Hello, my name is Maurice Jones. I was born here in the United States and live in a city called New York City. My borough that I’m from is Manhattan, and Manhattan is a crowded place, especially Queens. My interests consist of sports like football and volleyball. I would say soccer, but I barely play it. My interests also consist of me playing video games.

Here is a list of everything I have done in my English portfolio:

Translation 1:

First LLN:

So I am writing this letter to help reflect on my personal experience with public speaking. This would trace back to the third grade. Now looking back, I tend to realize that having early experience of public speaking can not only shape your confidence, but it can also shape your communication skills, or in other words, make you able to connect with others. Even though I was a pretty shy person, I still tried my very best to help prepare myself and deliver my speech. However at the time I didn’t realize that standing in front of my classmates and simply speaking about something as simple like a favorite animal would eventually help me grow up to be somebody who just puts preparation on a pedestal I also value having good audience awareness and self-expression, mainly because this would help me eventually become emotionally and mentally prepared, which in turn really sparked my overall understanding of how communicating effectively plays a big role.

That third-grade ordeal was given to a bunch of diverse groups of classmates who had different backgrounds and personalities. It honestly felt like I was at a Grammy now. Because of this, I just remembered feeling very self-conscious about myself. It felt as if every pair of eyes could just read my nervousness. Now when I spoke, my words just couldn’t form; it just felt super jumbled, which in return made me not be able to even get through my slides. The entire class was silent while this was happening, so I mumbled an apology and just rushed back to my seat. So my palms were just sweaty, and my heart was pounding so hard I felt like everyone in the classroom could hear it. This experience has just solidified, or in other words increased, my fear of public speaking. I overall just viewed it as an environment of people judging you secretly.

So as I got older, so many things began to unravel, so in the seventh grade I had this new teacher named Bob, and this person just completely changed my perspective of public speaking. Whenever we did his think-pair-and-share, he would always encourage students to participate or at least try. Now at first I thought this was made to make you uncomfortable. But then I realized this was just a safe space for my ideas and thoughts, so I just started small, giving basic short answers. Eventually, over time, I became so much more comfortable in expressing my opinions. His overall approach had just made me realize that it was never about perfection but rather connection.

So by high school I had to face these bigger challenges, like getting in debates in my debate class; a debate class alone sounded scary. I imagined myself stuttering or mixing up words; in other words, this meant I had to prepare as much as possible even if it meant talking to myself in a mirror. When the debate arrived, my heart was racing, but once I began to speak, my preparation had made it easy to speak, and since we were so respectful of not interrupting each other, that just made it even easier for me. I responded to my opponents with confidence and an optimistic mindset. That overall moment for me was a turning point; it just proved that fear can be conquered through courage and preparation.

Last LLN:

The changes I have included are making better transitions and making my literacy narrative shorter in length. I have also made grammar changes to my draft, which could make my reading for my literacy narrative more understandable and more formatted. I’ve also had to make my conclusion a little longer while staying in a word deficiency of 750. I have also switched up my words in a few paragraphs, making it shorter and simpler, which in return can make it less long.

Through these experiences I have learned that making my communication skills more engaging will make me a strong speaker. I even learned to use vivid imagery and sensory detail techniques. I picked these techniques up from a podcast called Mr. Creepypasta, who’s a storyteller of scary stories who uses vivid imagery through words alone. Now looking back at that journey from that shy, nervous third grader to a more confident and compassionate speaker, I can say every failure or awkward moment just helped me make it to this moment in life growth preparation, and not being so hard on yourself when you fall or stumble is key. These experiences had also made me realize that my voice has value since it could inspire others, inform, and help you connect with other people.

If it weren’t for my teacher Bob, I wouldn’t be. I might have never just realized how important public speaking is. His encouragement made me overcome my self-doubt; not every student gets a mentor early like me. I’m grateful overall for this journey, not only because of Bob’s presence. I’m just grateful I went through with Bob’s plan. I could have easily turned down Bob’s plan and just stuck to being quiet. But I’m very glad I wasn’t an ignorant prick; instead, you see, not every person gets to have a mentor at an early age. If I wasn’t encouraged by Bob, I wouldn’t be able to even think for myself and have a mind of my own. So I’m overall very grateful for this journey to happen to me.

