Active Voice Reflection

I became part of the AVID program in eighth grade, I had no clue what the program was about; most of the time we worked on subjects that we needed help on, learned how to be organized, and practiced public speaking by having small socratic seminars. In a way, the tactics that my eighth grade AVID teacher taught me helped me become successful for my college preparation it helped improve my grades in the classes that I was struggling in and pushed me to take challenging courses. In my sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school, I spent my time reviewing different schools around the state and out-of-the state browsing through the financial aid assistance, majors and minors, location, and diversity to choose from. Junior year was the best

Our actions are what define us as humans. Words are part of our actions. Therefore, our voice defines who we are, so when we change our voice we change the fabric of who we are. Zadie Smith, the author of “Speaking in Tongues”, knows this first hand when she moved from a working class district of London to Cambridge. She felt that she was able to have both, the Cambridge voice and the Willesden voice, and use them to expand her base of knowledge; like learning a new language. However, as she became more engrossed in her studies the core of her personality that kept her at her roots disappeared and she was consumed by the Cambridge life style. She lost herself in Cambridge because she was imitating the Cambridge life style and according to Susan Blackmore’s essay “Strange Creatures” humans imitate naturally to learn. As humans imitate they change and because they change, their voices change as well; building an idea within us that our voices need to be unified, or singular. When we change voices we change mindsets making it incredibly difficult to switch between two mindsets on a whim. Our voices must be singular in order for us to correctly display our identity to the world.

A piece of writing is much more than just words on a page. Just as a potter carefully molds and carves every detail and shape into a piece of art, so does a writer. Each comma, dash, antecedent, and fragment is picked cautiously. Each grammatical choice brings to pass a different rhetorical effect creating an irreplaceable and unique piece of art filled with fine detail. Rhetorical grammar is the clay of a potter. One must have it to begin and it has a variety of options to choose from. A person’s ability to understand and use grammar is as the technique owned by the craftsmen. Just as clay can be brittle and weak, so can grammar if used incorrectly or not to its best ability. The most amazing work is not made simply by chance but because of

Before this English course, I would not feel compelled to incorporate transitions into my essays. Sentence transitions connect paragraphs and new ideas; it creates a better flow of the sentences. I now value the importance of formality in academic essays. I learned to avoid ending sentences with prepositions because it would not sound proper, to choose the right diction for clear understanding to readers, and to eliminate wordy expressions and needless words because being concise is key. Using active voice is strong and clear in academic essays because passive voice does not focus and emphasize on the subject but in the sentence object. During English 1101, I noticed the use of verb tenses from the rhetorical reading responses and the narrative essay; it is crucial to have the appropriate verb tense for a clear essay. In addition, finding different sources for research papers, such as the concept paper done this course, is pivotal for readers to consider the author credible. Beginning a sentence with a compelling subject will most likely evoke readers’ interests rather than just “there” or “it”. In all these years of sitting in an English class, I finally know why not to use second person: “You” does not apply to everyone when the author is talking about a narrowed topic. Lastly, the one aspect of writing that stuck with me the most was to make any work original and

By “using active voice in” my writing means people would be able to understand what I am talking about quicker (Cardon, 2013). For example, I need to make it clear in my sentences to who is doing what (Hale, n.d.). For example, the homework is done; it should be I got my homework done. Another example, the ball was thrown; it should be he threw the ball (Hale, n.d.).

Chin, Beverly Ann (2000). The role of grammar in improving student’s writing. Retrieved from http://www.uwplatt.edu/~ciesield/graminwriting.htm

Born into slavery, rebel Nat Turner an abolitionist was born on October 2, 1800 on the Virginia plantation of Benjamin Turner. When he was a young child, his ambition combined with his intelligence led him to great purposes and to meet great people. Turner ran away in 1821 from his master soon returning because of spiritual voice. These visions Nat has shows that he is a rebel, leader, and also a slave thriving to succeed his goal. He led a group or four men who he trusted the most, Sam, Hark, Nelson, and Sam killing every white person they saw starting with the Travis household. Soon enough Turner’s force went from four to forty, riding horse back. He had led a rebellion to Jerusalem, the nearest town where they ran into federal and state troops. In the end one slave died while the rest escaped and at least fifty five white people were stabbed, clubbed, or shot to death. Nat Turner, a leader, assembled a rebellion allowing slaves to believes that God set Him to free the slaves. He acknowledged other slaves about his prophecy encouraging them to execute slaveholders leading to the murdering of fifty five white people.

