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Sofia Diamond

Professor Isabell Hope Garcia

English 134

16 April, 2024

I Can Spel

“How ‘bout jewelry?” My dad said as he shuffled through his stack of cards. He has been

adding a new word to it three times a week for the last year. I’m stumped. Again. I never seem to

remember how to spell it. English has always been difficult for me, especially spelling. Why

don’t the words look the way they are spelled? Wensday is wrong. Is it tropicle or tropical? Why

is it not popsical instead of popsicle then? Who knows.

“J-E-W-E-L-R-Y” I responded.

“Very good,” he exclaims. It isn’t common that I get this one right.

My whole family is full of writers. My dad received his undergraduate in linguistics. My

mom also studied linguistics. Even both of my sisters did communications in college. I’m the

odd one in the family, consistently preferring my Mathematics homework over English. I don’t

even necessarily think I’m bad at writing, not like I really had a choice. Any essay I did write my

mom would slaughter, with love, until my revisions proved sufficient. Over the years I have

picked up skills, improving my grammar and vocabulary due to this ample exposure of my

family’s great writers. However, even with all the support I could need, I just never had an

affinity towards it.

“How ‘bout communicating?” my dad continues on with his cards, snapping me out of

my thoughts. This one I know, thankfully.

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We did this for two years. Thirty minutes, every day, after school my dad recites these

cards in hopes of improving my spelling. My teachers always say the same thing, “She’s a good

writer, she just can’t spell,” usually accompanied by a chuckle. I know I can't spell well, but I

have tried to do my best to improve that. Hence, this “game” where my dad calls out a word, I

try to spell it, and if I get them all correct I get a prize. Once I convinced him to deliver lunch to

me for a whole week! My spelling may not be phenomenal, but I am very persuasive. I don’t

mind this “game”. He’s always very encouraging, happy when I get a word right and teaches me

tricks to remembering particularly difficult ones for me. Sometimes I just wished I didn’t

struggle so much with something the rest of my family excels in. My dad always tells others the

story of when I wrote a perfect alphabet in black Sharpie all over his sacred white leather couch.

I was so proud of my creation, smiling from ear to ear, completely oblivious to the near

permanent destruction I had done.

“It was so perfect, I couldn’t even be mad!” he would say in amusement. I guess a perfect

alphabet doesn’t translate to proper spelling, but even I am still proud of myself when I hear him

tell that story.

As I traversed through high school, the flash cards were put to rest, but my unrelenting

goal to improve my spelling did not slow. I had handwritten essays for AP and IB testing that I

refused to fail due to “bad spelling”. If you can’t already tell, I’m extremely stubborn, especially

when it comes to something I know I can improve with enough effort. Hours spent writing

practice essays in pen followed by combing through every sentence began to pay off. Repeatedly

getting words wrong meant I could spot them quickly after I made them in the moment.

However, this practice also made me dislike writing the more I forced myself to practice. The

mixed emotions of pride for my improvements and dread every time I would scan another
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practice essay question page created conflicted feelings towards writing as a whole. Regardless, I

pushed through. By the end of high school, I was tired. Academic essay, argumentative essay,

research essay, each drowning on as if I’m stuck in a loop. I couldn’t remember the last time I

even read something for fun, much less written something for fun.

Unexpectedly, my college essay reignited my enjoyment for writing. I forgot about how

much fun creative writing can be. This process actually made me remember my dad and I’s

“game” in the first place. Something others may label as insignificant I really learned to value as

I got older. It was quality time that I got with my dad, even if it wasn’t something I particularly

enjoyed. It made me realize that his efforts were his way of showing love. Wanting the best for

your children, especially in his generation, began with the way you spoke; how articulate others

perceived you to be. This sparked my motivation to accurately represent how this gesture was

not only appreciated, but positively affected my academics in high school.

My mom was an enormous help as well, not only academically, but inspirationally. Every

new prompt I read, I would spew all my ideas on a page. With my moms assistance, we

narrowed them all down, laughing at funny memories and appreciating each other's company.

Through many drafts, I was able to add vivid details, emotions, and encapsulate certain eras in

my life in a way I had never been tasked to do before. Representing my community, my

participation in such, and the challenges I overcame all in a couple of pages showed me how far I

have come from that 11 year old who struggled to spell “because”. Every once in a while, my

mom would pop her head into the office, trying to sneak an early look at my essay. She would

even try to tempt me with food, but I would not relent. It had to be my best effort before I let her

give me revisions. When I was finally satisfied, I gave her the essays, giddy to hear her critiques.

Thirty minutes later, my mom returned my essay with a warm smile. As I looked down, I saw a
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beautifully boring black and white page. Not a single red slash in sight. Yes, that includes no

spelling errors!
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Sofia Diamond

Professor Isabell Hope Garcia

English 134

16 April, 2024

Reflection

One of my most helpful process artifacts was the first assignment I did in this

class, the Writing Process Survey. Within the survey, I wrote that one of the most difficult

parts of writing for me is the conclusion. I have always found it hard to end an essay in a

way that isn't abrupt and awkward. However, I think for this essay I really tried to write

multiple ways that I could end my Narrative, choosing my favorite and revising it

multiple times with the help of my peers' responses. This relates to the EO 3 learning

outcome, as I did develop my ideas further to achieve a better conclusion through the use

of writing different ideas and then revising one idea. I think this was a really helpful way

for me to write conclusions and I will be using this method in the future to brainstorm

more ideas instead of trying to restrict myself to the first attempt I put on the page.

I believe for a literacy narrative, there isn’t a specific technique that needs to be

used. I think what makes an interesting narrative is the fact that people are so varied in

their flow and writing styles. However, I would say that using lots of details and

descriptions for events or emotions you experienced is a great way to grab the reader's

attention. Having an eye catching first sentence or referencing something that is relatable

to a reader always improves the reader's experience. I also found it interesting how

people would scrap together stories in different ways, jumping around in their memories

and then connecting them to a central idea by the end. I think having so much freedom to
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experiment with different types of writing flows, incorporating slang or casual speech,

and testing new types of descriptions as seen in this genre allowed me to have a lot more

of an impact. I was able to write my dads statements in the way he spoke, which showed

his personality a bit more. I also think being able to jump around from memories to

current feelings showed how I have developed over the years more so than if I had more

of a linear structure to my essay. Being able to mesh both my academic and creative style

writing was a fun challenge that allowed me to show a wider range of not only my

personality and experience, but also of the people I have talked about in this essay.

I believe the strongest part of my final draft is my recounting of this spelling card

game I did with my dad in middle school. I was able to show how I both enjoyed and

didn’t like the activity, but have learned to appreciate it later in life. I also was proud of

the way I portrayed my father and I’s relationship, as he has always been very supportive

of me but in turn also expects me to put in my best effort to improve skills I am lacking

in. I think the weakest part is my transitions between topics. I think they can feel a bit

choppy depending on the reader. However, I think it does accurately represent the jump

in my life from middle to high school, which was not a smooth transition either. I would

like to add more experiences with my mom. She had a huge influence on the way I write

today, but I think she would show it through little gestures often, while my dad did bigger

gestures infrequently. I equally appreciate how they have contributed to the writer I am

today, but I wish I could have highlighted my mom a bit more in a natural way.