And the Award goes to...

It was just another usual day in fifth grade, wake up, go to play on the playground for half an hour, and then class.  Midway through, we have our lunch break, which was only about thirty minutes.  The lunchroom was a gym, auditorium, and a place to eat.  To a elementary school student, it seemed humongous with a cargo net in the back, and twenty-four wooden tables that extend from the wall.  I bought my lunch as usual, and sat down with my friends and classmates.  It was a small group of twenty-five or so students.  Then something out of the ordinary happened.  The principal, my fifth grade teacher, as well as other teachers were up at the foot of the stage.

They had an announcement to make to the class.  There was an award for "The Most Improved Student," which was for someone in the lunchroom.  The teacher slowly narrowed it down until it was only the twenty-five students in my class.  One of the kids, being the most popular, was expected to be the winner, with him seemingly being the obvious choice, and all twenty-four of the other students, even me, thought it was him.  My teacher narrowed it down to a boy, so now everyone was certain it had to be the popular kid.  The teacher said my name, which was a shock to most, even me, and I was astonished.  I would have never imagined that I was the most improved, and yet, it was me.  My classmates gave me the applause, and I was thrilled.  It was basically the first major award I remember.

So after I happily finished my lunch, I went back to class and my teacher told me what the award consisted of.  He also told me that he and my fourth grade teacher talked about how I got the award this year, and my fourth grade teacher was a little bit jealous.  To get my award, I was a going to a lunch banquet with my parents, teacher, principal, and the person who gave out the award.  He is part of the Rotary Club and also the manager of the bank in town.  They gave me a fifty dollar check, the award, and a free lunch!  It was also put in the local newspaper, and everything was very professional.

It was one of the most memorable school lunches that I have had, with me unexpectedly being the winner of an award, and also getting some money out of it.  I was astonished, and my classmates patted me on my back, and congratulated me.  This basically initiated my pursuit for academic success, which really picked up during seventh grade where I went from being an average B student, to an average A student.  After seventh grade, I continued to do well in school, and I think that that one lunch really made a difference for me.  It was the last push up the hill to have the ball start rolling down the path of academic success. 

Me? As a writer?

Think about your past experiences as a writer and rhetor. What are two of your strengths as a writer and rhetor? What are two of your writing weaknesses? Specifically, how would you like to improve as a writer? What could you do or learn to make such improvements? How do you anticipate that this particular course will help you improve as a writer and rhetor?

Before I begin to answer the prompt seen above, let me introduce myself. My name is Yee-Kuen Yam, but I prefer to be called Jacky. I speak up to three languages at home to my family, at the same time, so that might be why I dislike English classes (no offense!) and also why I am horrible at writing. This is the first time I'm using Blogger, and so far, it seems easy enough to get started.

After just reading part of Bird by Bird, it has really opened my mind as to how I should write. I've had very few strengths when it comes to writing, I always remember waiting until the day before a paper is due, to start. A strength that I have would be being able to write with a guideline. Knowing where to start, how to follow through, as well as how to end it, gives me an imaginary highway to cruise on. Another strength that I have at my disposal when writing, is being able to remember everything I need in my head, and start typing all of it down, without forgetting too many things. It might not be a true strength, but better than nothing!

My weaknesses; where to begin. Being multilingual, I would say that I have a hard time finding the right words to express what I need to. The papers that I hand in would almost always have corrections on them when the teachers hand it back to me. Whether the issue was using too many of the same words, or having a few grammatical errors, I would say that my writing always has some sort of error in it, no matter how many times I review it. Another issue with my writing would probably be that I am not concise enough. Seeing my friends' written work sometimes, they always seem to have superior skills, and I guess this is where the saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side" would be appropriate. They always have short, well developed sentences, while mine seem long and diluted in comparison. Although I have weaknesses, I know that I have to push through them, in order to become a better writer.

What inspires me to write, which is not often, would most likely be songs. One example would be the song Lighters by Rocye da 5'9" featuring Bruno Mars and Eminem. This song motives and pushes me to go further in everything I do, even writing. Another inspiration, which is pretty childish, would definitely be the movie, Ratatouille. The major theme of anyone can do anything, really inspires me to do anything I want, even write.

Improvements that I hope to see after taking English 15, would be for me to write in a more clear and concise manner, as well as expand the use of my vocabulary. I know that improving my writing skills will be no easy task, but after reading some of Bird by Bird and Norton Field Guide to Writing, I feel like the task seems reachable now. I anticipate that this course will actually make me a better writer, and perhaps even making me want to write.

Hope I didn't bore you too much!