self-evaluation

A. What invention strategy did you find worked best for you? Why do you think this strategy was the most helpful? What other prewriting did you do before writing your draft? I used both a personal outline and the prewriting exercise sheet handed out in class. They both helped because I I was able to write what came to my mind first and the second activity allowed me to think about it in a whole new light.

B. Which prompt did you end up selecting? Did you consider any other options or change your mind during the drafting process?
I picked the Food and family prompt. I considered doing the food and adventure, but ended up staying with food and family.

C. What difficulties did you experience trying to discover a single focus or reason for writing? It was hard trying to say exactly what I wanted about my family and food without making it cluttered.

D. What one or two (thesis) sentence(s) from your essay articulates your purpose for writing? (Write your thesis statement below.) .” Food is not merely something we eat, but is a time to bring together family and friends and create lasting memories.

E. What problems did you have trying to organize your essay? How did you overcome these difficulties? Like I said before I had trouble trying not to clutter the essay with to much information. I just merely tried to put in the the most important information.

F. If you were starting the assignment over from scratch, what would you do differently? What changes would you make to your writing /thinking process? I would possibly consider adding another family dish or maybe spending more time on memories.

G. What do you like best about your essay? I liked my intro the best because I think it gave my essay a really good start and specifically stated my thesis.

H. What do you like least about your essay? I don't like the choppiness and hope to improve that on my final draft.

No Ordinary Dish

My family has used food for many years as a conversation piece. Food has brought us together especially food that has been passed down through out my family, creating a delicious tradition. Though most of the food we cook is no ordinary dish. Elsa Schiaparelli once said, “Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.” Food is not merely something we eat in my family, but is a time to bring together family and friends and create lasting memories.

My family has a long line of cooks ever since I can remember I’ve been cooking as well. My Great, Great Grandfather really began the tradition of cooking. This led to the tradition of some of our families’ famous dishes. My father cooked for many years while serving in the army, and went on to own his own bakery. So cooking and baking just comes naturally it seems. Two of our biggest family events where food is served, especially some of my favorite foods is our annual Christmas Eve party and our family reunions. When I think of food I think of meals that I share with my family and memories that come with those foods.

One of my favorite traditions and dishes that have been passed down on my dad’s side is called kidney stew. The recipe began with my Great Grandpa Kinsey, who passed it on to my Grandpa Bedford. After Bedford learned to make the recipe he would serve it every Christmas morning. How the stew is prepared is first the kidneys are cut up and the fat is trimmed off of the kidneys. Then they are placed in a large pot to soak in water, several times, and sprinkled with salt, as my Grandpa Bedford use to say, “Rinse um and squeeze the piss out of them.” After they have been rinsed several times, they are boiled and cooked, then to finish it all off with placing them into thickened broth, and we always serve it over buttered toast and a strip of bacon. This dish isn’t just food to my family, but it holds so many memories.

For about twenty years kidney stew has been served at our Christmas Eve party and all our family reunions. My dad always hosts a Christmas Eve party where both his side and my mom’s side of the family get together to celebrate. The party is filled with foods and is like our own little pitch in. I can remember back to when we first began throwing our Christmas Eve part, the house reeked of the nastiest smell, I couldn’t even leave my room because I hated the smell so much, but my dad kept telling me that I would have to try the kidney stew that Grandpa use to make when he was my age. I didn’t really decide to try the stew until the next year at our family reunion, which is where we really began serving the stew. Each year my dad’s or one of his three brothers hosts our Culp family reunion. The reunion either happens here in Indiana or back where my dad grew up in Michigan. When I think of going back to Michigan to have Kidney stew I remember my grandparent’s lake cabin. I only visited it once when I was five years old. The cabin lay in the deep Michigan woods, and was surrounded by water and big, oak trees. It smelled like cedar when you opened the door. I only knew my Grandpa Bedford for a very short time so remembering the cabin and making the stew each year let’s me remember him. Another tradition that comes with kidney stew is one that my family takes very serious, if we have a new member of our family or a significant other join us at a reunion then they must try the kidney stew. Though kidney stew is somewhat out of the ordinary for people outside of my family, I love telling others about this family meal.

