I was assigned 8 bites to do a presentation with my group. I was really hoping it wouldn’t be a complex piece like some of the other works in that collection, and it wasn’t. I found 8 bites to be relatively easy to understand, at least the main points, and the nuances needed more analyzing but after calling with my group mates and discussing some of the key things in the text, I felt pretty good about my understanding and ability to lead a discussion on 8 bites. It was interesting to see what my groupmates thought was significant to raise as a question compared to the points that I thought were key moments. Nobody was incorrect but it was nice to see that some parts that I didn’t give much thought about, were actually much deeper. I thought my group led the discussion well, it was a plight scene in the class with half the people that usually talked missing, however we still managed to get a good discussion and we got to provide more of our input to help get the discussion moving. I started the discussion by asking the class to give a quick summary of the reading to get people refreshed on the story. That in itself caused a discussion which I was not expecting but nonetheless grateful. I then asked the question that I thought was most significant and after a discussion of that question, which I also contributed to, everyone else in our group was able to ask their questions as well. I think I could have provided a more specific follow-up question to my original question that made people think about the points that i wanted to raise but i didn’t because the discussion was going well anyways. Even then I think I should have mentioned it. I took this reading the most seriously compared to others in the collection which helped me with the in class essay if I chose to use 8 bites as one of my stories used for evidence.

I didn’t use 8 bites on my in class essay, I chose the husband stitch instead because the prompt about how marriage/relationship affected the narrative came easier to me and the husband stitch provides many answers to this prompt. I already knew some of the key moments in the husband stitch that I could use for my in-class essays so I looked through the book and noted them down. I reread the book briefly before planning out my essay during my gap periods. I just used a google doc, I knew that the 5-6 paragraph essay with an intro, 3-4 body, and a conclusion would be easiest for me so I structured my essay in that manner. I wrote my introduction fully, trying to use a hook and thesis statement. Then I listed my 4 main points and bullet pointed out some key things I wanted to mention about those points as well as the evidence supporting my argument and why it supports it. I didn’t write anything about my conclusion, and my conclusion in the essay was also lacking which I hope to improve in the future. I had plans for the conclusion to relate the theme to society and give examples but I didn’t have time. I think the reason I was barely on time was because the outline felt like a double edged sword; it was helpful to help me remember my main points but I kept getting stuck trying to write my essay exactly as outlined. My ideas would be more streamlined and quicker to write if I hadn’t done that. I hope to improve my pace and quality of writing in the future. 

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