1. ” Reflection” or “reflective writing” are terms that refer to any activity that ask you to think about your own thinking
2. It means looking at your writing process and what you plan to do to be able to write the essay you are about to complete.
3. A “process note ” is where you explain your process on working on the essay and your thought processes on developing ideas
4. A “letter to the reader” is usually the first page of your essay like a cover page. You use this page to explain your process of working on the essay and explain what you intend the essay to do for the readers. You explain how the essay was written and everything that went into it
5. One of the problems was the use of vague words instead of being specific. The writer was completely clear with her goal and use of words through out her explaining her essay.
6. Revision can help the reader really go in depth with their essay and be able to ask them selves if this is the essay and topic they really want to discuss. You can look at it in a different way rather than just a writer to have a better understanding of it and to be able to look at it as a reader to improve your essay
7. I use reflective thinking everyday when I set my schedule and goals throughout the day. Also my daily activities I try to look at them all to be able to understand what Im doing right and wrong. I can see what I can do differently to improve but also what I can keep doing because its helping me.

Writing the first draft in class helped me able to write out all my ideas for the essay at once with no distractions. I focused on being able to finish the essay with with an introduction, conclusion and multiple paragraphs. I didn’t focus on making my points stronger and having a clear argument. Having my first draft revised helped me realized that and after being able to edit at home gave me more time to think about a well though out argument. I had to look deeper into my first argument and see how I could make it stronger. After I was able to edit my points and evidence to help support my argument even more.

One of the most famous midrashim in the Haggadah is the story of four sons. Each son has a different personalities and relationships to Judaism. There is a wise son, an evil son, simple son and a son who cant ask questions. In the “Defender of the Faith” four Jewish men question their religious identities during the time of Passover. Roth creating these four characters show him reinterpreting the midrash for a twentieth-century world. Roth clearly not labeling the characters leaves the reader to decide how each character can compare to the sons in the Passover story. The story “Defender of the Faith” makes you question what actions would make you believe the men are wicked or wise.

Both stories “The Paper Mangerie” and “The Loudest Voice” we see the main characters go through the struggles and adversities of assimilating into a new culture.  We see how the environment and outside influences of an individual could positively or negatively affect somebody into wanting to embrace different cultures instead of their own. Both stories demonstrate how these factors have the biggest impact on somebody and their assimilation into a new culture. 

In “The Paper Mangerie” Kankan is a young boy that lives with his mom and dad. His mom is a heavy influence on him that causes him to be very involved in her culture. He eats the same food, speaks the same language and plays with the magic origami that his mom creates for him. In the story another boy in Kankan’s school makes fun of him for playing with his mother’s origami and for embracing his culture. This causes him to want to move on and forget about the cultures he embraces. After this he takes the steps too completely avoid it. He tells his mom he doesn’t want to be involved in their culture anymore and wants to be more like the other kids at his school. 

In “The Loudest Voice” we see Shirley a young Jewish girl and her parents going through their everyday life in a new country. In the story Shirley is offered the biggest role in a Christmas play in school because of her loud voice she is known for throughout school. When she’s home she’s met with criticism from her mother and approval from her father. Her mother’s culture and beliefs won’t allow her to agree with her daughter being a part of the play. She sees it as disgusting and embarrassing whereas her father believes it could help Shirley in multiple ways. Shirley is praised for assimilating into a new culture by being a part of this play. Playing the biggest role makes her feel special and helps her gain confidence in herself. Her assimilation into a new culture holds a lot of opportunity and value for her. 

Both stories show us the characters assimilating into a new culture. We see two completely different ways of assimilating and reasons why people assimilate. “In The Paper Mangerie” we see Kankan get bullied for his culture. He gets made fun of for being different, that makes him want to change and be like everybody else. The other kids he is surrounded by every day that bully him are the negative influences that cause him to want to assimilate into a new culture to escape his own. Whereas “The Loudest Voice” Shirley is met with positivity by her teachers and dad. She was praised by her teachers and dad for her voice and opportunity even though her mother highly disagrees.  She’s already set on being a part of this play and the positive feedback drives her into wanting to assimilate into a new culture even more. Positive outside feedback and influences from her father and teachers impact her embracing a new culture by being a part of the Christmas play. These two characters’ environments and influences play the biggest role in their assimilation.  

 Assimilating into a new culture could be one of the most stressful and difficult transitions in someone’s entire life. There could be multiple different reasons why somebody would assimilate into a new culture, but the biggest factors are their outside influences and environments. In “The Paper Mengerie” and “The Loudest Voice” we see examples of this. We see how someone’s environment and influences could negatively or positively impact them, causing them to assimilate into a new culture. These factors play such a big role that it causes the characters to embrace a new culture instead of their own.  

The legislature had enacted laws enabling debtors to discharge their obligations more easily. The courts put an end to such practices by stipulating that no state could enact such laws. 

Every wall was smashed to rubble. The only thing left of those houses was the land and the rocks from the rubble 

My heart broke because the owners had no insurance 

The town looked deserted. The streets were so dark and empty. The only thing we could hear was the wind blowing 

We worked from dusk to dawn. We never had so many contracts been written in such a short time 

 In the short story “ The Loudest Voice ” by Grace Paley we read about Shirley’s life and traditions that are passed on by her parents. She’s offered a spot to play the biggest role in a Christmas play at her school. This is when we see her parents get into a disagreement about whether or not participating in the play goes against their beliefs and traditions. It’s up to the reader to decide who’s right and wrong in the argument, and how it can interfere with their beliefs at home. 

