
descriptive writing and impeccable technical skill (correct grammar and inspired use of
advanced punctuation) make this narrative exceedingly engaging and informative. As well,
the significance of your experience is referenced throughout. Well done, indeed!

Points Points Grading Rubric: Literacy Narrative

Possible Earned
(100 points total)

50 50 Content: Literacy narrative adequately responds to all of the prompts

requirements and demonstrates useful application of readings, in-class
activities, and discussion boards to create an engaging and vivid story of the
students experience with language (50).

20 10 Organization: The content is organized chronologically or in a way that aids and

enhances the narrative and does not confuse the reader (10). Text thoroughly
10 connects the narrative to the evidence (details), and all evidence is relevant to
the topic focus of the narrative (10).
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10 10 Style: The writer considers all possible audiences (classmates and instructor)
and the documents purpose (to explain the significance of a language usage
experience) by using vocabulary and tone appropriate to the situation (10).

10 5 Surface Features: The document is free of grammatical, spelling, and

punctuation errors that might impede overall comprehension (5). It uses
5 economical style (doesnt repeat itself or use unnecessary words) (5).

10 9.5 Format: The document conforms to MLA style (heading, spacing, font, page
layout) (10).