English 1301 in a Nutshell

The course of English 1301 section 013 walks you through the process of writing while studying all aspects. At times work will be done with groups in collaboration advancing teamwork and other times individually building confidence in personal abilities. To be successful in this class the required book is Starkey, David. Academic Writing Now: A Brief Guide for Busy Students. Broadview Press, 2017. Classes meet Tuesday and Thursdays from 2:00 to 3:20 in the Arts and Sciences building in room 208. Professors office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Attendance for class is not mandatory but there will be a notecard written every day and this is how attendance is taken. They do count as part of the grade for this course but will not have a huge impact on your overall final grade for the class. The main grades are LU #1 Paper, LU #2 Paper, LU #3 Paper, LU #4, Website, Final Reflection, Engagement, and Information Literacy Quizzes. These percentages will add up to create an overall grade. In order to pass this course, a final draft for all 4 of the Learning Unit (LU) must be turned in on time. Failure to turn in these final drafts will result in an F for the course. In order to contact the professor if it is through the student patriot email, or you can call the Department of Literature and Languages office (903-566-7373) and leave a message. Finally, all papers and assignments should be written double spaced with one line between paragraphs. Fount should be Times New Roman 12 pt., 1” margins all round and one space after periods. Campus policy does not except cheating in any form and will result in automatic failure of that course as well as possible expelled from the University of Texas at Tyler.

Importance of Reading and Writing through Pekins

In a first-year English class two of the main focusses are reading and writing. Throughout the passage “A Community College Professor Reflects on First-Year Composition” by John Pekins it explains the importance in both areas as well as how students may struggle with it. Explaining why composition has declined is not as complicated as it seems. Perkins points out that in today’s day and age, the amount of technology students have at their fingertip tends to get in the way. Pekins points this out in his passage because it is a big factor that hinders students from reading on a regular basis. Now students and teachers have smart phones that are capable of almost anything a desktop computer can do without having to be in one location. Why read and write when surfing the web is more entertaining? The second point Pekins mentions is the lack of effort from k-12 teachers in making it a priority to enforce reading and writing. “The absence of reading in households” affects as well because if teachers where to send reading homework with a student at the younger level parents may not care to help then with it, so it doesn’t get done (Pekins, 233). The statistics done by Pekins in his research at Tallahassee Community College along with information from coworkers at other colleges showed a significant decline in the readiness of college level reading and writing abilities. Pekins suggest two major areas of practitioners to consider, one of them being assessments. More assessments should take place in schools from ages k to 12 to ensure the readiness students need for college level classes. The second solution from Pekins “involves more vigorous inclusion of reading… in the composition classroom” (Pekins, 235). To help advance the reading and writing areas of college more time and effort should be place into it at the younger ages so it will be built in by the time they arrive to college.

Tasks Reflections

Through these summaries the purpose was to show what English 1301 has in store and build confidence in writers. It also created a base line for why reading and writing is important. Through these summaries’ information was gained that will be useful to students throughout the semester in this course. In writing these summaries I didn’t really use any of the same tactics I normally use. I don’t write much anyways to have a certain way in writing and in the past when I would write I would turn it in without revising it at all because I didn’t really care. With these two summaries I revised them my self as well has have a classmate (Mikaela Kizer) edit and help me better my pieces. The way I went about writing was a lot better than the pasted and seamed to help me a lot more. Normally I would have problems in writing and since then I have opened my mind up to writing in hopes to better myself and gain the confidence every writer should have. I will continue to use these tactics of writing my papers and having them looked over my others as well as looking over them several times myself before summiting the final copy. I am not a bad writer and the process done with these two summaries showed me that in the feedback I got from Mikaela. It has changed my whole viewpoint in writing as to now I enjoy it more than before. It was a challenge in the beginning with the first summary assigned simply due to the fact I was not a fan of writing nor did I fell like my writing was good or mattered to others. Rethinking my whole writing process will help better my summaries and essays in the long run to make then the content needed to meet the tasks expectations. Having no preexisting concepts made me realize you cannot write blindly because it makes it harder. Overall the techniques I have picked up in this process will stay with me as I gain and better my writing experience.

