Describe a time when you encountered a new cultural experience, i.e. eating a new food for the first time, participating in a different holiday celebration, learning a new way to greet someone, etc.
When I was 23 years old, I decided to learn Hebrew, and along with the language I learned many things about the Jewish culture. Celebrating Hanukkah in Greece, going to the Synagogue for Pesach and visiting the Jewish School of Athens for Purim were unique experiences.
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How does your outward appearance (i.e. clothing, makeup, hairstyle, accessories, etc.) reflect your cultural identity?
I think that my outward appearance reflects my identity as a Greek, European female. Even if clothing differs in European countries, we all have a western style of clothing. I rarely put on makeup. However, I don't think that affects my identity. How do your behaviors and practices (i.e. rituals, daily activities, routines, habits, etc.) reflect your cultural identity? I think that my behaviors and practices distinguish myself from other people. My activities are related to my nationality, to my social class, to my age, to my gender. My routines and some of my habits, for example, are different from the those of Italians or Americans or other nations. I can't think of any ritual that reflects my identity. How do your beliefs and values (i.e. opinions, commitments, memberships, principles, etc.) reflect your cultural identity? I think that my beliefs and values reflect my cultural identity. My opinions about, I don't know. My commitments reflect my personal identity and my goals. My memberships as well, reflect my identity related to my age, as I have memberships on online services. My principles are... How do your dietary and domestic practices (i.e. hygienic routines, meals and mealtimes, food choices, daily chores) reflect your cultural identity? My dietary and domestic practices strongly reflect my cultural identity. Dinner time, for example, is at 8, 9 or even 10 pm, in contrast to the US, where, as far as I know, dinner time is earlier. My food choices also reflect my cultural identity, as I tend to choose Mediterranean ingredients, like tomatoes, olives, olive oil, oregano, feta cheese, etc. I don't know if my daily chores reflect a cultural identity, because I How does your region or location in the world reflect your cultural identity? This question seems strange. My region can reflect my cultural identity, in the food choices. My location also reflects my cultural identity, if I think of the weather. Our houses are also built with windows and balconies and terraces given that we usually have a good weather. Other reasons why my region or location would reflect my cultural identity could be something that I can't think right now but I have to continue writing. Let's see if any ideas come Describe a time when you were judged, excluded, or misunderstood because of one of the cultural traits noted above. First I will try to remember something related to my identity as Greek. I can't remember incidents related to my nationality. As a female, I was once judged for my driving by a rude male driver who did not want to admit that he was not right. It was many years ago, and it was the first year I was driving. I remember that I reacted and I yelled at him. How do you generate, or come up with, ideas? Do you follow certain patterns of thinking or action when you are trying to generate ideas for something? Do you make lists or map out your ideas visually? Are there particular resources (the library, the World Wide Web, teachers) you browse to generate ideas? Why do you use particular resources and not others?
When I want to generate ideas, I think of similar situations and try to recall old ideas employed in other contexts that could be modified or redefined. If I want to come up with ideas for an essay in a foreign language, I think of similar pieces of writing in other foreign languages I speak. Otherwise, I search for examples, models, videos, and related websites. I prefer to use the internet as a fast and convenient research tool I am familiar with. How do your peers (in your culture and/or community) seem to generate ideas? How similar or different do these processes seem to be from your own? I have the impression that my peers in my culture don't know how to generate ideas and give up quickly or improvise. My peers in this course, on the other hand, employ various strategies to generate ideas: they brainstorm, they create mind maps, go outside, talk to other people, etc. I think that I should try some of the techniques my peers mentioned. How do your elders (parents, older relatives, mentors) seem to generate ideas? Do they use the same resources as you do? In my circle, even older people are somehow familiar to technology and use it to find ideas, without, though leaving more traditional ways. When, for example, my mother wants to find travel destinations, uses not only a printer guide but also Google on her tablet. What does the discussion forum on generating ideas reveal to you about the ways in which you generate ideas? What do your peers’ contributions to the discussion forum reveal about alternative ways of generating ideas? Before I started writing my response, I thought that I didn't know how to generate ideas, but when I reflected for a while, I realized that I use some strategies without having taken it seriously. The discussion forum revealed that my "ideas toolbox" is poor, and my peers gave me numerous alternative ideas. It also showed a cultural difference between my country and other countries and confirmed the ineffective educational system we have that in many cases does not equip students with skills like these but only with knowledge. What role has writing played in your life? Describe your relationship to writing and language.
