Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)
[Summer 2019]
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 19th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
This summer semester I decided to
take the Writing for Academic course again. I was repeating it and I really
hoped to pass it and have it behind me. I did have a lot of interesting
classes. The teacher for this course was Dr. Keisha Evans-Dixon and she was
also my tutor for the tutorials on Tuesdays. Classes were on Monday and
Wednesdays 4:00-6:00pm in the engineering building.
Link(s):
- Course Outline (Summer 2019).
FIRST CLASS
EXERCISE.
* Unknown/Forgotten Date *
It was the first day of the
tutorial for the course. Unfortunately, I missed the first course yesterday
and could not locate the lecture classroom. I heard that Ms. Jesshop did that
first plenary and it would have been nice to see her too. Dr. Dixon did not come
to class. I had a Grammar Workshop with her the first time I was
doing this course.
We had Ms. Dennis for the first
tutorial today. She was the lecturer for this course during the time I did it. She
brought copies of an exam that UWI does. It was very intent and it gave me a
big scare o the English course that I had signed up for.
Link(s):
- English Language Proficiency Test 2019.
ASSIGNMENT #1-2:
ANALYSIS BY DIVISION.
* Unknown/Forgotten Date *
We were set into groups to work
on all of our coursework. For this assignment, everyone had to come up with a
topic sentence which was assignment 1. We were also allowed to try the
paragraph in scrap before the final submission which was assignment 2. I
had some difficulty with provided examples. I had to work with Dr. Evans-Dixon
on three occasions before finally understanding it.
All groups were given the option
to do Analysis by Division first or Classification. We chose Division for
assignment one so in the next assignment, it meant that we had to do
classification. While working with the group, I began to feel as if I was the
weaker link again as in my first trial of this course. I did not like the
feeling at all but I continued to try my best.
Link(s):
- Analysis by Division (Scrap Trial).**
- Analysis by Division Assignment.
ASSIGNMENT #4: CLASSIFICATION.
* Tuesday 25 January
2019 *
Later down into the semester,
assignment four was submitted. As a group, we did our own readings and then came
up with our own topic sentences. When we had finally agreed on the thesis
statement for the introduction, everyone went ahead with their body paragraph.
This assignment was two be submitted by one person in the group as a full
essay.
The trick was that the easy was
graded by one piece and the final part it received would be given to all group
members. That was what I had panicked about the most. I really wished we had
chosen classification first so that the division easy would have gained us more
points.
During the tutorial, I was very
shocked that my scrap trial was a success. Dr. Dixon was very proud of me and
when I held the paper back in my hand, I read it over and pull out a sheet of
paper I used in order to construct my paragraph. As I followed each line, I
looked at the ‘blueprint’ that I made and understood the assignment even
better. I found that it was good to share it with Dr. Dixon whence was speaking
to some of us in the group as a pastime.
When I slid the sheet of paper
over to her on the table, she saw the pink pen ink but was curious about what
it was I was showing her. I had to explain from below to the top. This plan assisted me in completing my body paragraph. The corporation was the main topic for
the body paragraph. To the middle, of the row were the three broad examples. The third
row to the top would be smaller examples for each of the three broad examples.
The moment I saw her smile looking down at the paper and I hear her “wow”
sound, I knew that she had approved of this idea.
She turned to me and asked me
permission to show the class and I told her yes. My group heard a giggle and
she said to us in a whisper, “I’ve never done this before.” She said the word
“attention” aloud and then the class became silent to hear this. She began to
explain what was on the sheet and how to do the paragraph.
Link(s):
- Classification (Scrap Trial).
- Classification Assignment.**
- Classification PLAN.**
COMPARE &
CONTRAST TUTORIAL.
* Unknown/Forgotten *
On the day of this particular
tutorial, we were taken to the second story of the building for class. The
venue we were using had a meeting in there for the day. The rain came earlier
and I had never felt so amazing sitting from that height in the building and
looking out at the view presented to me outside of the wide glassed windows. For
the entire time of the class, I was able to sit and come up with an introduction, and body paragraphs for that compare and contrast essay, we
were asked to work on. I could see that my group did not like me that much.
We had the assignment to submit
that day and there was something they had done to me that wasn’t nice. After
experiencing this, I decided to work on the essay alone. I chose my own topic
and started the introduction. They continued with whatever it was they wanted
to do if they even had anything done for the class’s duration.
By the time I was finishing my
first body paragraph, Dr. Dixon told us that she would take a look at some of
the work we did so far. She helped me to restructure the work in my sentence
outline and everything else seemed to be fine. Not many of the students were
writing that quick and I was able to consult with Dr. Dixon two to three more
times during the process of writing my essay.
Before the class was dismissed,
she called me over to then read all that I had for the class. When we listened
to Dr. Dixon reading the essay, there were fixed super quick stops for a light
correction. I could hear also from some of the pauses made for commenting. None
was bad but very good. I felt proud of myself because it made me feel the
growth and improvement that I wanted. Made sure not to pay any attention to the
group members down to the back. I was looking down at the paper as the doctor read.
When I got home, I was able to complete
the rest of the essay and have it sent to Doctor for review. I received a
printout of the next tutorial.
Link(s):
- Steelpan and Sitar (Compare &
Contrast Essay).
PEER REVIEW.
* Tuesday 2 July 2019
*
This exercise was to evaluation
of each group member’s performance and work done throughout the working process
of assignments. It was also submitted in the final class before the final
examination. The members of the group found it unfair that I had my peer review
form sealed in an envelope. I did not bother to take any negative words when
one came. The instructions for the document said to do so and I obeyed. I did
not want to have to endure another episode of what Ms. Kong did to me in the
middle of a tutorial the last time. That one too was not nice.
FINAL EXAMINATION.
* Tuesday 16 July
2019 *
The finals came in the evening. I
chose to do question three which was the compare and contrast essay. The full
duration was used. I felt proud of what I had done. My nervousness was greater
than the feeling overall because I did not want to fail this course again. I
wanted to pass.
Link(s):
- Candidate’s Receipt & Question
Paper.
Daryl Zion M. Ali
