Dear Portfolio Reader,

 

This semester has been more challenging than I had anticipated. I have always been a good writer, but I discovered this semester that I had to stretch myself in ways that weren’t always comfortable. I learned that if I wanted to reach my readers, I needed to understand that not everyone sees the world the way I do. I needed to work with my peers and write multiple drafts to understand that a first draft is just a place to start. I have chosen three pieces of writing for my portfolio: The End of a New Beginning,” “A Day with a Three Year Old,” and “What Can We Do to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy.” Each shows my growth as a writer in different ways, and the final piece was my favorite assignment of the semester.

The peer review sessions that our class held in October helped me with my Memoir paper. My first and second drafts were unfocused. I spent my first draft basically retelling the events of the essay. I think I got stuck doing that because the details would bring sadness upon me. Finding a focus helped me move from listing the events of the essay to interpreting those events. It was difficult for me to get my thought in order because my ideas were scattered all over the place. I thought my peers would love my first draft, but they found it confusing. Some of their comments were hard to take, but their feedback (and all the peer feedback I received this semester) helped me see my words through a reader’s eyes. After my second draft I had a sense of how I was going to set up the paper so my reader would no longer feel lost in my words.

While my Memoir paper shows my struggle with focus, my next paper shows my struggle with Ethnography. I had trouble finding what I wanted to write about. My first draft was not well organized my ideas were all over the place. It was difficult for me at first, but after having a discussion with my professor Holy Pappas she gave me a great idea. I was going to write about my three year old daughter. I enjoyed it very much because I had observed my daughter like I have never done before. I learned a few new things about her throughout this assignment which was pretty exciting to me.

For my argument essay, I wrote about Teenage Pregnancy. My position is that teen pregnancy is a major issue with teenage girls and it must be prevented. In my first draft, my lines of argument were not in the best order. The statistic shows that teenage pregnancy is still the highest in the U.S.I truly enjoyed the research process. I learned a few things I wish were broad when I was a teenager. My essay evolved from draft to draft because I allowed my thinking to change and develop as I revised. I’ve never revised as much as I did with this final assignment. I cared about this paper and wanted to show my readers why my argument mattered.

The expectations for college writing are different from those for high school writing. I believe that my portfolio pieces show that I finished this course as a stronger writer. I have learned to take risks in my writing and to use the feedback my peers, and now I know how to acknowledge the points of view of my audience to be more persuasive. I’m glad to have had the chance to write a reflection at the end of the course. I hope you enjoy reading this portfolio and seeing the evolution of my work this semester.

 

Sincerely,

Denisse Medina

 

 

 

 

Denisse Medina

Professor Pappas

ENG 111

Memoir

 

The End of A New Beginning

 

Family for me is very important and finding out I was pregnant bring joy and happiness upon my husband and me. I couldn’t image how happy my mom and dad were going to be when I told them the news, but for now I wanted to keep it a secret.

I have always dreamed of having a child and having my own family. I was four months pregnant at the time. I was the happiest person in the world because my dream has finally come true. My happiness has just started and it was going to end in a blink of an eye. On October 17, 2008 I was diagnosed with a Molar Pregnancy. I had to decide whether I wanted to live feeling sorry for myself or if I going to take this experience and learn from it.

Today was a very special day because I was going for my first prenatal visit.  It was a beautiful August morning and the sun was as bright as it could be. I felt the summer breeze brush against my skin. I couldn’t deny it I was super excited to know how things were going. I was becoming inpatient because I have been waiting for about an hour. I was excited because I was going to hear my baby’s heart. It didn’t go as well as I hoped because for some reason it was hard for the doctor to detect a heart beat As I walked out the hospital I could not help myself so I began to cry because everything didn’t go as great as I expected. From today on I had to change my life style a bit until my baby arrived.  Next month I will finally find out the gender of my child.

I was heading over to my first ultra sound when I experienced a sharp pain in abdomen unfortunately on Oct 17, 2008 I was diagnosed with a Molar Pregnancy.  According to American Pregnancy Association a molar pregnancy is an abnormality of the placenta, caused by a problem when the egg and sperm join together for fertilization. I was 1 out of 1000 woman who experienced a molar pregnancy. This was the day I learned that life tend to take us down unexplainable roads. A few hours later I was still in shock I just hope that it was a mistake and everything is going to be fine. I just couldn’t imagine not having my child. I couldn’t understand why this had happened to me. I was so devastated I needed someone’s support. The phone rang and as I answered I could hear my mom asking me how was the baby? And, Did I find out the gender? As I tried to explain I couldn’t make a sound. The only thing I did say was that I had to go to the hospital to get treated.