Synthesis essay draft 1:

Some people may wonder if people of immigration/undocumented people should have rights or not in the United States. This entire concept as a whole is such a complex phenomenon; so many profound effects take place. However, one may say granting rights to immigrants can center towards human rights in general, so what this means is that immigrants should be seen as human too and not just some secondary citizen. One may also say that countries have the right to prioritize or, in other words, exclude their own rights and resources from their own citizens. However, I think that all citizens, regardless of legal background, should have the same rights. People think that undocumented immigrants are uneducated or criminals that lack proper speaking skills in English; however, we can’t categorize all undocumented immigrants into a bad category. And at the end of the day, regardless of their criminal status or uneducated status, they are human just like us who should be granted rights just like everyone else. While others are compelled to leave their own countries, which can be due to either environmental disasters or employment/higher wages, it is important to realize if America wants to thrive, it needs to be filled with the diversity and creativity of people from all over the world. You can’t just gatekeep a country to certain people; it shows biases and bigotry. According to “Why We Dehumanize Illegal Immigrants: A US Mixed-Methods Study” by David M. Markowitz and Paul Slovic, it states, “Many immigrants are dehumanized based on social and physiological phenomena; because of this, immigrants are treated inhumanely, whether that be because of dehumanizing metaphors or dehumanizing judgements.” This evidence surrounds us with a question: why would such people go through such dehumanizing methods to put one down? I think that all these methods are creating even more barriers for immigrants and America. Now let’s talk about the economic impact of immigration. Immigrants would often fill out jobs that are more likely to be done by native-born people/workers who are very unwilling to try and contribute to the overall economic growth; however, immigrants are known to create multiple jobs and spur innovation. Thus, the economic impact of immigration is positive; this has pretty much shown how immigrants had to work for a fundamental human right by reducing their poverty. According to “A Summary

and Analysis of Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue.” It states

“In Amy Tan’s mother, what happens is Amy Tan’s mother, who’s an immigrant, is judged based off the way she speaks, which is broken English. Since she’s not from America, she speaks broken English and is judged by society for speaking this way. However, Amy Tan’s mother, after fleeing from America, has faced financial and emotional struggles due to her difficult past.” So overall what this means is immigrants have a deep traumatic background mainly due to environmental factors like wars This evidence also means that there is a social structure in America for immigrants who speak broken English, which is often depicted as a negative trait in America.

It can often be seen as a bias if you think about whether immigrants/undocumented people should have rights in the United States. Let’s say if you say all humans should be treated with respect regardless of background, it can still be seen as a bias. Let’s also say that you think undocumented immigrants shouldn’t have rights in the United States due to them not contributing to society; all these opinions will always land on being biased, which shows that this is a very complex issue with varied perspectives. According to Anderson, Ron J., “Why We Should Care for the Undocumented.” AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 10, no. 4, 2019 , pp. 245–248, shows how people tend to lean towards being more bias towards the rights of immigrants/undocumented people Many Americans tend to think that human rights are a fundamental right, especially for citizens or non-citizens receiving health care. Because of the majority of positive bias towards immigrants/undocumented people, many funded services were created, which many immigrant families use for support. Overall this just shows that many Americans in today’s society think that anyone who goes against immigrants of a noncitizen background can be seen as corrupt or evil very easily due to the injustices they have already faced. Now let’s move onto the challenges many immigrants have faced due to their non-citizenship background. We can most definitely say that immigrants face having a lack of healthcare and access to education and even housing. Now this can mainly be due to discrimination or policies that are targeted towards certain groups of people that can limit quality education, and having no quality education in the United States means that you are unable to really contribute and thrive in today’s society. According to a scholarly article called Zajacoval, A. (2002). “Constructing the Reality of Immigrant Life. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness,” 11(1), Page 69–79. Shows how an average immigrant must know their facts and ethos better than the average American citizen, and that is mainly due to the discrimination they are going to face off rip. This scholarly article overall shows how even without the targeted policies towards immigrants or the poverty many immigrants face, they’ll eventually run into external challenges like having a lack of education or adapting to languages or social injustice.

