Comma Reflection

I do not have a wide variety of knowledge about when commas, colons, and semi-colons should be used. For example, in my first essay I had an enormous problem with comma placement. I would place the comma after the wrong word like in these two sentences, “In the novel, Being There by Jerzy Kosinski, Chauncey Gardiner grows up sheltered in the home of his benefactor only to eventually be thrown into a world he has never experienced,” and

In the introduction to my first essay the 3rd sentence contains an easily remediable comma splice: “Not me, I live for this.” Later in the same paragraph I made the same mistake with “My operators think they are the ones who drive me into these situations – they’re wrong, I am the one who drags them into the belly of the beast.” Prior to ENC1101, I would never consider the preceding sentence wrong. After learning about the proper usage of commas and semicolons, I realized I have been creating comma splices all my life. Learning what independent clauses were and how to properly punctuate them has given my writing a greater sense of credibility. Replacing the comma with a semicolon, the punctuation used to separate 2 independent clauses, fixes them. Another error exposed during this course was my improper use of word forms. An example is shown here from my second essay “Seeing their demeanor switch from animosity to appreciative made me feel rewarded for my efforts”. Reading that sentence in my mine seems fine, but on closer inspection the words “animosity” and “appreciative” are not in same form. This course (specifically the SmartThinking program) has shown me that making word forms agree leads to more fluid writing. Correcting these errors leads to more mature writing and will make future professors respect my writing

During the course of English Comp 1, I discovered my ultimate weakness: commas. Before I took the course, I did not realize how horrendous I was with punctuation in general, but more specifically, commas. After Mrs. Menetre graded my first paper, it soon became obvious that I needed to learn a great deal about commas in a short amount

What interested you in this career? I wanted to work with families to improve and better their situations. Child Abuse is a horrible thing with endless survivors. By working in with Child Protective Services, I hoped to have a positive impact to prevent children from being abused.

Growing up, I had never heard of foster care. I did not know anyone who had been in foster care and I only knew of one person in high school who lived in a home with abusive parents. I was friends with a handful of people who had been adopted, but was ignorant to the fact that their adoption potentially impacted them on a daily basis and in every area of their life. The first time I had a real glimpse into the world of abused and neglected children was in 2005 when I was a senior in high school and took a trip with my church to Peru. I visited an orphanage and spent several days playing with the children who lived there. I did not know it at the time, but that experience sparked my journey into the field of social work. I attended Hope College, a liberal arts Christian college in Western Michigan. I knew that I wanted to go into a helping profession and declared social work as my major my Sophomore year. I chose social work over other degrees such as sociology or education because I knew that I wanted to work directly with children and families to help them change and improve their lives. I studied hard and was fortunate enough to be offered a full time internship at Casa Central in Chicago, IL. Casa Central was a private child welfare agency working primarily with Spanish-speaking clients. My world view broadened as I came

Violence in any form can have a lasting effect on a person. Children who witness violence are permanently scarred because of what they are seeing. Children who witness family or domestic violence are affected in ways similar to children who are physically abused. Children are often unable to establish nurturing bonds with either parent and are at a greater risk for abuse and neglect if he or she lives in a violent home. Statistics show that an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members in their home each year (Ackerman & Pickering, 1989). When a spouse, woman or male is abused, and there are

amount of the violence. My children at times were abused for defending me. I knew

and I learned some new things. Whenever I think about domestic violence, I always thought about the violent relationship between intimate partners. This has reminded me that it can also be between people of any form of relationship. Reading about the Bridging Families and Communities program has allowed me to see another perspective on the issue. There are many cases similar to Jane’s, where she is a victim of domestic violence, and she has a child with her abuser.

Obviously, I think this attitude is not only correct, but essential, though I'm not above some sort of self reflection. So if you're just starting off in writing and a little frustrated with how seriously people take your comma placement, think about this: we're the ones that have had some measure of success. We've had books published and gotten jobs in the field. That's not to say we're all bestsellers or know every single thing about writing, but rather that this deep caring for refinement on a surface level is an attitude shared by those who have made it to the higher levels in the discipline.

On Tuesday December 13, I attended the Comma Splices boot camp directed by Ms. Abbie. I am honestly glad I decided to attend because like most students I have trouble with commas. And like most students, I have not tried to directly fix this problem until Tuesday. Although, my use of commas are not perfect yet, they have improved.

As I was reading through the feedback I received on the first major paper I have written in over four years, I happened to think of something I read on a pink notebook in Walmart last night. “Good feedback is the key to improvement.” When I saw the small errors I missed, I knew it was time to start making some healthy adjustments to my writing. Although I have a terrible habit of using contractions and comma splices, I would like to expand my vocabulary and make my writing stronger, be able to incorporate more transitional statements, and I would like to become more comfortable with comma usage.

Our life experiences play a large role in shaping who we are as people. My childhood experiences influenced the woman that I am today. My father was abusive. He abused my mother, my siblings, and myself. Whether it was a domestic assault against my mother, slapping of my siblings, or a daily cursing session, our house has always been in turmoil. There were adults that knew about the abuse going on in my home, including teachers. However, none of them intervened for my brothers and I. I cannot help but wonder how my life would have been different if someone had. Experiencing child abuse, as well as my mother’s domestic abuse, is my greatest catalyst in pursing a graduate degree in social work. Pablo Picasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Child abuse could have broken my spirit but it made me stronger. It sparked my interest in mental health, and showed me the importance of compassion. I plan to use my gift to help others improve their quality of mental health, and encourage the development of self-determination.

My personal philosophy of life and my philosophy of counseling has been deeply affected by my life experiences as a young child and also as an adult. I am fortunate that my life has been a good life and I consider myself to be fortunate to have to have good parents and many loving family members. I do not recall having any events in my childhood that I would consider to be abusive or neglectful on the part of my family, and for that I consider myself to be lucky. I know several people who were abused as a child and it seems to have impacted them in many aspects of their lives even into adulthood.

Overall, studies that focus on the power of the social learning theory, have found that there is a strong correlation between witnessing or being victim to abuse in childhood, and being violent towards your intimate partner in adulthood.

Also, in my past there has been instances that have drawn me to the field of social work. I have had a few family members who have had several different issues dealing with drugs, abuse, and their children being placed in foster care. In one case I took one of the children into my home and my parents took three children into their home. Every family has some different situations, but these incidents have opened my eyes to many new things. This is one of the reasons I feel social work would be a good fit for me. I enjoy helping others build themselves up and make a better life for them and their families. It is a blessing to be part of a team who helps families, children, and groups in need. Helping children get out of bad situations is one of the most rewarding jobs you could ever have in life.