I had the impression that I am not the kind of a "writer" person. Reflecting for this journal, though, I remembered that since I learned how to write, I was always writing something. Poems, short stories, journals, content for a "newspaper" we had created as kids, letters to penpals, e-mails, blog and social media posts and academic papers. As a foreign language learner, writing has not been one of my favorite activities. How would you describe your previous writing experiences, overall? Whether good or bad, in what ways have your writing experiences prepared you for, or led you to, this course? My prior writing experiences have been positive in general, and even if I don't get excited to write in my native language, Greek, or in the foreign languages I speak, I usually manage to be creative and convey my message. Moreover, the experience I have so far as a Graduate student, my profession as an Italian language teacher and my overall journey as a lifelong learner, met in perfect timing, before my other courses begin. What do you hope to do with writing in the future? How might you draw upon prior writing experiences in order to achieve those goals? What do you need to practice in order to be a more successful writer? In the future, I hope to apply the knowledge and the skills that I expect to obtain during this course, to my academic writing, to enhance my marketing skills, to create meaningful content for my students and perhaps be motivated to start writing personal journals. I believe that understanding the power of some skills and habits of mind is a great motivator for practice and development. What do you hope to gain from this writing course and its members? What are your expectations for yourself in this course? What are your expectations for the other members of the course? Through this course, I hope to gain not only knowledge but also experience that will help me write better papers in the graduate school, describe better my services to prospective students, and reinvent my relationship with writing. Furthermore, I expect to develop new habits of mind that will help me redefine myself as a writer, for example, being more reflective and critically thinking. As for the other of the course, I look forward to exchanging opinions, perspectives and helping each other to become a successful writer. Based on the readings and videos that you read/watched during week one, how would you describe “rhetoric”? What is “the rhetorical situation” and how do you see an awareness of this concept affecting your writing and behaviors?
Many have described rhetoric in various ways. I would agree with Aristotle who describes it as a means of persuasion. The rhetoric situation is the context where rhetoric takes place. The fact, for example, that I write this journal on this particular e-portfolio is a specific context. If I this journal was part of a personal diary that would be a different context. The rhetorical situation also depends on the purpose. The fact that I created this portfolio for the English Composition course changes the context. It would have another value if I had initially designed this portfolio for professional purposes only. In this case, the audience would be different, and I would probably differentiate the content. Given that I would not have to meet a deadline, I could probably spend more time to polish my post. Describe a recent writing experience or activity where you used rhetoric to effectively convey a message to a specific audience. What was the purpose of the message? Who was the audience? How did you go about appealing to that audience? A few days ago, I wrote an e-mail to the technical support of an online service I have been using, to ask for a change in my account type, that I had not figured out how to do. Given that the recipient would be a tech support employee, my style was formal but friendly. I also used terminology and provided information like account name and my username. My goal was to persuade the reader to help me with my request. Therefore, I pointed out that if I continued to have the problem with my account, there would be no reason to renew my premium subscription, as it would not serve me anymore. Rhetoric helped me to convey the message effectively and resolve the problem. In what ways do you see your understanding of rhetoric and the rhetorical situation affecting your future writing projects? Although I have been using rhetoric without being aware of it and in some cases even without intention, my understanding of it makes a difference. The rhetorical knowledge will help me be a mindful reader and writer in my future writing projects. Practicing this ability will help me make better choices and hopefully reach one of my goals, to create meaningful writings and express effectively what I have in my mind. The WPA Outcomes lists “Rhetorical Knowledge” first in the list of outcomes areas. What does this say about the importance of rhetorical knowledge to writing? Given your experience of the course so far, how important does rhetorical knowledge seem to writing and the writing process? The authors of the WPA Outcomes probably listed "Rhetorical Knowledge" first, to show its significance, even if it was a term that many of my peers found difficult to understand. As it is mentioned in the WPA Outcomes, the rhetorical knowledge is the foundation of the writing process. The context, the audience and the purpose of the writer define not only the content but also the process of writing. A formal text, for instance, requires a different language. The audience of the text would define the level of formality. The purpose of the text could affect our choice to use e-mail or send a letter. Therefore, rhetorical knowledge plays a significant role in the desired outcome of out writing. |
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