Biographical Narrative
After, we had our first interview. I asked her about her perspective of the American Dream and her life. We used the interview and translated into typed notes (above). We then compiled the first draft of our Biographical Narrative. After turning this in, Joanne asked as to do a little research and back up are stories with history that affected our person. I talked a lot about how the civil rights movement and being jewish impacted her idea that not everyone had equal opportunity and shaped the way she thought of the American Dream. After we had our combined rough draft we turned it into Joanne so she could edit it (Draft 1 shown below to the most left). Then went through many many peer edits (Draft 2, 3, and 4 also shown below). All this drafting was very very helpful because their were many eyes on my paper. Finally we started compiling the chapters and wrote introductions for each decade chapter to seaway into the stories. This whole process was very rewarding. My Grandma started crying at exhibition because I really listened and represented her life in a beautiful way. She kept telling me how honored she felt, which made all stressful time spent editing and making a book worth it.
Self Reflection of the American Dream
Through out this project I absorbed what others believed the american dream was and used my prior believes to represent my thoughts on the American Dream. I represented what I thought the American Dream was before the project, what I learned and gained so far about the American Dream, and where are I am at with the American Dream in a painting and a poem. I choose these to styles to express myself because I enjoy doing them and I thought it was fitting to do a piece about myself in a style I take pleasure in. I symbolized Dorothy and her dilemma of walking down the golden paved road. Ahead of her is an unreachable materialistic society and right beside her is the beauty of nature. She discovers the true essence of life, represented by an old man (dedicated to my Grandpa Mel).
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Self Evaluation for the Writing Process
While writing my Biographical Narrative I was really proud of how much closer I got with my grandma. She is such an inspirational women and it was very interesting learning more about her. Interviewing my grandma has also changed my view on the American Dream. She talked a lot about how not everyone gets and equal opportunity to succeed. I don't think I want to be a teacher, like her, but she has definitely made me aware to be grateful for what I have. I think I did an excellent job portraying her in my Biographical Narrative. I was able to capture who she is and what she stands for. I really excelled and grew as a writer during this Project. My biggest growth was understanding what teachers look for, when editing students work. Usually teachers only edit final graphs but I really like that Joanne edited our 1st draft, because she made it clear how we could improve our's and other's Biographical Narrative. I am always trying to improve my writing skills and knowing how to edit peoples work was extremely beneficial. Throughout the process of making a book, as a section editor, I did a ton of editing and it definitely payed off. This past Saturday when I took the ACT I was very surprised by improvement in the grammar section. This section has always been very confusing for me in the past, but practicing these skills over and over again was a huge take away for me. This essential skill will make my writing flow and sound more professional. Although editing was very time consuming, I think the hardest part of the writing process was making sure the people in my chapter, that I was organizing, made their corrections. I may have been a bit annoying with all of my texts and reminders, but I have no regrets because it seemed to get the job done. This was the most difficult task for my specific job but overall the most stressful part of the project was the fact that not everyone pulled their weight. I take a lot of pride in my work, and think others will do the same. I don't mind helping, but it just really frustrates me because the book could have been so so much better if everyone put in full effort.