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Welcome to the Writers' Studio!
REFLECTION #1
LOOKING BACK
There are two words that describe my experience as a writer and those are as follows: Imposter Syndrome. Never have I ever considered myself to be a successful writer but one thing I have learned is that in life, what goes around, must come around. There is just so much irony in the fact that during my formative years, I’d do close to anything that would allow me to avoid English or Language Arts classes, including taking multiple Mathematics classes each year, yet here I am writing a reflection of my writing past in an advanced English class concurrently in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In full transparency, my goals for writing never truly grew past essay deadlines and school projects.
Growing up as a daughter of non-English speaking immigrants, I channeled all of my energy outside of the classroom, into mathematics. My parents, though they tried their best, were of not much help in the English department as I surpassed their English knowledge early in my youth. Memories of my youth involve sitting at the kitchen table, tea kettle whistling in the background, sitting under unforgivingly warm lighting solving math equations until my right hand would give out. It seemed as though the world could be falling apart but the one thing, I had control over was refining my mastery of mathematics. Because I focused my attention on all subjects aside from English, I grew hypercritical of my writing skills and ability to compose productive, important material. I’d only ever write to fulfill assignment requirements, nothing more, nothing less. Albeit this math over English mindset was the starting point for my all-or-nothing mentality that I am working to overcome.
Writing with the intent of submitting assignments caused my educators and readers to judge my work on completion versus the merit of my work. Any critique or feedback has always felt personal because of my insecurities about writing. Granted, I have passed my English classes and exams with adequate scores, I can’t help but feel as though I just learned how to appeal to rubrics and essay criteria. Even when it really mattered, like in the case of my SAT essay, I just word-vomited instead of providing any useful insight. Pictured below is my conclusion in which I said a whole lot of nothing.
LOOKING FORWARD
Moreover, I have never written to challenge myself. Time and time again, I have always taken the easy route. To be completely honest, taking ENG105 as a first-time college student is my first step in my efforts to challenge myself as a writer. I hope to grow into a writer who doesn’t just stick to the status quo, but rather writes to challenge preconceived notions and beliefs. Along similar lines, I never want to be stuck writing about things that I am not passionate about or writing from somewhere that is not my heart. I strive to write pieces that have merit and mean something to someone. To my best ability, I will make it my mission to provide insight and make relevant comments that contribute to society.
Through this class and portfolio, I want to be at a place in my writing where I feel confident enough to share my work with others in hopes of creating change. I believe this class will provide a solid foundation for my writing from this point forward. The prospect of having peers and mentors review my work is slightly nerve-wracking but I am in a place where I can understand that we are all growing as writers and critique is never ill-intended. I hope my peers view me as a writer who is open to growth, willing to admit that I can be wrong, and always happy to help.
In recent years, I've come to enjoy journaling as a creative outlet for my emotions and hope to one day translate that into a blog to share my work with those willing to read it. Similarly, in regard to Habits of Mind, I plan on most specifically leaning into the creativity and openness aspects. Furthermore, I hope to grow into my voice as a writer and speaking truth in all of my work. I want to be proud of my pieces and work rather than word-vomiting for a grade. Ultimately, my goal through my portfolio is to create a medium in which my work is readily available and easily accessible to maximize understanding of complex, interconnected issues.
REFLECTION #2
FEEDBACK:
CONCLUSION FIRST DRAFT:
CONCLUSION FINAL DRAFT:
LOOKING BACK
There are two new words that describe my experience as a writer thus far and those are as follows: open and creative. At the beginning, the prospect of beginning a project from the ground up, from any topic of my choosing, was quite truthfully, daunting. Unlike most of my previous writing pieces, I had to be creative and guide my own work, there was not a strict rubric to follow or topics I had to choose from. I had to be open to the trials and tribulations that were involved in my brainstorming process. I had to learn to let go of my preconceived notions of my writing and allow myself to grow. I had to be open to feedback from my peers and mentor and professor.
When I think about Project 1, I will remember the way it ignited in me a feeling of confidence in my writing that I've never before experienced. For the first time, I felt like I wasn't just writing for a grade. It now feels like my writing has a purpose. Although this was much more self-guided than my previous works, I truly felt passionate about the topic and writing about youth homelessness in my community instilled a drive in me to speak the truth of this underrepresented community. Youth homelessness is not an easy subject, by any means, to tackle but I have grown to learn that my work can shine a spotlight on this glaring issue and that I do indeed have the power to speak truth in my words. Slowly, but surely, I am working towards my goal of growing into my voice. Upon realizing the power that my work holds, I slowly became more open to others reading my work.
When I look at my feedback from peers and mentors (pictured above) I realized that there was a common theme in their messages. I took into consideration their words, allowed myself to process and took necessary steps to get my piece to where it needed to be. In hindsight, if I did not receive the advice that I did, I would've likely kept my conclusion short and simple as it was before. Upon reflection, I am thankful for the feedback as it allowed my conclusion to become more nuanced and truly sum up the organization I profiled.
