My Paper

The Writing Progress

While preparing to write for the essay I found it easy to gather information and ask questions to my family members to insure I could include as much information as possible. Gathering photos was easy as well because my family likes to ‘flaunt’ their treats on social media. Some difficulties I encountered includes, asking the right questions, making sure my questions were open-ended and some not, and getting information later on due to my family being busy fishing; I ended up asking my mom most questions because of that. I overcame those difficulties by being patient and solving problems like asking my mom some questions since my family wasn’t available. I also took my corrections from the initial question generating assignment to adjust and tweak the questions I asked during my interviews. What surprised me was the practices when someone passes, I learned the Mummuck is always there but more when someone passes and they must be protected. I enjoyed being able to put my ideas and vision into my essay once I had gathered enough information and interviews, I also liked that this gave me an opportunity to reach out to more distant members of the family. I didn’t enjoy the editing process and writing process as there are a lot of words in my native language Hesquiaht, that I didn’t know how to translate in English or explain. To solve that problem I used the Hesquiaht dictionary and some help from my mom. Something I learned from this assignment that I will carry onto other assignments in the course and other courses is making outlines. I usually skip that part and go straight away to writing but I found it very useful and helpful when I went to write my good copy. I also now know how to translate and explain what some foods and words in English which I will carry in my life to further share my story of my family.

Core Competency Reflection

I can contribute to and work with criteria to improve my own work; evidence of that is… When I received my assignment back for developing questions, I used those corrections to adjust my questions to improve my interviews and final essay draft.

When I need to boost my mood or re-focus, I… take a step back, take a small break to reset my thinking and play music or a show in the background and try again. If I am unsuccessful I will try and complete or do something else before going back to conquer the assignment or project.

I am willing to explore controversial issues such as…in order to imagine and work toward change in myself or the world, including… I explored what could be seen as controversial as I do not look like the typical indigenous person. When planning my essay I almost interviewed my dad’s side of the family as I knew it would be accepted better but that isn’t really who I am or how I grew up. I decided to write my essay about my indigenous side to hopefully showcase that indigenous peoples don’t, and wont always look the same stereotypical way. Hopefully my words can change how some people think, look at, and treat others who are not a visible minority but still carry the same weight from past generations.

An example of something I have spent a lot of time learning about is… The small details of traditions and closing ceremonies. I spent a lot of time learning and understanding traditions, ceremonies, and practices, so I could clearly portray my background. All my writing was handed in very close to the deadline or slightly late because I was gathering as much information from family members as possible, unfortunately I couldn’t just ask anyone as some topics may have been touchy so I was strategic with my questions and who I asked them to.

One goal for yourself going forward… I wish to continue working towards more in depth assignments that carry some sort of meaning. My goal is to continue working on my English skills and how to write essays or paragraphs that carry meaning and thought. To achieve this I have been spending more time on my assignments and thinking how I could better it or give it more meaning than just ‘another assignment’.