Guadalupe Longino Mendoza

Professor Doutherd
November 14, 2017
Achievement Summary
Achievement Summary
Throughout the time of this course, as students, we were required to complete reading
responses to certain articles assigned. These reading responses were asked to be completed in a
certain format. The first two reading responses were Sponsors of Literacy, by Deborah Brandt
and What is a Multilingual Writer, by Professor Dana Ferris. These two articles were not
difficult to understand and evaluate. I believe that the text in both these articles were
straightforward and had enough detailed information that allowed the reader to take in the ideas
of these two authors. The vocabulary was beneficial to the reader because they were being
exposed to new words, however it was not complex vocabulary because the reader was able to
use context clues in order to figure out what the author was trying to portray. On the other hand,
the format that these reading responses were asked to be written in was very confusing and
difficult to understand and get a hang of at first.
The format the reading responses required included MLA citation, a brief summary of the
article read, the claim the author was trying to make, data to back up the claim, and a connection
between the claim and data. However this format did not apply to the very first reading response.
For the first reading response we were asked to briefly summarize the article we read and how it
connected to our previous experiences as multilingual students. This reading response was easy
to compose because I was not required to use the original format for the future reading
responses.
At first I had no idea how to compose a reading response. At the beginning of the
semester, the professor introduced us and explained how to compose the reading response during
class. The professor also uploaded the format and a sample reading response onto SacCT. It was
then when I finally understood what the professor was asking of her students. My second and
even third reading response did not follow this format, therefore it resulted in a low grade. The
reason for this was because I literally did not know how to follow the format. This wa a result of
misunderstanding on my part and not asking for clarification from my peers or professor.
Fortunately, as I got more familiar with the format through the sample reading response
uploaded on SacCT, my reading responses improved greatly.
The last two reading responses were,A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student
across the Curriculum, by Lucille P. McCarthy and Argument as Conversation: The Role of
Inquiry In Writing a Researched Argument by Stuart Greene. These two readings were longer
and more informative than the first two readings assigned. Although all readings were
information, the last readings were very detailed and researched wise. It seemed like it would be
difficult to understand because of the scholars some of these authors referenced, but in a way it
made it simple to grasp on. I believe that the scholars referenced in these readings allowed to
reader to understand the different perspectives writers have, and at the same time have mutual
ideas.
For the last two reading responses my writing abilities improved, as well as my
analyzation skills. As I reviewed these reading responses and the grades I received I realized that
I had improve greatly on my reading responses. I found myself including more data and making
more analytical connections between the authors claim and my understanding of the texts. I also
realized that my reading became better because the vocabulary in these texts were more complex
but I was able to identify what they meant by using context clues as well as using the dictionary
as a reference to make sure I clearly understood these terms.
As a writer I also improved because in the summary section of the reading response I was
able to identify the most relevant points the author was making, and putting them together.
Overall, I am really impressed with myself because not only did I improve the format in which I
was writing the first few reading responses, but I also managed to successfully meet the
requirements of the format and complete each section for my audience to understand.