Kristoff Gomez
ENGL 210
Self Reflection Essay
When I first enrolled in ENGL 210, I did not know what to expect. I saw social scientists, and almost immediately I was confused. I was ignorant about social scientists, marginalization, etc. However, I am an open-minded person and I would be willing to hear more information about the class.
In this class, we were given multiple assignments. The majority of the assignments were essays, and how we can observe a community, distinguished how they are marginalized, and later develop an advocacy plan. This was new to me. During my whole life, I was taught a different procedure. That consisted of:
- Find a topic
- Research the topic
- Figure out the motive (Persuade, Convince, Inform)
- Write out your essay in a 5-paragraph format
Then at the end of the day, you would be graded for your presentation. For these reasons, I do not prefer literature. However, this class was different. Instead of following the usual “normal” procedure, this class taught the student to get to know their community.
Our first assignment was “Peer Observation”. I was partnered with an Asian-American student, and I was able to learn about her background. Today, we can see how Asian communities are treated in America, and this assignment enlightened me. This assignment brought to light how multiple communities are treated unfairly in their ways. We as people cannot be ignorant, we must acknowledge what is going on around us. Therefore we can make conclusions about advocacy and resolution.
The next assignment followed this same principle. However, instead of constructing an observation from a classmate’s community, you would find a community that you are familiar with and comfortable with. The community I chose was the “2k Gaming Community”. I came to realize how important this community was to the individuals because it was a space to relax and express yourself. Later on, we were given another assignment to create an advocacy plan for the community.
All these assignments followed a protocol. We as social scientists must conduct an observation without inputting any biases. Throughout this whole semester, I have seen myself enhance as a writer. Instead of writing for a grade, I actually have a purpose.
