A.2 - Personal English Reflection

English for some reason has always been a tough subject in school for me every since I can remember. I really do not know what it is, but year after year, mainly in high school, it would be my toughest class. I think there are a bunch of factors that have played into this. Growing up I have always been a kind of math and science person. I liked doing things hands on or figuring out problems, they made sense to me. I did not want to have to read a book or passage and try to figure out a deeper meaning behind it. I liked factual things, stuff that you did not have to look to deep into I guess. Later in high school and even in my first semester of college, I have also really started to sociology a lot. I think it is interesting with the study of humans and how we work in society and in different parts of the globe. But back to the reasons why I have not really enjoyed English in school. My first English teacher really made me start hating it. She was just such a bland kind of person and put no fun into it and made English really boring. Then came my sophomore year, the worst year of them all for English class. I had a woman from India as my teacher. The fact that she could barely speak English in the first place really threw me off as to why she was even teaching it. That really was not even the main reason why she made me not like English. Again, just the way she taught it made it absolutely no fun at all and she was just not a nice person. My senior year it got a little bit better. My teacher was one of my good friends' sister. It was her first year teaching also. She was awesome, she made the class real fun and I really did like the class. More importantly I did learn a lot in this class because I liked her so much it made me want to do the work otherwise I would feel bad for doing it. This has made English class a lot better than it used to be. As for arguing I think I am pretty good at it. I know how to use evidence to back up my reasons and put in a good argument. In the past I have been the one of the worst procrastinators I know. But since coming to Clemson, I have become a much more organized person and learned how to manage my time a lot better. Between baseball and schoolwork here you have to learn to do that otherwise there is no way you can have success. So before I would definitely wait till last minute to start papers, but i know I usually go about them in steps. I think having my own computer definitely helps with this. Technology plays a huge part in my life for sure. I think without a computer i would not be able to function here. Besides school work there is of course Facebook that I think almost everyone goes on now a days. Also I do not think I could go a day without my cell phone. Sending and receiving texts while making phone calls to people occurs often and I could never see myself without a cell phone anymore. That is basically a little bit about me and my background in English.

A.1 - My Mom's Perspective Of My Early Learning

To get an idea of how I was learning wise growing up, I went to my Mom to ask her a few questions about how I was when I was younger in school. Apparently when I was real young I liked my parents to read to me before I went to bed every night. I wanted them to read me the same book night after night for a long period of time. My mom said I liked to hear about sports players and their stories. I guess I also really liked a book series called "Mudge" which I have never heard of and do not remember at all. It was about a boy and his dog. Eventually I would get bored and want to move onto another book. In school I really liked science during the elementary days. I was well liked by teachers by according to my mom when there was any extra credit offered, I would always say, " we don't HAVE to do it." I have always been a hands on type of person who likes to learn visualize and touching things rather than just listening. She also said I would always put thing off to the last minute but it would eventually get done and would not look so rushed. I was really bad about starting papers or projects right from the beginning, I would always wait to the last couple of days. I would always pull through and get it done. After school I enjoyed going off into the woods and building forts. When my Dad came home I would always ask him to play catch until supper. I remember how he would throw me huge pop flies into the air I would catch them over my deck like I was robbing a home run. My mom says she can see me working with people. She says I communicate well with others and says I could be in a leadership role maybe in business or something to do with sports, mainly baseball. Baseball has always been a huge part of my life so a career revolving around that could be a definite possibility. My moms says my personality can take me a long way if I keep working hard. Hopefully she is right.

Pathos

I think this picture is an example of pathos because it evokes emotion. This picture is of Curt Schilling and his bloody sock when the Boston RedSox defeated the New York Yankees in 2004 and evenutally went on to win the World Series. I think this photo shows determination because through all the pain in his ankle, he was still able to play through it and pitch a great game and get the win.