Taylor Davison Rieman, fall 2012 English 1101 September 9, 2012 Response to Reading Shen 1.

What are some things that you learned from reading this piece? a. This text was actually pretty interesting to read, and I learned some new things. I learned that In China, when they write, they take their time in getting to the main point, they dont just rush to it with a topic sentence. They write in steps (p. 463: time, place, character, ..) and it all has to be in order. In America, we cut straight to the main point of a paper with a topic sentence or thesis statement. List three words or phrases that you didnt understand at first and your understanding of them now. a. Some words I didnt understand at first were Ba Gu, yijing, and Marxist Doctrines. As I read on, I learned that Ba Gu meant working your way into something slowly until you get to the core. Yijing is creating a pictorial environment while reading, which to me means that they picture what they read and how it all relates together. I was unsure of what the Marxist Doctrines were, and I really couldnt figure it out from the text, so I looked it up. Now I realize that its just another phrase for communism. Christensens article on Standard English began the conversation about the intersection between the classroom and the wider culture. How does Shens essay broaden that discussion? a. This article shows how Shen had to learn how to write in English and had to adapt to our writing techniques and our styles of writing. In Christensens essay, she talks about how the ruling class makes the writing rules; Shen had to get used to the rules made by that class. Why does it matter that we pay attention to cultural identity in a writing class? a. I think it matters because people come from so many different backgrounds and countries that everyone has their own way of writing- their own writing identity. People from different countries learn different writing rules. An example being the difference between the meaning of I in America and China.

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5. What are your suggestions for how we may focus class discussion today? It may be offering a quote you found interesting or confusing and want to explore more. It may be a concept you think we should talk about. It could be some tangential idea you want to talk about. Or perhaps its some guiding question for the class to consider. a. We could focus class discussion on our writing identities or the difference between taking our time to get to the main point or rushing to it with a topic sentence.