As I arrived at Brigham Hospital I was admitted right away. I wasn’t able to eat anything after 12 o’clock. My operation was scheduled for Oct 18, 2012 at 11 am. The whole entire night my mother stood by my side. I prayed the entire night hoping everything would be all right.  What truly scared me was the treatment in which a Molar Pregnancy is removed by suction curettage, dilation and evacuation (D & C). At seven am I was woken up by the smell of an omelet. I was starving but I wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Three hours later I was being transferred into the operating room. The last thing I can recall was the hairy man’s hand reaching out to me to put on the oxygen mask.

Two hours later I opened my eyes but the bright light blinded me. I felt a terrible pain in my abdomen so severe that I had to ask for pain killers. So far everything looks good I just needed something to eat. I was happy to find out that by Sunday I would be able to go home and get back into my regular routine.

It was amazing while it lasted. The joy and happiness I experienced I wouldn’t change it for the world. I wasn’t the same after because I just couldn’t explain how I have lost a child that was never there. It was terrible I just can’t explain the emotions I experienced at the time.  Going through this experience taught me how to emotionally deal with my pain. Instead of feeling sorry for myself I decide to do some reach on a Molar pregnancy and educate myself a bit more. I remembered in High School I had to do a senior project presentation and what could be better than having a personal experience to share with my classmates. I could finally speak openly about a Molar Pregnancy without emotionally breaking down into tears. A new beginning comes from the other beginnings end and it’s time for me to take time and enjoy what’s coming next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denisse Medina

Professor Pappas

ENG 101

Ethnography

 

A Day With A Three Year Old

 

Rosemary wakes up at eight this particular morning yawning and smiling from the foot of our bed with her pony pillow beside and mutters “ is not dark outside no more”, with an accent as if she has lived in Boston for three almost four years of her life.

I would ask her did you have a goodnight sleep last night. She would smile and say yes as if she had nights she hasn’t slept well. She laid there at the foot of the bed and all of a sudden she jumps out of the bed and speeds out to the bathroom. She is finally fully potty trained, which is exciting to me because I no longer have to change diapers.

We began our day in her bedroom which reminds me of a beautiful fairy tale garden. She is excited to get dressed this morning after I told her I was taking her to the zoo. She enjoys the Zoo because it has a big playground. As she’s rushing me out the door as if the zoo was going to close in five minutes she turns back and say I forgot my glasses.

I sat down at the picnic table and observed rosemary runs anxiously into the playground. She first climbed up to the slide, using the stairs carefully and turns and quickly sits herself and slides down the slide screaming WEEEEE! After going down the slide many times she observes me eating and determines that she is also hungry. She runs up to me and says can I have a piece, but I was having a junky snack so I afford her some strawberries instead, but she refused my offer so she then began to whine. I made it clear to her you have two choices you can have some strawberries, or we can go home. She preferred the second choice.

As I observe Rosemary’s way of interacting with the children I haven’t noticed how social she is. She always makes new friends everywhere she goes. She is always coping what the other kids are doing so if she seemed a child climbed up the slide she decides she should also try. An hour has passed and Rosemary seems pretty exhausted so I decided that it was time to go home and take a nap.

I allowed Rosemary some free time, but as soon as we came in, that is when I become aware of something that I had never noticed before. I knew that she chattered to herself occasionally, but I never really paid any attention to what she said. She has actual conversation with herself. I overheard her saying do you want some juice and then she said yes, and then she replied back you go get it. I started laughing out loud, so loud that Rosemary approached me and asked me what I was laughing at. I disregarded her question and said, who, are you talking to, she answered that she had been talking to her pony (stuffed animal) that was indeed on the floor at the side of her.

Soon after the dialog with her pony she began to be noticeably tired. I sat on the floor there watching her distantly in the hallway outside her room, where she began to play with her little pony dolls lining them up flawlessly as her eyes would gradually shut and her head collapsed forward. Why didn’t she just lie down baffled me. She carried this out for a few minutes and then finally fell sound asleep, lying down on the floor.

One way that we learn about our children is by watching them; we learn who they are and how they interact. We do this as naturally as parents. When they are babies, it is nature’s way of making sure they are protected and cared for. We observe the way they move and explore, their gestures, every sound that is made, the tone of their cries, what calms them down, the times they nap and their eating habits. When we observe is when we begin to know our children.

 

Denisse medina

Professor Pappas

ENG 111

Argument

                       What Can We Do To Prevent Teenage Pregnancy?

 

I am often concerned when I see an adolescent girl experiencing motherhood at a time when her main responsibilty should be far less than those of raising another human being. The reality of the matter is that every year more and more teens are having children at an alarmingly young age. This issue raises the question of what can be done to prevent and lower the rates of teenage pregnancy. In order to prevent teenage pregnancy, teenagers need to have a comprehensive understanding of abstinence, contraceptive techniques, and consequences.