 Believing a discourse community is important to get involved in I don’t think there are any requirements or regulations dictating what makes a discourse community a discourse community. Any group that is more than a few people can call themselves a discourse community if they wish to. One group is in no way better than the other or more of a discourse community than others. Everyone is different and finds interest in different things and just because they are part of a group no like the other doesn’t make it less of a discourse community. 

Through my discourse community in highschool of being on the varsity soccer team our coach had very high standard for us to assure we accomplish the goals we set as a team at the beginning of each season. In order for these goals to come about we shared aloud our own personal goals and found a common group where everyone viewed the same. Our goals where to leave our best work out on the field after every game no matter what cure was through at us, win district champs of course, and go as far as possible in the playoffs knowing we deserve every round we win. With these goals set in place our coach wanted us to learn first off how working together as a team gets you farther rather than trying to do it alone, and that anything can happen if you set your mind to it and do everything you are capable of to achieve it. As a team mate and captain on my team I couldn’t  have asked for a better group of girls do go through this experience with. Each one dedicated hard work and lots of time into the sport we all loved. Since our coach made us come up with goals together we all knew what one another was striving for and helped reach those goals knowing we weren’t only doing it for our satisfaction but the satisfaction of our coach and teammates. The impact playing soccer throughout my life has taught me that when working with a team there are a lot of shared goals as well as goals you set for yourself to better the ability you can contribute to the team. Having goals together as a team helps hold everyone accountable and is good for future life skills in work settings where you may have you own tasks but in the end it all comes back and reflects the place as a business. 

My major is nursing and throughout this discourse community in college there are different ways of communication. Here at UT Tyler the nursing department has a general mission statement/goal of “We aspire to be the leader in transforming lives through excellence in nursing education”. Shared values over the whole department are excellence, a spirit of inquiry, and caring. When joining this discourse community the mission and values can be considered as a guideline – for what is understood as the “requirement”, to join. With these set in place right off that bat it assures that everyone has an understanding of what is being worked for. 

Genres in the nursing program come in many different ways. I feel like medical talk is almost like a language in and of itself. Specifically in nursing a genres required could be the knowledge of medical terminology. Keeping a journal of every patient’s vitals, what happened to them, what to be watching for, and the process of healing can be considered a genre as well. Key features of these genres all lead back to understandings the terminology. Having a leadership personality/character trait helps tremendously and this is where my position as caption on my soccer team benefits me. Expectations for leaderships come with knowing all there is to know in the medical field as well as taking on responsibilities that may not be specifically your own. In nursing good writing/making a sound argument would be knowing what medications to give, how to diagnose from any information/description given by the patient, and keep track of charts and paperwork. For myself and the successfulness of becoming a nurse, specifically specializing in NICU nursing, I set goals such as, of course, good grades, learning the matiale and knowing it by heart not just memorizing it for tests, and caring for each individual as if they where someone I loved and knew really well.  

Joining a discourse community at a younger age helped me want to join more in the future because it’s always a constant group of people to rely on and be able to go to them when you need help with something. I think it is important to get plug into some type of group or organization that is a discourse community because it helps you get involved in the community itself as well as the people around you. This comes in very handy at the college level when you are new at a different place away from your parents.

Reflection

In writing this analysis paper I used specific details such how we created our goals in my high school discourse community. “In order for these goals to come about we shared aloud our own personal goals and found a common group where everyone viewed the same.” On the other hand with my new discourse community in college being my nursing major I have not yet joined as I am finishing my basics. In order to gain the information I did on what is expected I used the UT Tyler nursing major page to find all the information such as the “mission statement/goal of “We aspire to be the leader in transforming lives through excellence in nursing education”.” and the “Shared values over the whole department are excellence, a spirit of inquiry, and caring.” With this writing assignment compared to others I did more research on my own instead of it being given to me since each individual has their own major they are pursuing. Before writing this analysis paper I never really thought about how important it was to me to be involved in a discourse community because it’s always just been something I’ve done. I enjoyed writing this paper as it showed me the leadership skills I gain of simply being a captain on a soccer team and how they can help me through the rest of my life and especially in the career I am pursuing.  