Another food that means a lot to my family comes from my mom. Though it hasn’t been passed down from generations, it has sparked quite a few conversations. Fifteen years ago my mom found a recipe for a layered salad, which included broccoli, peas, carrots, onions and a special dressing. This not so ordinary salad made its premier at a family picnic, and was named stinky salad, though it has a sweet smell rather than a stinky smell. People kept asking her to bring it to parties and it just became a tradition to serve at her annual girlfriend party and at our Christmas Eve party.

Stinky salad is ultimately one of my favorite dishes my mom makes, but I love thinking about Christmas time especially because it involves eating stinky salad. My mom makes the salad now only about three times a year and one of those times is her yearly girlfriend party. Each year around Christmas we get together with my mom’s three best friends from high school and exchange presents and catch up with one another. I have so many great memories that have come out of the girlfriend party, whether it’s trying something new or getting trapped by my godmother’s bull on their farm. Each memory comes back to taking time and getting together.

Though food has brought my family together during the holidays or a little traditional get together, it has created long lasting memories. Food is not merely something we eat but a tradition that we can pass on and create more memories with. Though my family might have foods that seem out of the ordinary to me they have created so much more than ordinary memories.

 

FOOD + FAMILY

I have chosen to write about food and my family. I decided to pick this prompt because I believe my family has certain dishes that are very different from many other families, as well as we all love to cook. I would like to write about my family history involving food, especially the fact that my dad has owned his own bakery and has cooked for numerous years. One dish in particular means a lot to my family and that is Kidney Stew. So I would like to focus on how important that has become in our family and will be passed down for many generations. I would also like to focus on other foods that have become a tradition over the years even though we didn't exactly come up with them. I would like to write this paper as a narrative and possibly illustration and description, so I can appeal to the reader more. Other than that I would like to give a background of why food is important for my family and why we enjoy doing together.

Your Trusted Friends Part Two

It was very interesting that McDonald's and Disney came together in selling there products. Two men who had been friends through areas in their life were now two of the greatest men to influence America's economy.

I also thought it was pretty amazing how schools became the target for fast food places, and how Coke and other sodas began paying to be in schools. I think so many people were concerned with money from these products that they never thought about their children's health.

Your trusted Friends Part One

In the first part of chapter two I really enjoyed learning more about Walt Disney and Ray Kroc. It gave me more of an insight of who the two men were behind two of the greatest influences in American industries.

I though it was extremely interesting learning that Walt Disney relied on federal funds, and I had no idea that he produced propaganda for World War II. Also, that one of his chief scientist worked in research for World War II.

I also thought it was interesting how he shows that twenty-five years ago companies focused on children with food and candy. Yet, now days still focused on children they try and sell clothes, cars, and phones. It shows how much American industries have influenced teens and children.

I also couldn't believe how much sells increased when McDonald's introduced the Teenie Beanie Baby toys. They sold 10 million Happy Meals a week, I remember when they began selling the Beanie Babies and I can certainly remember being one of those kids buying the Happy Meals.

It was very interesting that McDonald's and Disney came together in selling there products. Two men who had been friends through areas in their life were now two of the greatest men to influence America's economy.

I also thought it was pretty amazing how schools became the target for fast food places, and how Coke and other sodas began paying to be in schools. I think so many people were concerned with money from these products that they never thought about their children's health.

Modes of writing

                Sunday evening had final come and I was headed back to the USI. The three hour drive was long and boring, but finally I made it back to my apartment. As soon as I opened the door to the apartment, I knew that my roommate had played party host all weekend long. I continued in the door and all over the living room floor there were plastic cups and paper plates. The kitchen had trash spilling out of the pink, plastic container, and food was everywhere. The hall leading to my room had little torn pieces of streamers and a few more cups. I was afraid to walk back and see the rest of the apartment, but as soon as I walked back to my door and placed my laundry basket on the blue carpeted floor, I knew my room had gone untouched.

 

                Friday had finally come and I was so excited because my boyfriend, Christopher was on his way to see me. As I was getting ready the mirror that was held up by a wobbly little piece of plastic fell out of place and hit me on the nose and shattered. I tried not to let it put me in a bad mood, so I cleaned up all the shattered pieces and continued to get ready. Four o’clock finally rolled around and Christopher pulled in to my building, I could hardly contain my excitement. We packed up my stuff and began to drive an hour away to see his sister, but it began to snow. As we arrived to the little country town of Winslow, the snow was already covering the roads. When we made a wrong turn into someone’s yard my car got stuck.  Finally, an hour later we had Alyse, Christopher’s sister come and pull us out of the wet, soft, snow covered grown. When it was all said and done, I was just glad to call it a day.