Translation 2:

Final Synthesis essay draft:

Throughout history immigrants/undocumented immigrants have always fought for their rights in the United States. The type of rights I’m talking about are more paths to citizenship, like voting. You should be allowed to give your opinion on politics despite your citizen background. This is mainly due to injustices and prejudiced actions against immigrants. We can overcome this obstacle in the United States by simply granting immigrants and undocumented immigrants the same citizen rights as a United States citizen. However, one may say granting rights to immigrants can center towards human rights in general, so what this means is that immigrants should be seen as humans too and not just some secondary citizen.

One may also say that countries have the right to prioritize, or in other words exclude, their own rights and resources from their own citizens. However, I think that all citizens, regardless of legal background, should have the same rights. People think that undocumented immigrants are uneducated or criminals that lack proper speaking skills in English; however, we can’t categorize all undocumented immigrants into a bad category. And at the end of the day, regardless of their criminal status or uneducated status, they are human just like us who should be granted rights just like everyone else. While others are compelled to leave their own, which can be due to either environmental disasters or employment/higher wages, it is important to realize if america wants to thrive, it needs to be filled with diversity and creativity of people from all over In the world,The world—you can’t just gatekeep a country to certain people; it shows biases and bigotry. In other words, according to “Why We Dehumanize Illegal

Immigrants: A US Mixed-Methods Study.” by David M Markowitz and Paul Slovic It informs us many immigrants are dehumanized based on social and physiological phenomena; because of this, immigrants are treated inhumanely, whether that be because of dehumanizing metaphors or dehumanizing judgements. This evidence surrounds us with a question: why would such people go through such dehumanizing methods to put one down? I think that all these methods are creating even more barriers for immigrants and America. Now let’s talk about the economic impact of immigration. Immigrants would often fill out jobs that are more likely to be done by native people/workers who are very unwilling to try and contribute to the overall native people/workers. Immigrants are known to create multiple jobs and spur innovation. Thus, the economic impact of immigration is positive; this has pretty much shown how immigrants had to work for a fundamental human right by reducing their poverty. According to “A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan’s ‘Mother Tongue.’” It explains

In Amy’s mother’s case, what happens is Amy’s mother, who’s an immigrant, is judged Based on the way she speaks, which is broken English, since she’s not from America, she speaks broken English and is judged upon by society for speaking this way. However, Amy Tan’s mother, after fleeing from America, has faced financial and emotional struggles due to her difficult past. ” So overall what this means is immigrants have a deep traumatic background mainly due to environmental factors like wars, and this evidence also means that there is a social structure in America for immigrants who speak broken English, which is often depicted as a negative trait in America. It can often be seen as a bias if you think about whether immigrants/undocumented people should have rights in the United States. Now let’s discuss some biased topics of immigration.

Let’s say if you say all humans should be treated with respect regardless of background; it can still be seen as bias. Let’s also say that you think undocumented immigrants shouldn’t have rights in the United States due to them not contributing to society; all these opinions will always land on being biased, which shows that this is a very complex issue with varied perspectives. According to Anderson, Ron J., “Why We Should Care for the Undocumented.” AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 10, no. 4, 2019 , pp. 245–248, shows how people tend to lean towards being more bias towards the rights of immigrants/undocumented people Many Americans tend to think that human rights are a fundamental right, especially for citizens or non-citizens receiving health care. Because of the majority of positive bias towards immigrants/undocumented people, many funded services were created, which many immigrant families use for support. Overall this just shows that many Americans in today’s society think that anyone who goes against immigrants of a non-citizen background can be seen as corrupt or evil very easily, mainly because they are undocumented. This can also be due to the injustices non-citizens have faced already.

Now let’s move onto the challenges many immigrants have faced due to their non-citizenship background. We can most definitely say that immigrants face having a lack of healthcare and access to education and even housing. Now this can mainly be due to discrimination or policies that are targeted towards certain groups of people that can limit quality education, and having no quality education in the United States means that you are unable to really contribute and thrive in today’s society. According to a scholarly article called Zajacoval, A. (2002). “Constructing the Reality of Immigrant Life. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness,” 11(1), Page 69–79. Shows how an average immigrant must know their facts and ethos better than the average American citizen, and that is mainly due to the discrimination they are going to face off rip. This scholarly article overall shows how even without the targeted policies towards immigrants or the poverty many immigrants face, they’ll eventually run into external challenges like having a lack of education or adapting to languages or social injustice.