Shirley is a young jewish girl who lives with her parents Misha and Mrs.Abramowitz. We don’t know when or why they came to America exactly but Shirley’s mother states that they came to America a long time ago to escape tyrants where they lived. Both parents have strict beliefs about their traditions but throughout the story we see her father is more understanding and doesn’t instrict traditions as much as her mother. Mrs.Abramowitz believes participating in a Christmas play is disrespectful and going to cause Shirley to lose their tradition.Misha argues that there is a lot worse happening in the world right now to be so worried about a play. He also says Shirley isn’t a fool, if anything it’s going to help her learn and understand tradition and history even more. Both parents have opinions that can be up to debate whether they’re right or wrong.

Throughout the entire story Shirley’s mother shows her dislike in the play and how she does not agree with Shirley participating in the play. When she first finds out about the play and is talking to Misha about it she states “ I’m surprised to see my neighbors making tra-la-la for Christmas”(p.3). This is the first time we see her dislike of the play. She doesn’t only dislike the play because her daughter is performing. She finds it shocking that even the people around her think it’s ok and don’t agree with her views on it.  This statement lets us see her insight on the play she believes is childish or dumb to perform and to sing in the play. Later on in the discussion we see another one of her point of views when she says “We fall into a creeping pogrom, that our children learn a lot of lies, so what’s the joke? Ach, Misha your idealism is going away”(p.3). Christmas can be viewed as a tradition that can keep kids young and happy.  As kids they are still innocent and believe in Santa Clause, most kids love Christmas because of the idea of it. This shows she thinks it’s wrong to have kids believing in lies and celebrating a holiday with a play is more negative if anything for the children. She doesn’t agree with the idea of celebrating a holiday that she thinks is just teaching lies to children and would probably rather kids learn the truth instead of believing what they’re told.  

Misha believes the opposite than his wife. He thinks the play isn’t negative at all and that it can actually help their daughter in different ways that her mother doesn’t see. Throughout his discussions with his wife we see his insight into the holiday and play. He tells his wife during their first discussion “ In Palestine the Arabs would be eating you alive. In Europe you had pogroms. Argentina is full of Indians. Here you got Christmas”(p.3). He’s telling his wife being upset over her daughter being in a Christmas play isn’t justifiable when other places in the world there are much bigger problems happening. How bad could Christmas be when kids in other countries are being murdered, enslaved and lacking necessary resources. He believes she’s being ungrateful for how fortunate they are for being in the United States.  Misha also believes the play can be beneficial to Shirley by helping her learn about other traditions and about history.  He says “ Christmas, what’s the harm? After all, history teaches everyone… Does it hurt Shirley to learn to speak up?”(p.4). Misha is looking at it as an opportunity to help Shirley grow as a person. He sees the play as a way Shirley can educate herself and understand others’ history.  Not only that but as a way she can grow her personality by being the main role in the play. It can help her become more confident in her speech and possibly grow her career paths in the future. He says “ So maybe one day she won’t live between the kitchen and the shop.”(p.4). Misha and his wife came to America for a better life and to avoid hardships in their home country. He is seeing this play as a chance to help his daughter have a better life than they did. Being able to provide your children with a better life than you had is one of the biggest factors people would decide to move to another country. This is the perfect chance for Shirley to do just that. 

Both parents have very different points of views on the holiday play Shirley is participating in. Throughout their dialogue we understand what they both believe and why they disagree with each other so strongly. On one hand Shirley’s mother finds the play disgusting and ignorant. She doesn’t want her daughter to fall victim to lies and beliefs that she believes is trying to influence her daughter. On the other hand her father believes it can help their daughter grow as a person, educate herself and could possibly lead to a better life. He also believes there are other areas in the world where people have to go through a lot worse problems than worrying about Christmas. He feels that they should be grateful about their daughters’ role in the play instead of having to worry about much bigger problems in other parts of the world.

Work CitedPaley, Grace. “VT Edition: Grace Paley Reads ‘The Loudest Voice.’” Welcome to the VPR Archive, 12 Dec. 2016, https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/vt-edition-grace-paley-reads-the-loudest-voice/

Throughout “The Paper Menagerie ” I read about themes of connection and dispute. In the beginning it talks about the bond Kan Kan and his mother shared. We learn about her culture and the magic she got from her mom. In the beginning shares her powers with Kan Kan and this how they first show a strong connection. Kan Kan got into a dispute with another kid from school that ended up him making him look at his mom differently. This is how there bond ends up suffering. This is why at the end of the story we learn about his mothers side of the connection through a letter she wrote to him when was going to pass away. She writes about the connection she shared with her mother and was able to get the magic from her mom passed to her. The connection she shared with Kan Kan let the magic made the magic real and stronger.

I hope by the end of this portfolio I could look back to see my improvement over time and what areas I would want to improve on more. Throughout time this portfolio is going to help me become a better writer as I get more used to it so I could use it to reflect on my writing. I hope it can help me see where I can improve and compare to where I’m the most comfortable. I hope people can look at this portfolio to be able to compare their work to mine and see how I approach the portfolio throughout the class. I want my portfolio to be organized and easy to understand. This is to help my self and others to be able to use it in the most efficient way possible.

The more organized my portfolio is the easier its going to be for me to learn from it and use it to improve my writing. If I want to go back to my old writing later in the class to be able to compare it to my newer work I want it to be simple and easy. The more I try to organize it’ll become easier for me and the audience looking at it.

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