I pride myself in being an avid reader and okay writer; my family does not agree with me. I can read a two-hundred page book in about four to five hours depending on my mood and whether I take breaks. I wrote an essay for a competition that goes from chapter level to state level to national level; I got first until national level, where I was in the top twenty, making it so for the whole competition I was in the top half of the top one percent. However, I do not see myself as a good writer. This does not explain why I think that; my experiences with reading are far different than my experiences with writing. Because of the differences, I shall give two separate sides to my experiences with the basics of English – reading and writing. As a …show more content…
I was in second grade and my class was talking about the pilgrims (Christopher Columbus, “Indians”) because Thanksgiving was coming up. I went home to my mom and asked her about because I wanted to know more. We, of course, went to the library across the street from my house. I checked out 6 books on the first Thanksgiving and the pilgrim’s trip to the Americas. I read them all by the next day, but I had a serious problem with them – they had almost no information on the “Indians.” I am part Native American so I wanted to know about them. I went back to the library and got more books, this time on Native Americans relating to the time period of the pilgrims. I think that was the most angry I had ever been at that age. I read about what happened to them and then I went back and read about the trail of tears. I can honestly tell you that, as a seven year old, I was ashamed that our country was founded on those events – that we flourished on taking everything we could away from them. I was a precocious child with a penchant for reading and no ambivalence towards telling anyone what I thought or how I felt; I haven’t really changed that much in that aspect to be completely …show more content…
I love expressing myself in words; I just lack the confidence to share those words with the people around me. When I submitted that essay, I thought I wouldn’t place well in the chapter level. I almost cried when they told me I had won first place. I knew it was going to state but I never would have believed I would get first there too; I did cry when they told me I had. I know that I did not win nationals but they will not tell me what I placed, so nationally I am between four and twenty for this past year. It is getting a little harder to doubt that I have writing ability. I still stand by that being a fluke of y skills; then again, Ms. Amy Major hated that essay and thought it was horrible. I classify myself as okay for this reason. I am not a bad writer but I am not a great writer either. I have room to improve as most students do. I plan to continue to
Development: Everyone is biased to a certain degree in what they believe to have happened between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans due to a perpetuation of myths in the media and in the celebration of Thanksgiving itself. Using entries from the diaries of two of the original settlers William Bradford and Benjamin Church, Philbrick brings to life a story very different than the one grew up with. In the preface Philbrick tells us of his interest in the history of the time era and the search for answers while struggling with “conflicting preconceptions” of the period and the facts that his primary source research (the manuscripts of Bradford and Church) was revealing.
The article, “Native Reactions to the invasion of America”, is written by a well-known historian, James Axtell to inform the readers about the tragedy that took place in the Native American history. All through the article, Axtell summarizes the life of the Native Americans after Columbus acquainted America to the world. Axtell launches his essay by pointing out how Christopher Columbus’s image changed in the eyes of the public over the past century. In 1892, Columbus’s work and admirations overshadowed the tears and sorrows of the Native Americans. However, in 1992, Columbus’s undeserved limelight shifted to the Native Americans when the society rediscovered the history’s unheard voices and became much more evident about the horrific tragedy of the Natives Indians.
Axtell, James. “Native Reactions to the Invasion of North America.” Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. 97-121. Print.
It is important for more people to become aware of how inaccurate the common perception of Native American Indians is. It leads to racism and negative connotations in individuals, when every culture should be celebrated. Native American Indian authors are able to write about their experiences and allow more people to become conscious of their culture. They first handedly share their personal stories giving more individuals insight on what it’s truly like to be a Native American Indian. The more people who are aware of how false the stereotypical image is, the less issues exist of
Students will partake in a seven week and seven lesson series on marginalized groups in America, these groups include- Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Women, Arab Americans, and Children. Lessons will take place the last two months of school, once we reach the 1960’s in American history. This is in an effort to have students realize that there is not merely one group that has seen racism, discrimination, and a near destruction of their culture. The following lesson will be on Native American portion of the unit. The goal of this lesson is for students to understand that each period from colonization to self- determination had causes of historical context and can still be felt today by many Native Americans.