 

                Attending USI has changed my life in many ways. When I first came to USI I was both nervous and excited. I knew a few people who had come from my school and that was about it, but it didn’t matter, because I was finally in college. What I didn’t realize was how hard it was to be so far from what I was use to and what I knew best. Finally, around September I did formal recruitment to join a sorority and I joined Gamma Phi Beta. Though often times people stereo type sororities, Gamma Phi Beta has been one of the best things to happen to me at USI. Not only did I gain a home away from home. I’ve gained friends that I will have for a lifetime.

The Founding Fathers

In chapter one I found that it was very interesting how fast food was influenced so much by cars. Food revolved around the revolution of the car. I also liked how a rival chain of McDonald's stated, "Our food was exactly the same as McDonald's." Which is so true no matter where we go to eat it is all pretty much the same. One other thing I really enjoyed reading about was the history of both McDonald's and Carl Jrs. many of us never think about how food has impacted our nation so much.

Inspire Final Draft

In Suzanne Britt’s essay “Generation A+,” she tries to communicate to her readers the deficiency of student motivation and perseverance found in today’s world of Education. Students no longer strive to pursue knowledge, work hard, and earn grades, but instead seek only to pursue a higher GPA in the easiest possible way. Students have found the ease in using handicaps and poor excuses to get out of essentially pursuing education. Therefore, this generation has sarcastically been deemed the name “Generation A+,” when in fact we are nothing short of a generation that has become lazy and poorly informed.

Most would find Britt’s essay to be rude and one-sided. Yet, I found it to be an honest prospective of today’s youth. Today’s students have lost their passion for learning and no longer take learning to be a serious issue. Because of the lack of drive and enthusiasm in today’s adolescence, education has gone from centuries of men and women enlightening the world to men and women simply getting by with second best. If this generation can only seek out the “easy A,” then how will generations to come know how to work at anything more then the “easy A.”

Britt mentions that she misses the “C student,” the type of student that comes to class, turns in work, and doesn’t complain. This student might have been a dream student compared to students in today’s world who so easily maneuver their way through classes and to the top of the grading scale. Yet, could the truth about the “C student” be that they are the reason some have become so fond of easing through education giving us the name “Generation A+.” I believe that the type of thinking from these specific students has led to our generation not wanting to work hard for our grades or even our education. When I was younger I remember friends being offered rewards for grades, but my parents believed that I shouldn’t be rewarded for something that I should already be working hard to get. At the time I was bitter for not getting treats like many of my friends, but as I grew up my friends stopped getting rewards and had nothing to work for. This is how we look at education if we don’t receive some kind of prize or reward it’s not worth working for, this is all our generation is motivated for.

Britt’s essay is simply giving a true view of student’s trying everything in order to merely pass the class. Yet, Britt realizes that time and again students have been given to many opportunities, with simple excuses and extreme measures. In Britt’s essay she say’s “Graduate school is really college, college is really high school, high school is really junior high-or even elementary school.” I agree today’s academic standards have changed, courses are getting easier and students are getting lazier, even teachers are losing their standards as educators. Coming from a college prep high school I expected more from a college experience. For myself some classes have been a challenge and others seem simply like review. Students spend much of their time in classrooms, but never really leave with the information. Has this generation forgot what learning is? I believe many of us only seek for the most part an undemanding way to earn a degree. The thinking for many students now is, as long as I get an “A” we don’t care and after we take a test the information no longer matters. We should want to inspire the next generation and create a legacy for ourselves, and not a generation that seems to only care about getting an “A”. As Britt said,” College is really like high school,” and I agree, right now as a student in 2009 I don’t feel challenged enough to think of college as college, but as a higher form of high school.

 For very few students’ education is more than getting that “A”, it’s about reaching a goal and pursing a higher education. I feel that I have and still do pursue to accomplish my education. I have pushed myself to achieve the very best for myself and to accomplish all of my goals that I continue to set for myself. Where as many others have grown up in schools and have had educators that let them simply get by with compromise of educational ability. . As a student I believe that the core curriculum schools are placing on students’ now days, as a requirement is nothing short of pointless and time consuming. Education may seem to be a burden often times, but there are times as students when we are able to learn about more than just required curriculum, but instead students get to learn about curriculum that pertains to their study. I believe that if students could spend more time studying what they are passionate about then more students would want to pursue education more eagerly.

