How have you developed or demonstrated this competency this semester?
Written
Do you have a piece of writing, presented in any context, for which you are particularly proud? How would you compare your writing skills relative to your classmates? What kind of feedback have you gotten on your writing from experts like professors or editors?
One piece of writing that I am particularly proud of is the first paper I wrote for my First Year Seminar about a poem by Warsan Shire called “Home.” I thought I did a great job with my analysis and taking into account specific language that Shire incorporated and how it relates to my claim. I thought my analysis was nuanced and looked into why Shire chose the images that she chose, which is not always an easy task to take. Furthermore, I think I did a good job being consistent throughout the paper and sticking with my claim throughout.
The feedback that I got from Professor Silber was to try and be more concise with my analysis. Though she thought it was all very strong, she thought that some of it got repetitive and that I would benefit by connecting certain ideas instead of saying the same idea twice. She thought that by doing some more revisions, I would be able to create a more concise paper with tight sentences and paragraphs. Professor Silber also wanted me to try and focus too on the bigger ideas and zoom out my paper a bit more so that the readers can see a linear connection between the significance of my paper and the content that I wrote.
In comparison to my classmates, Professor Silber found that my paper was very strong and that compared to my classmates my analysis was nuanced and looked very closely at language and images that were presented in the text. I remember during class she mentioned how many students wrote more summary rather than analysis and it was important to shift towards making more of an argument rather than retelling the story. She mentioned how the issues that I was facing with my paper are steps that writers face after becoming stronger at analysis.
Overall, I was really happy with the work I turned in for this paper, and hope to continue to improve my writing going forward. Writing about stories is some of my favorite types of work, and I love working at getting better and looking more closely at texts.
Aural/Listening
How have you demonstrated the ability to take in information aurally? How confident were you that you understood the content and were able to explain it to others?
This semester, I met more with my professors one on one, in particular, Professor Saba to go over the content in class. During these meetings, at first, it was very difficult to follow all of the information that he was equipping me with, however, as the semester went on I got better at taking in what I needed to and leaving what was not as relevant. I was sure to take small notes throughout our conversations so that I could revisit them and understand their content more. Professor Saba even inspired me to talk to my friends about the issues that were talked about in class and have conversations about how they are relevant today. By reaching out and talking about this content outside of our meetings and in class, I was reinforcing the information that he taught me. I was also getting better at explaining it myself and making sure that understood it to the extent that I needed to. I also gained more passion and care for the subject as I spoke with more people.
