Bailey 1 Preface

I chose this Personal Literacy topic because this is something that has had the most effect on my life. This topic is the reason why I am majoring Communications now, and plan on minoring in Journalism in the near future. Because I spent so much time revising and editing my paper I feel as though I did a pretty good job on my paper. I listened to my classmates advice and added detail when needed. Their advice helped me in so many ways. I also listened to your advice and added more detail to my fourth paragraph. By doing that, my paragraph increased in size. I did not change the order of my paper because everything is in chronological order. In my opinion this draft will be my best draft because I kind of rushed my first one. Because I have had more time to put into this final draft I feel that you will enjoy it more than the first draft. I did not use a particular style, but I did break away from the traditional five paragraph essay. That is because you informed me that it was okay to do so. Im glad I did because now I feel like my story is more relatable because of all the detail that I have added. Overall, I am pretty proud of my paper. My only wish is that you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Since the teacher comment draft I have made some improvement to my paper. These improvements have made me more confident in my paper. I am sure now that my paper is not lacking in any detail and is sure to answer any questions the reader might have had before. I have added detail to some areas that needed them. Because of the additions to details, all areas are clearer now and it has added more depth and length to my paragraphs. I know I said that my draft before this final draft is the best one, but now I am taking it back and saying that this draft is indeed better than the first one. I am satisfied with my paper now, even more than I was before and hopefully you will feel the same way too. Enjoy!

Bailey 1 Kelsey Bailey Professor Jean Coco English 1101 30 January 2012 Audience: High School/College Students

My Rude Awakening

Words are my addiction. For as long as I could remember I always had my nose in a book. If I wasnt in a corner reading I was writing or drawing. Ive always been creative in that way. My childhood is filled with fond memories of my immense collection of Dr. Seuss books. I loved his books the best because his imagination was unalike any other Ive ever known. His words, rhyme scheme, and illustrations drew me in. I remember sitting on the couch for hours just staring at the strange creatures of Whoville; wondering how his mind could even imagine such creatures. As I got older, around the ages of 9-11, I started to watch the National Spelling Bee on T.V. I would watch for new words like: tumultuous, gargantuan, nonchalant, and unctuous; then hurry to look up their definition. Learning new words was like a rush. Words always came easy to me; that is until my dreaded year in 11th grade. It was the first day of school, and the smell of a new school year was in the air. For those who may not know what I mean; a new school year smells like freshly buffed floors and textbooks. I was an 11th grader that year, and I was excited to be in an English AP Language class. This status of a new English class gave me a sense of accomplishment. English AP Language was a new status for me because I felt as if only an elite few could actually have the opportunity to be in this particular class. To me, I was part of the elite few. I was always in

Bailey 1 English honors and found those fairly easy. Just like those classes, I thought English AP Language would be somewhat of an easy A; little did I know, I was about to be in for a rude awakening. Our first assignment was the beginning of my many worries. The assignment that I failed miserably at was pretty easy now that I recall it. The class had to read an article about how to effectively annotate articles, essays, and other works. At the end of reading this article we had to annotate this article. That night I went home and I read the article, for some reason I didnt annotate it. Maybe I forgot. The most possible reason for me to forget such a simple assignment was the fact that I had tons of other homework to do; but Lord knows I paid for that mistake the next morning. I got to class the next morning and asked a classmate if all we had to do was read the article. My classmate looked at me and replied, No, we had to annotate it to, and continued on with what she was doing. She had continued on like she hadnt just ruined my life at that very moment with that one sentence. This was my first assignment, and it was so simple; but yet I was about to fail it. I frantically started scrabbling some notes on the side of the margin and turned it in. When she returned my article back to me it had a big, obnoxious, red zero printed at the top. Words could not explain how I felt at that moment. It was like steam was spewing from my ears. At that very moment, I convinced myself that Ms. Ransom did indeed hate me and that she was out to make my year a living hell and boy was I right. Ms. Ransom was introducing something to me that I didnt understand: rhetoric language. Rhetoric was foreign to me. I couldnt begin to grasp how to write a persuasive paper, or identify litotes. I remember when Ms. Ransom passed out handouts defining rhetoric language and showing examples of them. The packet consisted of terms such as: pathos, ethos, lothos, euphemism, and juxtaposition. All in which I have never heard of a day in my life until that

Bailey 1 class. This packet had to consist of at least 5 to 6 pages. Each page had rhetoric terms that she then told us had to be memorized by the end of the semester. We had to memorize them because we would be tested on them; lucky us. The first thing I thought was, What the hell? As I looked around the classroom I could see that my fellow classmates shared the same dumbfounded expression. The second thing I thought was, How am I supposed to remember all of this? No English teacher before had challenged me in such a way. The words that I once loved began to betray me. My first progress report grade for that year in her class was a 54. One look at that grade, and I automatically knew I couldnt show that progress report to my mom. That would have been like committing suicide. I couldnt believe it. I just knew I was being cheated out of the grade I really deserved. Back then I felt that I deserved a better grade because I just knew that I was trying my hardest; at least thats what it felt like to me. The problem was that it wasnt apparent to Ms. Ransom. This meant that I had to try harder. I understand that now, but then I was doing no wrong. Nonetheless, I was still hurt. Never have I seen a grade that low on my progress report. By then I was really starting to loath Ms. Ransom, but then one day something hit me. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. All of a sudden I started to think, Maybe Ms. Ransom doesnt hate me. She just wants me to try harder. I am so glad I had that awakening because after that I began to understand more of what she was trying to instill in me. I was starting to do better on papers, and other assignments that involved the rhetoric language. For example, Ms. Ransom would give us assignments were we would have to identify the type of rhetoric being used. After long nights of studying those terms I was beginning to ace those assignments. My words finally came back to me.

Bailey 1 Finally, it was the end of the year and Ms. Ransom had assigned the biggest paper of the year. We had to write a 10 page paper about one of the six options she gave us. I chose Discrimination in America. Unlike most people I started early on this paper. As soon as possible I was at the library checking out books on this topic. After that I would go home and do more research online. I wanted to be on top of everything when it came to this paper. This paper could either make me or break me. I was determined to prove to Ms. Ransom that all she taught did not fall upon deaf ears. My hard worked had finally paid off because I received an A on my final paper. It was then that I realized that I want to major in Communications. Writing is something that I enjoy, so why not turn it into a career? When I confided in Ms. Ransom about my major she encouraged me to pursue it. She said, That would be a great major for you. Because of her words and the strong belief I have in myself I am here today at UNCC majoring in what I love, words. Words are my addiction. There was one point in time when I thought they had turned their back on me. Looking back now, I realize that they never did because I betrayed them. I stopped yearning for them, and it took a teacher like Ms. Ransom to get me back on the right track. Her fire to see not only me, but all her students do well paid off. She never gave up; she just pushed us harder. For this very reason, I am glad that I went through her obstacle course of an English class, and I will always be thankful.