Through the course of my English class I didn’t only have to write and read, but I learned a lot about myself and writing. I learned that the way I wrote was smart. As I read “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan I began to realize what once was my idea of good writing was fabricated by the standards of English created around the school system. Tan’s writing and explanation of the way she saw the idea of “good” writing created a new habit for me. I was always afraid to write down my prayers even though I had a prayer journal, but after reading I began to embrace the way I wrote. I haven’t missed a single day, writing in my prayer journal, each day getting longer, each page gaining more confidence. I based my LLN essay on Tan’s essay, this essay mixed with hers began to elevate my confidence. It taught me not to focus on the way I wrote but the message I was writing about. The more revising and rereading I did, the more I started to believe in myself. I always hated my writing even in my LLN essay. 

“I always strive to have purpose in the message I convey when speaking and writing because   that’s when I feel that others listen to what I want to say. Writing is now one of my strong suits and not because I sound sophisticated but because I carry a purpose, passion, and love for what I write.” (LLN essay cover letter) 

 I spoke about how stupid I thought I was, but with these resources and assignments I don’t believe it anymore. 

I didn’t only learn about writing in this class, but also about the use of multimedia. I learned that using visuals to convey a message can be stronger than what words can say. When watching Saleem’s Ted Talk called “Why I keep speaking up, even when people mock my accent” I began to see the power of visuals. When I had to use any type of media/visuals, I decided to be careful with what I used, meticulously choosing things that truly would relay a message. This helped me take visuals more seriously as I was able to see how much thought goes behind them. When I was assigned my translation 2 assignment, I didn’t pay much attention to it because I thought it was fairly similar to the translation 1 project. I quickly learned that it was the opposite because this couldn’t be as opinionated but still needed visuals. I had to dig deeper, realizing how many emotions one picture can evoke by just glancing at it. Having to propose a visual argument felt harder than a written one. I decided to create my own comic strip as I felt what I wanted to convey couldn’t be found in a stock image. 

I spent a long time perfecting the project to make sure I didn’t include any emotion of my own but that it would evoke emotion solely based on my audience.  I truly began to cherish it when multimedia was included in assignments because I could express how I felt in multiple ways.  

For all these assignments I also had to find resources; they weren’t all given to me. Finding reliable and credible sources is extremely important to be able to make a plausible point. Meeting in the computer lab room to properly figure out how to research specific things opened my eyes. I started to see that there’s so many specific things I was looking for in multiple years and was never able to find them, but this meeting I was able to. When needing a credible source outside of English I went back to the CCNY library to look for sources. 

 Prior to the knowledge I gained on research I searched vague topics like: “standard English”, resulting in about 100,000 finds, when I looked passed the vague topics, I was able to search things like: “South Asian representation in the media with comedy” resulting in only 41 finds. I was able to narrow down two credible sources, a paper and a book, based on my topics. These findings not only created a well written essay but also the perfect resources helping me convey a message in my synthesis essay. Without what I learned, I wouldn’t be able to find a quarter of what I did. My essay had so much more meaning when I was able to find actual credible material. 

Before being able to write or create anything at all, I needed to create structure, a way of getting my ideas down. I learned the importance of needing a way to set up all my thoughts, so what I do is cohesive. While reading example essays and writing of my peers I realized how much smoother their writing flowed. I struggled with getting my ideas grouped together before writing. When multiple worksheets were involved for each assignment, my writing improved and my brain was able to flow like it never did before.  

Being introduced to the brainstorm style of creating a “family tree” for my synthesis essay was one brainstorm tactic that stood out. I would write about the main topic in the middle of my page and then create a plethora of branches with subcategories to pinpoint what I actually wanted to write about. From that brainstorm I was able to articulate such a specific topic that I was interested in writing about, “The Problem with the Media and South Asian Representation”. Thoroughly reading and writing in these brainstorming tools created a new way for me to feel less overwhelmed.