Have you ever wondered whether a writer’s voice and the standard rules of academic writing can exist on the same page? According to Dr. Debra Pena, English Professor, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Mathew Teorey, English Professor, University of New Mexico and the author of "Using Freshman Composition to Analyze What Students Really Know about Grammar" a writer’s voice and the process of academic writing can exist on the same page (Personal Communications February 13, 2017, Teorey 2). However, my first essay In Freshman Composition II titled, “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): Is it the New Death Sentence for Future Athletes Playing Sports in America?” where I lost the power of my voice to the process of academic writing.

Alright, if I can't rule the entire universe of discourse, then I'll settle for a social realm in it. I want to be the king of academic discourse! Now, I've shown that the Official Style isn't an effective style for communicating with every audience, but I would contend that it is the "superior style" for an academic audience. An educated audience wouldn't be deterred by the frequent use of the "shun" words and the passive sentences, they'd probably be elated to read such a text! For example, every respectable and sagacious scholar would prefer:

As a poor Asian who ventured out of a dominantly white, small town, I understand the consequences of being a minority. This is how my passion to serve the underserved originated, and why I have partnered with service organizations such as Berea Buddies and AmeriCorps. Being a member of these empathetic communities has deepened my gratitude for how beautifully diverse our world is and for all people regardless of the challenges they face. For example, upon entering my service year to mentor children in D.C. public schools, I was told by almost everyone that there is no helping those children because of the family and monetary problems they encounter. Their responses reminded me of the comments I heard when I decided my life after high-school.

Harper’s concurrent grammar class had any hope of writing the research paper with any amount of ease. Every member of the junior class knew of an upperclassman who had received scores in the negative thousands on their rough drafts. Being a completive soul, I knew that I would be able to use the knowledge gleaned from the elective grammar class to fix any problems that may arise in my upcoming research paper.

Stephen King gave many rules on writing. It’s up to us to decide what works best. He encouraged a person to write to the best of her ability because some people’s writing may be limited due to the lack of knowing how to properly use their tools and/or the purpose of their tools. As a social worker, I was taught to write in the passive voice; so, now I have to retrain myself and write more in the active voice. Moreover, I am learning to expand more tools on my topself.

As a student who guides herself and provides her own backbone to her aspirations, I would not have believed an academic program like AVID would have given me a significant support system that would direct me to the path of fundamental success. I discovered AVID through their recruitment event for incoming high school freshmen. I learned that the program aimed to help students achieve their goals of attending a four year university through mentoring and an enhanced education. Being a first generation student, I was interested in joining the program in seek of the benefits I could acquire to a quality education. When I joined the program, I learned that I gained more than what I had expected. AVID provided me with academic skills I needed to

After finishing my annotated bibliography I thought finding sources was the hardest thing ever until, I started comparing the sources I already had. From the comparisons I made it seemed easier to find new sources with like or opposing ideas that dealt with my discipline. I had a writing workshop that helped me understand that I had no idea how to cite correctly. Most of my citation had no page numbers or periods in the wrong place. After going through the paper many times using Hack and Summers I was able to correct most problems I found. The Literature Review taught me how to find like ideas in research while also finding opposing ideas. At the end of each comparison and difference I made a statement of relevance to prove my research fit

Reflection is considered as a vital element of professional practice as it precedes to insight and then subsequent change in practice. The hypothesis of reflection is not new as it can be tracked as far back in the 5th century by the influential Greek philosopher, Socrates and to the 1930s primarily focusing on John Dewey’s work. Dewey is one of the founders of learning from experience. He theorised reflection as ‘active, persistent and careful consideration’ (Dewey, 1933) initiated by a specific situation which was opposing, perplexing or uncertain. One of its most common use today is coming up with a thought, an idea, or opinion made or an observation made as a result of concentration, suggesting in essence a way of thinking in which one looks back and meditate upon (Agnes, 2004).