However, I believe many other factors through years of education have placed a burden on learning. Such as various educators, I wish that teachers would have stressed the importance of learning in school. A math teacher I once had, Mrs. Shebeck ruined my outlook on math class. She was always putting students down and never took the time to really explain. For me she is one of the reasons school and especially math has impacted my learning. Though math isn’t the only problem I found as a factor of failure in the school system but, I also wish teachers would have stressed the importance of writing. Writing was never properly taught to myself and was never a main focus. Now I feel as if so many students don’t even know how to write a proper essay or even know the proper grammar to use in a paper. I never realized how much I was never taught especially in writing until one English class. The teacher expected us to know every major thing about composition, but several teachers I had never stressed the importance of writing. I knew a few of the writing styles and other things I remembered vaguely from previous English teachers; but for this particular class it wasn’t enough to know just the basics and it was quite an eye opener.

In the last paragraph Britt stresses, “If a teacher does not teach-and students do not learn-then the stately towers of academe become a little more than strip malls for shrewd shoppers.” We as a generation have forgotten what it means to educate and be educated. We have become infatuated with letter grades instead of the importance of what we take away from the classes and teachers. Yet, while we are concerned about the easiest way to get an “A” or pass a few classes, whose thinking about the next generation or the future presidents or scientists. Will we have another leader willing to lead us to do great things or possibly run our nation into the ground? We as future leaders of this nation need to pursue education with passion and become “Generation Inspire” and not a generation full of failure.

Revisions

I received plenty of great critiques on my essay from my peer review. I would like to improve my essay by making it longer, adding more personal experience, detail, and possible adding another perspective I found within “Generation A+.” I also would like to improve on the little typos, punctuation mistakes, and minor structuring errors in my sentences that were brought to my attention. I would like to truly improve on making my thesis clearer and more evident to my readers. Also while agreeing with Britt’s opinion on this generation and their feelings on education, I would like to add more of my personal experiences through my years of education. One last thing I would like to see in my final essay would be my prospective on the other side of the argument. I think by stating both sides and ho I feel might make the reader understand why Britt is saying what she is and how it relates to us as a whole. I would also like to try and make my sentences more understandable and less run-ons or minor punctuation errors. Other than fixing these few minor details in my essay, the critique I received was very helpful and gave me an outer perspective on what should and should not be added to my essay.

Self-review

1. Which prompt did you select? Why did this one appeal to you over the others? What other prompts did you consider? I selected the prompt about Suzzane Britt’s, “Generation A+.” This appealed to me because I agreed with her point that she was trying to get across in her essay and I think that more people need to take notice to what’s going on in education. I considered writing on “Shame,” because everyone has experienced shame in one way or another.

2. Which mode(s) of writing were most helpful to you in terms of creating content? Did you primarily tell a story, compare and/or contrast or describe, for example? What other modes of writing/thinking did you utilize? I tried to use various different modes to help the idea of Britt’s essay and what I believed she was trying to express.

Primary mode(s): Description and compare and contrast

Secondary mode(s): Illustration and some narrative

3. What specific details will you include for your reader? Why are these details important? What do they accomplish? How education has personally impacted my life and teachers who have made a difference or have lacked influence on my education.

4. What “place(s)” or “scene(s)” do you try to recreate for your reader? Why are they crucial? Paste the most important scene in your essay below: An English class where I personally realized that past educators did not teach me all that I needed to know about writing. It is crucial because even though as students often times we don’t want to work for our grades, teachers have not been teaching students everything to prepare for higher learning. In the last paragraph Britt stresses, “If a teacher does not teach-and students do not learn-then the stately towers of academe become a little more than strip malls for shrewd shoppers.” We as a generation have forgotten what it means to educate and be educated. We have become infatuated with letter grades instead of the importance of what we take away from the classes and teachers. Yet, while we are concerned about the easiest way to get an A or pass a few classes, whose thinking about the next generation or the future Presidents or scientists. Will we have another leader willing to lead us to do great things or possibly run our nation into the ground? We as future leaders of this nation need to pursue education with passion and become “Generation Inspire” and not a generation full of failure.

