Unit 1 Reflection

 Since the first day of class, there's been a repetition of the theme, fluency. Lydnsey has always asked us to never stop moving our pencil when writing our warm ups, just like how we never stopped moving in this genre we are literate in, and writing about today for our Unit 1 projects. Every ted talk, podcast, article, etc… that we have been exposed to in class all carries out a storyline about becoming literate. The consistency of this theme in the class has become very clear to me, and has helped me understand this Unit 1 assignment entirely. The significance of all these things helped me grasp the unit's inquiry, and helped me draw comparisons between our classwork and homework, to our final unit project. 

I am now understanding analysis/arguments differently, as I feel this unit has taught me how to read between the lines. I feel like everyone's main focus is the climax of a story, or the end result. This unit has taught me how to analyze a storyline, and how the rising action and the lessons learned along the way are the true importance of the story. 

There are two readings specifically that I feel have stuck with me this unit. First, Ted Talk about the guy who trained himself to hold his breath for 17 minutes. Prior to this unit, I would have just been intrigued by the triumph, the end result, which is the man achieving holding his breath for 17 minutes. But now, what was really significant about the story for me was his journey to get there. All of his training, failure, experiences, are what truly shaped him and gave him the ability to achieve his final goal. The other reading that stuck with me this unit was the RZA. The RZA’s interview was a prime example of the journey of literacy. Its the idea of starting small, learning new things, and using prior knowledge to excel in a field, and that is exactly what the RZA did.

For my quotes I used in my project, I resorted to blogs, since we have been doing lots of research using blog pages. Both blogs iterate the idea of the importance of sports in youth life, specifically the habits and lessons we adapt and learn from and how we carry them on into other aspects of life. The quotes I chose that resonated with me the most was, “ “Sports teach you to respect and accept others, including your teammates, your opponents, the officials, your coaches, and everyone involved in the sport.” This quote was extremely important for me to incorporate because I feel one of the biggest lessons I've learned on my journey of becoming literate in softball is how to control myself and perform when the odds are against me. It took me time to be able to deal with criticism and unfairness, but learning how to neglect it and still execute my performance has been a huge lesson I've learned on the journey.

My project has certainly evolved. I feel that my comic page and draft both showed climatic events that happened, but lacked empathy towards the true journey I endured. Like I said, as my knowledge about this unit has broadened, I've incorporated my class knowledge into my final draft, and made it a story about my entire experience, rather than just my highlights. I've realized that it's the little things in the journey that make you literate, not the big things.

If I had more time on this project, I would incorporate more visuals and personal stories.