I feel like the most successful assignment that I did was essay 4. The reasoning why I feel like it was my most accomplished is because I made sure to try to quote things much better than I did before, I also believed that the primary source and secondary source prompts helped me connect better on my thesis on why I thought fairytales should be told. 2. I feel like I could have done better with essay 1, it was the first essay and I feel like I did not use proper quotations, I also know I had trouble with how to use proper citations as well. 3. I feel like one thing I learned from this course this semester was to be able to be to write a better thesis and correct wording. I also feel like I was able to be less wordy and more evidence to back up my thesis instead of fancy words.
Oscar Orellana
My thesis for my essay is that fairy tales are good for children to learn. From List A “The Positive Impacts of Fairy Tales for Children” by Knox-Johnson, Leilani Visiko a quote from the article caught my eye. “Fairy tales not only aid in child development, but they also offer a rich source of material to draw from in a therapeutic manner. It caught my eye because it shows that fairy tales can help children process trauma, fear, and complicated emotions, so overcoming just entertainment or moral teachings. “Fairy tales help children move from that disempowered state to a condition that may not be emancipation but that marks the beginnings of some form of agency.” This is a quote from the article listed in List B ” Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative.” by Tatar, Maria. This quotation is significant since it emphasizes how fairy stories give kids a sense of control and possibilities, so empowering them. The stories help them toward times of choice, bravery, and development even if they begin in vulnerable or afraid roles. A crucial aspect of emotional growth is that change from powerlessness to agency helps kids believe they can overcome challenges and direct their paths.
I think that literary works should keep their original language because it keeps the work’s validity and gives us a clear picture of history. Words used by writers like Flannery O’Connor in their stories showed how people really thought and felt at that time, including prejudices and social attitudes. If you change their words, it can change the historical background and make the story less powerful. By sticking to the original language, readers can get into the text the way it was meant to be read and have deep conversations about the ideas it offers. Some words are insulting now, but they help us remember the past and see how language and society have changed over time. We shouldn’t limit literature; instead, we should use it as a chance to think about, study, and learn from the past. But I also know that some people might find some of the words I use offensive. In school settings, content warnings or led talks can help set the scene while still protecting the original work’s integrity. Literature should push us, even if it makes us feel bad because feeling bad can help us understand things better and think more critically.
Essay #1 made me realize there’s much more to add to your statements. I learned that I went off topic a couple of times and did not provide exactly why the quotations I used were of importance, I did not fully flesh out my ideas on why the student could have done better, I did not include if they included primary sources, and added words and ideas of something that the radar article did not talk about. I also forgot to talk about the formatting of the student sample essay In the future, I would ensure to include better punctuation. I would also fix my works cited as I saw I did it incorrectly. I saw that I also could have added more explanation to my sentences and tried to include filler sentences that didn’t lead to much in my essay. My format wasn’t as correct as it should have been, Next Essay I would take everything I got wrong in my feedback and be able to make a more fluent and detailed essay.
In week 1, activity #10 gives the instructions for an assignment that would have to evaluate a student’s sample essay, but there are many instructions before we can do that. For the first step, it tells us that we have to read the text “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, followed by step 2, reading the overview of the story as well which Dean Rader writes. We will then look at PowerPoint for the thesis statement and also learn how to insert quotations correctly in a literature essay (Activity 6). The reasoning for learning Activity 5-8 is to ensure that when we read the student’s sample essay, we are aware of the mistakes the student might make and can correct them, but also give them their credibility on being able to add these elements to their literary writing such as MLA Citation. After all is done with the instructions, we can then go on to read the student sample’s essay.