5. Thinking in terms of your thesis, explain your main reason for writing…What are you hoping to accomplish in your essay? Why does it exist? I wanted to show how as a student in this generation I agree with Britt’s essay. How we have lost the eagerness to learn.

6. Thinking in terms of your audience, explain what choices you made with your reader in mind…What did you include, what did you take out? I tried to include as many details about my life as a student but as well as faults I found in the educational system.

7. What problems or struggles did you experience writing this draft? What kind of feedback would you like from your peer reviewers? I struggled trying to compliment Britt, I didn’t want to make her look wrong, but I didn’t want all the blame on students.

First Draft "Generation Inspire"

In Suzanne Britt’s essay “Generation A+,” she tries to communicate to her readers the deficiency of student motivation and perseverance found in today’s world of Education. Students no longer strive to pursue knowledge, work hard, and earn grades, but instead seek only to pursue I higher GPA in the easiest possible way. Students have found the ease in using handicaps and poor excuses to get out of essentially pursuing education. Therefore, this generation has sarcastically been deemed the name “Generation A+,” when in fact we are nothing short of a generation that has become lazy and poorly informed.

Most would find Britt’s essay to be rude and one-sided yet, I found it to be a true prospective of today’s youth. Today’s students have lost their passion for learning and no longer take learning to be a serious issue. Because of the lack of drive and enthusiasm in today’s adolescence, education has gone from centuries of men and women enlightening the world to men and women simply getting by with second best. If this generation can only seek out the “easy A,” then how will generations to come know how to work at anything more then the “easy A.”

Britt’s essay is simply given a true view of student’s trying everything in order to simply pass the class. Yet, Britt realizes that time and again students have been given to many opportunities, with simple excuses and extreme measures. In Britt’s essay she say’s “Graduate school is really college, College is really high school, high school is really junior high-or even elementary school.” I agree today’s academic standards have changed, courses are getting easier and students are getting lazier, Even teachers are losing their standards as an educator. Coming from a college prep high school I expected more from a college experience. For myself some classes have been a challenge and others seem simply like review. Students spend much of their time in classrooms, but never really leave with the information. Has this generation forgot what learning is? I believe many of us only seek for the most part an undemanding way to earn a degree. The thinking for many students now is, as long as I get an A we don’t care and after we take a test the information no longer matters. We should want to inspire the next generation and create a legacy for ourselves, and not a generation that seems to only care about getting an A. As Britt said,” College is really like high school,” and I agree, right now as a student in 2009 I don’t feel challenged enough to think of college as college, but as high school.

 For very few students education is more than getting that A, it’s about reaching a goal and pursing a higher education. I feel that I have and still do pursue to accomplish my education. I have pushed myself to achieve the very best for myself and to accomplish all of my goals I have set. Where as many others have grown up in schools and have had educators that let them simply get by with compromise of educational ability. Education may seem to be a burden often times, but there are times as students when we are able to learn about more than just required curriculum, but instead students get to learn about curriculum that pertains to their study. As a student I believe that the core curriculum schools are placing on students’ as a requirement is nothing short of pointless and time consuming. I believe that if students could spend more time studying what they are passionate about then more students would want to pursue education more eagerly.

Yet, I believe many other factors through years of education have placed a burden on learning. Such as various educators, I wish that teachers would have stressed the importance of learning in school. I also wish teachers would have stressed the importance of writing and grammar. Writing was never properly taught to myself and was never a main focus. Now I feel as if so many students don’t even know how to write a proper essay or even know the proper grammar to use in a paper. I never realized how much I was never taught especially in writing until one English class. The teacher expected us to know every major thing about composition, but teachers never stressed the importance of writing. I knew a few of the writing styles and other things I remembered from previous English teachers; but for this particular class it wasn’t enough to know just the basics and it was quite an eye opener.In the last paragraph Britt stresses, “If a teacher does not teach-and students do not learn-then the stately towers of academe become a little more than strip malls for shrewd shoppers.” We as a generation have forgotten what it means to educate and be educated. We have become infatuated with letter grades instead of the importance of what we take away from the classes and teachers. Yet, while we are concerned about the easiest way to get an A or pass a few classes, whose thinking about the next generation or the future Presidents or scientists. Will we have another leader willing to lead us to do great things or possibly run our nation into the ground? We as future leaders of this nation need to pursue education with passion and become “Generation Inspire” and not a generation full of failure.