West Virginia University
English 101 460
Final
Mia James
English 101 460
Amy Alvarez
12/5/17
Mia James
Reflective Introduction
12/5/17
English 101 460
This class wasn’t what I expected at all; I expected to be learning grammar rules and the
correct places to put commas all semester. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised that it was focused
on writing. Although it isn’t the type of writing I enjoy, I know I will be very
fortunate to have
taken this class in the future.
Profile
The profile essay was actually pretty fun. Being that I have interviewed others before, it
was fairly easy for me to come up with questions, but stress and anxiety make interviewing
difficult for me. Thankfully, my subject was my own mother, so it was effortless. I interviewed
her and she helped me piece together everything very nicely. I’m not very good at writing essays
(or writing in general), so my mom helps me with papers and such every once in awhile. I know
that seems kind of juvenile, but english has never been my strong suit…
It was enjoyable to have a better understanding of my mom’s job and what she does. I
wish I had asked more about her personal experiences in the workplace. Dawn is my mother, so I
know many different stories about the hardships she’s faced. In the interview, I hadn’t asked
about that. If I had, I think the audience would get a better understanding of just how difficult
and stressful her job can be. I tried asking later on, but she wasn’t up for conversation, so I
wasn’t able to add more of what I wanted in the essay.
Narrative
Writing this piece was kind of a roller coaster of emotions. It brought up a lot of
memories about my ex and how I was treated. The emotions weren’t bad though- it was as if I
had shoved them away for so long, that when they came back to the surface, I was healed. It’s
done and over with, and I’m okay now. I learned that as a writer, I have issues with putting
senses into words. Most of my works are more of ideas or feelings, not what I hear or taste. It
was challenging to do this piece, but I am happy I did it. It definitely helped me expand my
world as a writer. Adding in dialogue was a bit too difficult to do for this piece. I added in more
details on some of the specific events and took out some of the parts that were summary. Since
what I’m writing about was over the course of many months, making it less of a summary was
also quite difficult, even after looking at it a dozen times. I’m just not very good at editing…
Rhetoric
When I walked into this class, I had no idea what rhetoric was and had only done a
handful of research papers. Learning about rhetoric was actually pretty interesting because it
gave me a little insight on what I might be working with in the future as a graphic designer. I will
have to work a good bit on making things like ads that persuade people in whatever direction I
choose.
To support my overall argument for this piece, I looked into the organization UN Women
and found their basic belief systems and what they stood for, which was also obvious in their ad.
I believe I effectively communicated my analysis; if anything, it was a bit redundant, but it was
clear.
My perspective on the issue in the ad was not unique; millions of people believe in
equality for all men and women. This has been an issue throughout all of human history and
seems to still be alive and well today. Although, when looking into the views of some of my
citations, many seem to be taking on a much more radical view than I. It made this paper a bit
harder to write because my views are slightly more conservative than some, but I set aside my
thoughts and pushed through to finish the paper.
Research
Narrowing down the topic for this piece was a nightmare. Seeing how ‘tired’ of a topic
that was, I tried to zone into why people with PTSD should take it, then why people with anxiety
should take it, but numerous sources went against my view on it. I’m still not very happy with it,
but I messed up and procrastinated too long and…well…here we are.
In conclusion, this class was pretty helpful and I’m positive I will be using things I
learned for future classes. My first semester of college was a ride, to say the least. Many things
happened, and I went off the deep end a bit. It affected some of my grades and although it
doesn’t really show in the gradebook for English, I didn’t do nearly as much as I wanted to for
these pieces. I came in all bright eyed and bushy tailed, and then crashed pretty quickly.
Hopefully next semester will be better since I have learned JUST how easy it is to get distracted
and procrastinate. It was wonderful to have you as a professor, especially for my first semester in
college. Thank you for using your passion for english to help teach kids like me. I appreciate it
greatly.
West Virginia University
#1
Profile Essay
“Superman on the Spectrum”
Mia James
English 101 460
Amy Alvarez
12/5/17
Mia James
Profile Essay
12/5/17
English 101 460
Superman on the Spectrum
When a baby cries, it could be for a number of reasons; only later on in life will they
learn to express their hunger or fatigue with words. If a human has an intellectual or
developmental disability, it may delay the development of language to learn to say, “I’m
hungry,” or, “I’m tired.” That’s where Dawn James, Behavior Support Professional Supervisor,
steps in.
Dawn was more than happy to talk to me about her job, which directly correlates with the
deficits in others’ brains. We sat down in her home last week and she opened up about what it’s
like to work at her job through Healthways Incorporated.
Behavior Support Professionals specialize in analyzing and observing individuals with
intellectual and developmental disorders in order to devise a plan to teach them skills that make
up for their deficits. They do this work through the WV I DD Waiver program. For example, a
nonverbal man with Autism punches someone to say, “I’m hungry.” He doesn’t have the ability
to state what he wants, but he knows if he punches the other person then the other person will
eventually respond with food. The behavior of punching is reinforced by getting food. Dawn
looks at the behavior and assesses the function of it. Since the function is used to say he is
hungry, she tries to teach the man a different way to communicate that he wants food. She might
give him a card with a picture of food on it for him to show people. Presenting the card serves
the same purpose as the punching did, but in a less violent and more efficient way. In order for
this replacement behavior (replacing the punching with showing a card) to work Dawn works
with the caretakers to teach the caretakers how to use the card. For example, Dawn may instruct
the caretaker to give the man food and the card at the same time for several days so that the man
learns that there is a connection between the card and food. The caretaker may then present the
card moments before the food so the individual learns that the presence of the card means food is
coming. Eventually, Dawn’s plan will be to get the individual to present the card to the caretaker
when he wants food.
The card with food on it is one of hundreds of adaptive tools made for people with
disabilities, such as Autism, Intellectual Disability, Down’s Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy. A
specific tool Dawn has made was a game board to help a man learn how to count coins. The man