Many school children celebrate a cliché Thanksgiving tradition in class where they play Indians and Pilgrims, and some children engage in the play of Cowboys vs. Indians. It is known that some died when colonization occurred, that some fought the United States government, and that they can be boiled down to just another school mascot. This is what many people understand of the original inhabitants of America. Historical knowledge of these people has been shallow and stereotyped. The past 150 years has given birth to a literate people now able to record their past, present, and future. Native American literature, as it evolves, defines the Native American culture and its status in the world, as an evolving people, more so than any historical account can.
When I think back to the stories that I have heard about how the Native American Indians were driven from their land and forced to live on the reservations for one particular event comes to mind. That event is the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It is one of the few times that the Oglala Sioux made history with them being the ones who left the battlefield as winners. The. When stories are told, or when the media dares to tamper with.
Wilson, James. The Earth Shall Weep: The History of Native Americans. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1998. Print.
So to start things off I would like to make a statement, for many reason still some unknown to myself I am a very average person. Just for example in high school I played football, but in all honesty a majority of high school students play at least one sport. I started off my freshman year weighing in at 220 pounds and a lineman. However, over the years I lost weight and improved my speed making me into an all around decent player. Looking back now I realize that none of that happened over night, much of it happened through multiple years of hard training and dedication. Similar to that is English, I started out this year honestly not know how to write very well. Furthermore, not knowing very much about the grammar aspect of the language. But now I would not say I am an amazing writer, I would not even go so far as to say I am a good write. I am very much so a decent or average writer, constantly learning from my mistakes and trying to improve upon them.
Today’s society is flooded with racism in every direction we turn, not just racism toward African Americans and people of color, but towards the Native Americans as well. There are countless stereotypes, racist remarks, and myths that rest upon the lives of these people, and this book by Jack Weatherford helps to debunk some of those myths. He goes on to tell the countless stories and things that the Native American people did during their time, even helping the whites and colonists who were forcing them out of their land. Whether it was creating maps, prescribed burns of the forests, building, fur trapping, hunting, farming, the European settlers learned it from the Native Americans. If society knew how many things that the Natives did, and what the white settlers were able to learn from them, then maybe racism wouldn’t be such a problem.
Up until this year, before taking the class intermediate composition, I thought I was a terrible writer. I was right. Writing isn’t something that I enjoy doing, nor am I good at. Writing is difficult for me because I’m not very good at explaining things in a professional manner, that can be easily well written. While writing you are expected to make little to no mistakes, which is not something I’m great at. I am so much better at explaining things with verbal words rather than written words. I had not taken any extra writing classes before this year rather than the mandatory ones. Like I had stated before, I hate writing, with a passion. I dread writing anything, especially an essay for school, like this one. I’m
Have you had something you dearly loved, only for it to be taken away? The Native Americans had experienced something like this with the white farmers wanting their land. The whites did something about it, which resulted in President Andrew Jackson signing the Indian Removal Act, forcing the Native Americans to leave.“We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that the Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth...it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood... we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear." They walked only to deal with death and despair along the way. This was a great significance to American history and led to the a Civil War.
“Aww, look at the little pilgrims!” I hope that the shock did not show as much on my face as it felt inside. I could feel my ears turning red. After taking my candy and politely saying “thank you,” I walked dejectedly back up the unfamiliar driveway to my father’s confused smile and continued on down the street to another house. I was not a pilgrim that Halloween.
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class, I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work to see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded.
In high school I didn’t consider myself that great of a writer, but I always seemed get decent grades on what I wrote. I mean I might just not be giving myself enough credit on my writing. I’m not really sure; I guess I don’t really think that I do anything that greatly. A lot of people did want my help writing their papers in high school, so I guess I couldn’t have been but such a horrible writer. In high school, the most important things to me weren’t the people, the experiences, the parties or any of that; I prided myself on my work. Now that isn’t all bad because it got me the grades to get into my dream school, but I think that I lost of what could have been a great four years of my life. I’m glad that I’ve had that experience though because now I realize you need balance. You can have fun and do you school work too, you just have to stay organized and on top of things. I’m really hoping that this will be a great five years for me, and that my writing will improve over the course of this semester.