I have been sick a lot this year which has made being a conscientious learner very important to my success. Since I have missed class more than usual, I had to be very conscientious in not only making up missed assignments, but also trying to improve skills practiced in class discussions.

The assignment, "Just talk people", is an example of how I tried to be conscientious, and practice material from an in class discussion that I missed while sick. Once I was feeling better, I read the discsussion points from class that day. Since I hadn't been able to to discuss them with classmates, I wrote individual responses to all the questions to make sure I was caught up when I returned to class. I think this shows taking ownership of my learning and a desire to grow in reading and writing that goes beyond what was required in class and in homework.

I still need to work on going out of my comfort zone in sharing thoughts. Sometimes I don't feel comfortable sharing my feelings about difficult topics. I also need to work on motivating others to stay on task. Since I have ADHD, most of my energy goes towards motivating myself.

Early while reading the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, we began to have assignments on citing strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. At first, I was getting scores in the rage of 2.5-3.0. I think this was mostly based on not making enough inferences about what the text was saying. By the time we finished the book and wrote an essay referencing Kindred, I performed much better.

I felt like I did a better job than in the past at reading ambiguities in the text and non-obvious parts of the text to find examples where the story of Kindred supported the need for reparations, even though the topic wasn’t addressed at all in the book. It would have been easy just to talk about how the slaves worked for free and didn’t have property and that meant their ancestors should be compensated. However, I tried to find non-obvious parts of the book to support the argument, like Dana not being as successful as a writer in 1976 compared to her white husband and how that could be rooted in the inequalities inherited from the days of slavery. Additionally, imagining what would have happened to Alice and Isaac if they had succeeded in escaping is an ambiguity that supports the argument. They would have had no money, possessions, or education This is an example of how the poverty of the first free blacks could contribute to a modern wealth gap.

I used 10 other valid sources ranging from my AP history textbook to California state and Federal websites documenting educational dispartites, to PBS and University press articles examining the issue of reparations. I used these sources, to support my arguments and to research and support the counterargument about why some don’t favor reparations. For example, some suggest that given the national debt, the country can not afford reparations even though it is the right thing to do.

I still need to work on closely reading to comprehend texts of above grade-level complexity to identify and analyze ambiguities and complexities. I feel like I have improved at this, but still somtimes read too quickly.

I wrote my JRP on the topic of video games in society. Specifically, I argued that video gaming is not harmful and is actually beneficial to players if played in moderation. I identified a broad collection of sources to try and collect different opinions and evidence on the topic. This included quite a few scientic research publications as much of the information on this topic that is discussed in media articles is based on the research literature. For example, I used pubmed, a medical research search engine to identify original publications. I based my argument on more recent research that has showed that gaming has beneficial effects.

I also found sourecs that supported the idea that gaming was harmful to players. I critically evaluated these sources to determine if their arguments were valid. In most cases the articles that showed harmful effects, also showed that the effects were very mild (like slight temporary agitation), or only occurred in a subset of players who had video game addiction. I conceded that gaming can be harmful in some people, but probably not in the majority of people. I used different rhetorical devices to support my arguments, including reserach data (logos), personal experience of how gaming has helped people's emotional wellbeing (pathos), and evidence of racial bias in blaming video games for violence (ethos).

I could still work on incorporating elements of narrative and informative/explanatory writing into arguments.

This assignment demonstrates my ability to determine two or more themes and/or central ideas from a text. This assignment was one in a series that looked at plot and characterization in Death of a Salesman. My ideas about the theme of the book evolved while reading it and through class discussions.

I was able to use the plot and characterization and text evidence to identify themes. Early on in the book, Willy's depression and suicidality, first made me consider central ideas like family relationships and depression. However, after further reading, it became apparant that Willy's deterioration was related to his disappointment over his and his son's lack of business success. Financial success was really the only thing he seemed to care about. He couldn't stand Biff not being a success and it ruined their relationship. The two themes I identified were:

"Capitalism can destroy people's lives by making financial success more important than everything else."

"Pride and/or external expectations can keep people from making decisions that would actually make them happier."

I think began to used strong and thorough evidence ranging across the text to development thr themes which relate to each other, altjough I didn't discuss much how they relat eto each other in this assignment.

I still need to work on explaining how alternative themes could be argued for and why they’re less convincing, and analysis of how the themes should be thought through.