Although there are many different ways to prevent a teenage girl from becoming pregnant, the only one that is effective is sexual sobriety. As stated by the Office of Adolescent Health this method is the only one that guarantees no risk of getting pregnant and protects the teen from getting any STD’s. For many years abstinence has been viewed as a decision based upon a religious or moral belief. According to the national campaign sexual abstinence is not associated with public health risks and needs to be presented and promoted as the most effective primary prevention for unplanned pregnancies. The more information teenagers are given on the subject, the higher the chances that they will make this decision. For this reason, it is important that teenagers be taught the health benefits of choosing to remain abstinent.

Another form of teenage pregnancy prevention that is being taught in schools is various contraceptive techniques. As described in the article” Ten Tips for parents To Help Their Children Avoid Teen Pregnancy,” The National Campaign states that abstinence remains the best way to prevent pregnancy among teens, it is a fact that there are still a large number of them who will be involved in sexual relations.  It is important that teens be provided with broad information on how to do so responsibly using various contraceptive techniques.  As described by the National Education Association most of the sex education in schools consists of one message: “Don’t have sex–but if you do, use a condom. The issue that rises from this is that teenagers are not being exhibited to broad information on the various forms of birth control, condoms, and other methods of prevention that are available. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contraceptives are talked about in sex education classes, but only as being ineffective in preventing pregnancy and diseases. Also, these classes on contraceptives should include information on how to obtain the different methods of birth control. This is a way to ensure contraceptive use for many young teens that, rather than going to their parents for help in obtaining birth control, choose to have sex without protection simply because that protection is not made available to them.

For most teenagers, the real affects of having a child at such a young age are unknown. Teens need to be aware of the bitter reality of raising a baby and the denying effects that an unplanned pregnancy can cause in both the mother and the child’s lives. In the article “The two Best Ways to Prevent Teen Pregnancy,” Claire McCarthy talks about the effects of having a child out of wedlock at a very young age. She states that the mother’s new offspring can experience the following: “Lowered health for newborns and increased risk of early infant death; Retarded cognitive, especially verbal, development; Lowered educational achievement; Lowered job attainment: Increased behavior problems; Lowered impulse control; warped social development; Increased Welfare dependency”. Teenage mothers should be aware of the major effect their offspring will have on society in the future, and the high risk of the cycle repeating once this child becomes a teen. Teens must also be aware of the fact that an unplanned pregnancy will change other aspects of their lives. For example, as McCarthy points out, less than one-third of teen moms who have a baby before they are eighteen finish high school. When exposed to such information about the results of an unplanned pregnancy, teens are forced to chew over whether sex is worth the risk of forever changing their lives, and those of their future children.

On the other hand, for many people sex is considered a method of reproduction, and the idea of using contraceptives and other methods of birth control is simply unnatural. This conclusion is talked by many religious institutions, primarily within the Roman Catholic Church. In the article “The Importance of Teen Pregnancy Prevention,” JeNeen Anderson claims that “Sexual intercourse cannot be separated from its primary purpose of reproduction”. Many followers of the Roman Catholic Church have adopted this principle. Although the purpose of sex can be though of as only for reproduction by some, it cannot be narrowed down to just having sex to have children for everyone. This belief will not prevent teenage girls from experimenting and running the risk of becoming pregnant. Of course nothing will work universally, not even education, or contraception.

It’s a parent’s job to teach teens about the negative effects of teenage pregnancy. Schools should also teach children more about different methods teenage girls could use to help reduce pregnancy. The parents can solidly effect their children’s decisions by taking the time to be involved when the issues of sex begin. The schools can also do their part by providing the principal information on putting a stop to pregnancies and by encouraging teens to make responsible choices when having sex. Therefore, the obligation of adults is to provide teens with a detailed understanding of abstinence, contraceptive techniques, and the consequences of sexual activWorks Cited

 

 

Works Cited

 

“Ten Tips for Parents To Help Their Children Avoid Teen Pregnancy.” The National Campaign to Prevent Teens and Unplanned Pregnancy. N.p., Mar. 2008. Web. 3 May 2016.

“Teens Pregnancy Prevention.” Office of Adolescent Health. N.p., 4 May 2016. Web. 3 May 2016.

Anderson, JeNeen. “The Importance of Teen Pregnancy Prevention – NEA Healthy Futures.” NEA Healthy Futures. N.p., 06 May 2015. Web. 05 May 2016.

“Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy.” Center For Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2016.

McCarthy, Claire. “The Two Best Ways to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.”Boston.com. N.p., 10