Education and the writing that is involved  has always been something I was aware of and forced to do but never really something I participated in for the heck of it. Throughout this course of English 1301 it is definitely something I have learned the importance of and grew to not despise it so much. Learning Unit 2 we were guided to write about a passage “A Community College Professor Reflects on First-Year Composition” by Pekins that talked about the lack of interest and knowledge of reading and writing nowadays. Not only did it mention the lack of reading and writing it talked about the importance of the two areas and suggested how to do so. In Learning Unit 3 we discussed our discourse community we have recently joined or soon to join. Through the research done when learning about our discourse community we learned that reading and writing are involved in all kinds of ways and set the tone of each group. These two learning units tie together really well in that fact that learning unit 2 set us up in discovering the importance of reading and writing and then learning unit 3 was a form/example of proof and how its used everywhere.

Throughout the passage “A Community College Professor Reflects on First-Year Composition” Pekins structures his text by introducing his own perspective on the class before explaining how the class itself is beneficial. The major sections of the chapter are how he (the author) feels about the subject, the benefits of taking this course and how they impact the learner as well as how the learner can improve their skills from this course. This supports the fact that Pekins created an effective article on the importance and the recently show lack of reading and writing.

The organization of the text appeals to the audience in a way that is relatable and encouraging regarding the course. The pattern is very apparent in that its clear what Pekins is trying to convey which also makes it very effective. When Pekins moves from one claim to the next the logic used to make these transitions is consistent with the overall theme such that Pekins explains his point while also explaining the counter to that point which shows the reader that he understands where there may be controversy. One place that Pekins seems to go off on a tangent is when he gives the example of integration but at the same time the example does give the reader a better sense of the theme. The structure of the chapter is effective because it starts with a personal connection between the subject and the author which draws the reader’s attention to the whole of the chapter, continuing into the main point. By giving it the personal experience it makes the article cohesive, such that it tends to both the author and the reader, gives personal opinion, an example and also ties in the importance of the course itself. 

The tone of the text is straightforward and educational but also down to earth. He uses word choices such as “ At the start of each semester, my reaction to these results is always the same: heartfelt concern for these people sitting before me-men and women, some younger, some older-all of whom have arrived at my classroom with admirable goals related to acquiring satisfying careers for themselves and secure futures for their families” which helps shows he is truly looking out for the successfulness for all as well as the importance of keeping reading and writing around education standards. Pekins did use several jargon terms throughout his article but with the text surrounding you are able to determine was he is meaning. By using jargons, it helps show his credibility throughout knowing he is a professor and sees the issues explained firsthand. The tone and diction create a caring but also professional relationship with the reader, like Pekins is guiding the reader through the ways in which to be successful in this course. He treats the readers as though he is giving them advice and instruction rather than engaging in a conversation all in good intentions. Many people don’t realize the lack of reading and writing until they are presented with information or questioned about the topic. Pekins’ choice for tone appeal to the reader but it could be easy for the reader to get lost or confused throughout the text because of his professional choice of diction. 

To conclude his article and the information informing the issue of lack of college level reading and writing he states solutions and way to pursue them. He wants his readers to look at the positive aspects of this course and appreciate the opportunity they have to learn more about literature and improve their reading and writing skills despite the difficulty of the course. Pekins makes sure to keep the main point in though throughout the whole article so the readers know and can put in perspective what he sees. By providing solutions to the problem at hand he is clear on the call of action that needs to take place in order to prepare for the readiness needed. The whole article makes asks questions and make statements to make the readers think about the piece and evaluate in their own opinion the problem presented. For the future Pekins hopes to see an increase in reading and writing for the better good of all.