Now moving on to some reasons why immigrants are very vulnerable to immigration policies, one reason could be many immigrants are granted limited access, like, for example, the Remain in Mexico policy, often referred to as MPP. This therefore forced all immigrants to wait in Mexico for their immigration to be processed. This policy was mainly forced against immigrants to keep immigrants in Mexico while their cases were being solved, or in other words, processed. Another reason why immigrants are so vulnerable in the United States has to be mainly because of employer penalties, which influence restricting hiring for immigrants. In other words, let’s move onto how employers are impacted by immigration.

Employers who go against the policy of restricting undocumented immigrants from hiring would face civil fines and could most likely have their business license taken or revoked. Evidence to support this would be from a YouTube video: “U.S. Immigration Policy and the Violation of Human Rights.” Michelle Brane’s TEDxBerkeley talk informs us how immigration policies mostly target women and children, or in other words, people who are trying to start a future in the United States. This basically shows how the United States government doesn’t want people of non-citizenship to have a bright future in America.

To summarize everything, in total, immigration has definitely had a historically major impact on society. Immigration has also contributed to things such as cultural change. Without immigration there wouldn’t be as much diversity. Immigration helps enrich a society’s economy through hard labor; most immigrants fill in the roles of being construction workers, agriculture workers, healthcare workers, etc. Most immigrants contribute to society more than an actual citizen of the United States, so in essence immigrants work harder mainly because of societal pressures they will endure. Now while many people try and suppress immigrants, it’s safe to say that immigrants actually help stabilize populations that have a labor gap in the workforce

Works cited: “U.S. Immigration policy and the violation of Human Rights” Michelle Brane, TEDxBerkeley”

Zajacoval, A. (2002). “Constructing the Reality of Immigrant Life. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness,” 11(1), Page 69–79

Anderson, Ron J. “Why We Should Care for the Undocumented.” AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 10, no. 4, 2019 , pp. 245–248,

“Why We Dehumanize Illegal

Immigrants: A US Mixed-Methods Study.” by David M Markowitz and Paul

Self Assement:

Learning Goal Course learning outcomes listed in the syllabus.	Your Paraphrase What does this course learning outcome mean?	Score 0-5 Rate your learning (see score key below)	Evidence of Learning Briefly describe an example (or provide a hyperlink to your work) to demonstrate your level of learning.
Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.	to analyze how linguistic Standards impact modern-day languages	5	Learned this learning outcome from: mother, Amy Tan, so From Amy’s mother, Tan, I’ve learned how anybody that goes against linguistic standards are seen as an outcast
Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.	Be able to explore diversity and different genres. In a modern-day writing world	4	Learned this from Marshal-Finna. Which helped me explore the different types of genre’s of writing and language
Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.	Being able to learn or develop skills from trials and errors writing or revising	4	I learned this from What happens after AI destroys college writing or excerpts, which, to me, helped me realize that ai can be a tool if used the correct way and not for plagiarism. The correct way can be using it to correct grammar or using it to build ideas.
Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.	Understanding different types of languages can be used to persuade an audience	4	Learned this from 3 Ways to Speak English: I learned how dialects can be another form of keeping an audience engaged in the article
Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.	Understanding how different forms of media or writing can reach a range of audiences. For example images and art can help reach a variety of audiences	4	Learned this from writing a literacy narrative, which helped me explore the perspectives of how media or digital technologies can impact one’s learning.
Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.	Use reliable resources like scholarly books or journals to help create accuracy and enhance the use of implementing strategies	3	My experience with this was while doing my synthesis essay; I have realized how important it is to locate your sources, whether they are academical sources or library data
Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation.	Having a clear and concise argument while using relevant sources and strategies	4	Learned this from: I have learned this from my synthesis essay, which was the first real assignment that helped me compose appropriate sources to support my argument.
Practice systematic application of citation conventions.	Implement a style of citations at the end of your document	4	Learned this from my synthesis essay, which help me implement MLA-style citations greatly

My Final Reflection Essay:

During My final days of the semester, I often look back at what i’ve gained from

My English class, and I definitely know that I am going to take the skills I learned during this semester with me for the rest of my life, so I say that the first ever skill I have ever gained during this semester had to be me gaining enhanced critical thinking skills. The type of critical skill I gained is analysis. I say this because I have developed strong critical thinking skills by analyzing complex texts and participating in thoughtful discussions like the discussion boards that I have done in my English class throughout the semester. Adding on to this claim of mine, I would say that freshman composition had me evaluating different perspectives when writing essays. This could eventually, in the end, help sharpen my ability to think critically and even improve my analytical skills. So according to my “translation 2” feedback created on November 29, 2025, it states, “So based off my reviews, I have gotten many of my audience found the memes were funny. However many, others also found that my presentation had too much info, and it’s better off being a poster, or it’s better off having a different type of writing format.” This constructive feedback overall helped me think harder about what to add and what to remove, so in other words, the translation 2 feedback, which was done in class, had actually helped enhance my critical thinking skills by making me see all sorts of perspectives, so what this means is that I evaluated information from multiple viewpoints critically because of the feedback.

Next let’s talk about another experience or insight I have encountered or learned during this semester in my freshman composition class. I would most definitely say that I have somewhat improved my writing proficiency based off the feedback I have gotten throughout the semester in freshman composition. The feedback i have gotten for my writing proficiency throughout my semester was actually helpful, so for example, this could include a feedback response saying to be more specific about my topics I’m discussing in my writings or my analysis, or this could also include me fixing up any citations I have gotten wrong. Overall, this was very helpful to me and helped me improve my writing proficiency in the long run. Trial and error is what built my writing proficiency, to say the least. According to my “3-page synthesis” created on the 10th, the feedback states, “In your first sentence, clarify what kind of rights.” This feedback actually made me go into depth on what I meant when mentioning immigrant rights in my synthesis essay. This has also made me reflect, or in other words, question myself. For example, I would typically say, Am I making sense to the reader when writing, or does my work look a bit rushed? So i would overall say that this straightforward feedback from my synthesis essay actually helped me craft a more persuasive and a more coherent essay I say this because straightforward feedback makes me examine things in a critical manner, encouraging me to try and perfect my writing proficiency.

Now let’s dive deeper into what else I experienced during my journey this semester. Since I’m always getting literacy shoved down my throat, I would say during this semester I definitely have expanded my knowledge of literacy. I say this because my freshman composition class studies all types of different reading genres from a range of authors. My freshman composition class would also examine poems and dialects lots of authors feel comfortable with expressing to the readers. However, I feel like because my freshman composition class examines so many of these genres and topics, it increased my knowledge of literacy. Some texts like to use symbolism, and I easily would catch onto it, according to Amy Tan in “Mother’s Tongue.” It states, “Lately I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured English.” Therefore, this actually helped me understand the symbolism the author was trying to convey when the author titled the reading as “Mother Tongue.” I understand now that the author was trying to portray her mother as not much of a fluent English speaker just based on the title alone.

I will now discuss some of the last experiences I have had during my semester in my English composition class. So, to elaborate further, I definitely would say I have learned refined communication skills mainly through class presentations; this therefore made me somewhat a more confident and effective speaker. I have also realized that it’s always great to try to connect with your audience when presenting since it would get the audience engaged, and it would grab their attention spans if you express yourself more. According to my “translation 1,” it states, “My old English teacher took me out of my shell and forced me to talk to people I didn’t like. FYI, I low-key didn’t ask for that.” This shows how expressing my feelings more actually helped me build my refined communication skills. I say this because expressing my feelings can help me build up thoughts and ideas when presenting.

So overall, in conclusion, in this journey in my semester, I have learned so many things, and I will gladly take them with me. I am thankful for all these trials and errors i have experienced now because I know without these experiences, life itself would eat me alive, so I’m going to need all the skills and experience I can get from this semester if I want to progress. Through more semesters

Citations: 1-“translation 2 feedback,” created November 29th, 2025.

2- “3-page synthesis” created November 10th

3-Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” 1990. University of Missouri–St. Louis, https://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/Mother%20Tongue%20by%20Tan.pdf

Jones, Maurice. “Translation 1.” 10 Nov., 2025

The Portfolio of Mauricejones