My Quarantine Experiences
QUESTION
Week 1 Discussion: Process and Patterns: Narration
11 unread reply.11 reply.
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 1, 5; pp. 16-31
Lesson
Link (library article): Identity Stories: Representing Disability, Masculinity and Sensory Impairment in Personal Narrative (Links to an external site.)
Optional Resources
Review the following writing resources:
Link (multimedia presentation): Citing References in Text (Links to an external site.)
Initial Post Instructions
As discussed in this week’s lesson, rhetorical patterns provide us with a specific purpose and pattern of writing for effectively engaging our reader and for clearly communicating our message. This week, we are focusing on narrative writing and on the opening stages of the writing process. With that in mind, how do you decide what to tell, how to tell it, and what to leave out? If given the task of narrating a moment in time in your life, what specific actions, spoken words, thoughts, feelings, colors, shapes, sounds, and touch sensations would you share? What story would serve to provide the greatest impact on your reader? What memory would be the most telling in illustrating a facet of who you are?
Though we will work to answer these questions throughout the week, let’s do a concrete exercise for this discussion to get started. For the initial post, address the following:
First, review the section in the Week 1 Lesson titled “Understanding Audience and Planning Your Narrative.” Pay close attention to the short period of time you should identify: a few minutes to a few hours at most. Then, review your options for topics for your narrative essay:
Do you remember a recent and powerful one-on-one moment with your mother, father, sibling, child, significant other, or close friend that impacted you profoundly?
Did you have any special, powerful moments during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Are there any unique moments you have shared with an animal (your pet or another animal) recently?
Then, list three moments in time in your life, each of which took place in just a few minutes to a few hours at most, that could be developed into a narrative essay. Choose moments that reveal who you are to your reader and that take place over a very, very short time span that can be examined richly (see the following examples). After each possible topic, provide some vivid, concrete, descriptive words and some feelings/meanings related to the moment in time. Your possible topics may all relate to one of the narrative essay topic options, or they may each relate to different topic options.
Next, in one full paragraph of 5-7 sentences, discuss which one of the above topics you would likely choose right now and why, addressing the role of audience in your choice.
Click on the following link to view a sample post:
Link: Sample Post
Sample Post
Hi Class,
In order to go about finding a topic the correct way, I did as our textbook suggests and used prewriting strategies because that is the stage of writing in which we are working right now: “During this step you will explore your topic. You have several options for going about the discovery process. Your goal is to generate ideas about the topic you have selected” (Russell, 2016, p. 8). I personally used brainstorming to get many ideas out on paper, many, as the Week 1 Lesson notes, “real moments in time” (Chamberlain University, n.d., para. 10), and then clustering to narrow those ideas to true moments, the most powerful ones.
Life Moments
My dog getting hit by a car: seeing orange car on dirt road, dog yipping high pitched, running into tall grass, seeing blood, throwing down pruning shears into green June grass, panic, phoning vet, searching for injured dog through tall waving grass
Clarinet solo in Junior High – nerves, blinding stage lights, lavender flared pants and shawl ala early 80s, “Ode to Joy,” worry about “squeaking” the reed, tapping foot to not think about audience, standing ovation
A walk on Sanibel beach with granddaughter – blond hair, blue eyes, tan, barefoot, sugary white soft sand, describe colors and shapes of shells, sound of waves, warmth of water, beach birds, dialogue between granddaughter and me
Paragraph About My Likely Choice and Reader
Currently, I am leaning toward the walk on the beach on Sanibel Island for several reasons. Of all three possible choices, this is the one that will allow me to use description the most, and close description will appeal to my readers, making them feel “right there” with me. I can mention many specific colors and shapes of shells, comparing them to other things the reader may be familiar with, such as a shell the color of a sunrise. I can use the same techniques of description with sound, vision, touch, and smell for shells, sand, water, and my granddaughter. In addition, while I do not remember our conversation word for word, I can use dialogue and re-create some of that, the parts that align with my overall purpose of sharing the peace and happiness of the moment. Finally, I can attach emotion to these elements, remembering previous trips with her, my own first time in the Gulf, the pictures we’ll have to look back on, just what makes moments like these the best part of life.
References
Chamberlain University. (n.d.). Week 1: The writing process and rhetorical situations. In ENGL117: English Composition: Fall 2018 [Class lesson]. Retrieved from http://www.chamberlain.edu
Russell, K. L. (2016). Write now (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Note: Provide correct APA in-text citation and end referencing by emulating the examples in the lesson.
Follow-Up Post Instructions
Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor.
Requirements for responses to classmates:
Further the dialogue by indicating which ideas of your classmates stand out the most for you and why, using detail and expansion.
Also, suggest additional techniques of narration and description, being open and supportive by sharing your authentic thoughts as a potential reader with detail and expansion.
Writing Requirements
Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)
APA format for in-text citations and list of references
Grading
This activity will be graded using the Discussion Grading Rubric. Please review the following link:
Link (webpage): Discussion Guidelines
Course Outcomes (CO): 1, 2, 5
Due Date for Initial Post: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Wednesday
Due Date for Follow-Up Posts: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday
My Quarantine Experiences
ANSWER
My Quarantine Experience
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Instructor
Course
Date
My Quarantine Experiences
As the yellow sun begins to haul itself lower and darkening the landscapes. People all over trying to rush back to their homes, cars, and buses horning loudly with siren pulses all over. Sitting at the back-left seat of my elder brother’s luxury sedan painted silver-grey, with windows tinted dark, I can’t help it but get annoyed with all the “beep-beep” sounds around the distasteful smell exhausts. As if all this is not stressful enough, my mind still can’t bring itself to the thought that I will quarantine at home for God knows till when. The recent news on the covid-19 outbreak led to us closing school: this meant forced to attend online classes, not my style. Being the extrovert that I am, I began missing my schoolmates and, at the same moment, confused about what was going to happen.
This was just too much for me to take in; I felt as if the entire world was crumbling down: with news all over the radio on how China had been affected and the increasing death rates. My heartfelt like it was coming out of my chest. The only thought that gave me comfort was getting home to see my tiny cuddly Scooby, to behold its beautiful jade green eyes and the feeling of how it tickles me with its marshmallow tail. This was the only thing that would bring me joy amid the pandemic.
My dog getting hit by a car would be my current choice of topic, one because I have a pet and would allow me to describe to clarity its details to appeal to my readers. This would bring out the exact feeling, enabling me to bring my suitable readers into the very emotion. Describing the environment around the event would meet the various specifics such as color, shape, and sound. Lastly, I would employ the descriptive techniques to fulfill varying intentions of feelings caused by (Khany, Aliakbari & Mohammadi, 2019) sound and my pet’s touch in the previous events.
References
Chamberlain University. (n.d.). Week 1: The writing process +rhetorical situations. In ENGL117: English Composition: Fall 2018 [Class lesson]. Retrieved from http://www.chamberlain.edu
Khany, R., Aliakbari, M. & Mohammadi, S. A model of rhetorical markers competence in writing academic research articles: a qualitative meta-synthesis. Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ. 4, 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-018-0064-0