Moshe Shetrit

Professor McDonald

Fridays: 9:30-12:15 pm

Self-Assessment Essay

            Throughout this semester, I have learned many things. The reading assignments and discussion posts based on those texts helped me examine key details in a certain attitude toward linguistic empowerment. These readings weren’t written by children, they were written by professionals who have the credibility to write about that topic. Throughout essays, I learned other key items like drafting and revising, analyzing rhetorical situations, discovering rhetorical terms, and using technology to address an audience. In each assignment that I have done, I will show whether I have achieved these course outcomes. 

            In our first assignment, the “Sourced Based Essay,” we were asked to pick any topic that we wanted to write about. We were then asked to narrow it down to a certain audience that we wanted to address this assignment. For my topic, I decided to write about how quarantine affected us during the Coronavirus. The audience of my paper varied between college students, parents, and children. In this essay, I was able to “explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” Also, I was able to “recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” These were both achieved by using rhetorical terms like “purpose” and “audience.” I used the term “audience” in my essay to show working parents that they needed to balance their children’s intake of screen time throughout the day during quarantine and lockdown.  I used the term “purpose” in my essay to show that if you or a loved one was suffering from depression because of the lockdown, you should seek some help or reach out to that loved one. 

            In our second assignment, “Compositions in Two Genres,” we were asked to pick any topic and use two genres to help prove the purpose of our assignment. I ended up writing about the prevention of Antisemitism in America. For my first genre, I used a photo of a memorial site in front of a Synagogue that was gunned down. For my genre, I used a bill of laws that was passed a few years later after the shooting to help prevent future attacks of Antisemitism. From this essay, I was able to “understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” I used technology to help with the research for this essay as well as the “Source-Based Essay.” I was also able to “develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” Throughout this assignment, I read many articles to help show the purpose of the assignment. Once I collaborated my draft with my peers to do a peer review, I was able to edit and revise my essay to get a better result on the paper, the rational, and the reflection.

            In the third assignment “Presentation,” were asked to create a PowerPoint based on the second assignment “Composition in Two Genres.” I used graphs to show the number of Antisemitic attacks over the last decade. For this assignment as well, I was able to “understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” I did this by creating a PowerPoint to address the audience of my classmates and Professor.

            For our final assignment, the “Self-Assessment Essay,” we were asked to look back at our past assignments and show if and how we achieved the course outcomes. Doing this final assignment, made me look back and appreciate everything that I learned throughout this semester. I went from not knowing what a rhetorical situation was, to writing about a rhetorical situation that I went through in another class. This was my rhetorical situation: “Last week in my Philosophy class, we were asked to read a text about the “Defense of Socrates.” We were to explain our thoughts about if Socrates behaved well in court. My professor also asked us how we would behave in court and what our preparations would be. This was more of a hypothetical and rhetorical situation. I brought in many details to answer this question. I said that I would hire the best defense lawyer, subpoena witnesses on my behalf, gather a ton of evidence to prove my innocence, and make sure I know word for word what I’m going to say beforehand.”

            In our very first reading assignment, we were asked to “examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.” We were also asked to “explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” The last thing we were asked to do was to “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” I was able to show and explain the Rhetorical Situation in Lloyd Bitzer’s article. 

            In conclusion, the purpose of this assignment was to show how we learned all the course outcomes throughout the semester. I believe that I was able to show how I achieved each course outcome throughout my assignments this semester. It may not be as much as the other assignments, but they were all learned and explained. Overall, I was able to discover how much I learned from each assignment by going back to them and reading them after not seeing them since I have written them.