I can't remember a time where I felt comfortable sharing my writing to anyone but my teacher to receive a grade for my work. I have never been able to decide if my work was worthy of anyone's time, therefore I just relied on myself to reread and rewrite all of my work over and over and over again. I even teetered on my decision of whether or not to attend a Writing Mentor Workshop, which proved to be the most helpful feedback I could've received. It has been eye-opening to realize that workshops and feedback from others are just opportunities to grow as a writer.
LOOKING FORWARD
From now on, my goal is to allow myself to grow as a writer. Though at times it still feels vulnerable to look at others for help, I have grown to appreciate the process of giving and receiving feedback. There is something magical about each persons' perspective and someone else's ability to see what you didn't. Peer review and feedback no longer hold the same negative connotations as before, in my brain. Through this project, I have truly learned to trust the process of the Writer's Studio Course Map.
Outlined in this map are valuable steps for each composition. Before this project, I was intimated by the various steps that this map shows but upon reflection, I have employed all of these as new skills on my tool-belt. Writing surely is a process but I will continue to use the map to guide my work and make an effort to not skip over any of these important steps. Invention, research, drafting, feedback, revision, and reflection have all played instrumental steps in my project, namely feedback to my revision process.
By the end, I hope that my openness reflects in my work. I want to be viewed as someone who is open to new ideas. Open to being incorrect. Open to feedback. I hope that my peers and mentors will support me by giving me feedback if or whenever necessary. Never again do I want to be someone who shies away from feedback because of my fear of others seeing my work. I have learned from and felt inspired by reading others' work throughout this first project and hope that my work also reflects my peers'. We all have so much to teach and learn from each other.
Ultimately, learning that the greatest tool we all have is to share our writing in hopes of inspiring our audiences, is powerful. By sharing our work, we can transfer our knowledge to others. I know that my work alone, cannot change the world but as I continue to share my writing, I feel as though I can be a catalyst for change in my community and give voice to the underrepresented, which is my goal through it all.
REFLECTION #3
LOOKING BACK
This course has been monumental to my growth as a writer. Specifically, the lessons that the composition of Project 2 taught me has been invaluable.
From the beginning, I’d figured this second project would challenge me as a writer once I set in stone my audience for the piece, the mayor of my city. I have never previously composed a piece this professional, directed towards someone with the authority to create change that is especially relevant to my life. I knew that I had to employ the research skills I learned throughout this course to guide my letter, remaining as professional as possible yet still treading on the line of appealing to pathos. Personally, I feel like wanting to solve homelessness is almost a no-brainer, but I did not let my biases affect my work in an overwhelming sense. I made sure to remain passionate, yet allow room for error in my own judgments.
Truthfully, the greatest challenge of this project was proving myself and my research to someone of greater power than I. I felt as though I needed to establish my credibility as the writer of this piece to sway Mayor Fleetwood to enact Housing First as the solution to our city’s homelessness issue. Like my other work in this class, I made sure that my work was well-researched and offered a solution that has not yet been done. I am most proud of the final draft of Project 2 as I feel it reflects much of my learning throughout this course, including the usage of feedback to better my work. From peer and instructor feedback, I gained insight into the gaps of my work. My conclusion, for example, lacked a crucial call-to-action. Without the help of my peers, I would have lacked such an important part of my letter. At times, I felt as though I was composing another research piece rather than writing a letter.
Upon reflection, I have come to recognize my growth throughout the course to be steady and upward. I have taken what I learned from each assignment and project to the next and built upon the knowledge I gained from the last. There almost seemed to be a cycle in the processes of my work throughout English 105. I used the assignments, such as the advocacy ad/PSA analysis assignment, to build a foundation for my understanding. From there I used the peer responses to learn from my peers and their understanding of the assignment to gain insight into what I missed. After, I’d compose my own work, reflective of the qualities I liked from my analysis. Again, I used feedback to revise my work accordingly, and ultimately submit a work that I was proud of and felt fit all requirements. In my advocacy ad, I used the design elements learned in the course and feedback to maximize accessibility to the piece.
Ultimately, I have learned to value the whole writing process outlined in this course. I have never been one to give or enjoy receiving feedback, but feedback is ultimately what got me through this class. Furthermore, I have learned various design elements and critical thinking skills for each of my projects and take take beyond ENG105.
ADVOCACY AD FIRST DRAFT
ADVOCACY AD SECOND DRAFT
LOOKING FORWARD
Going forward, I now proudly consider myself confident as a composer and influential as a writer. Through this class, I’ve grown into my confidence, recognizing that I am capable of producing work with merit and the power to create social change, and not just because I have an assignment to submit. I will take the skills of rhetorical knowledge and critical languaging, that guided much of my work this past semester, to continue guiding my work for future classes and academic/professional pursuits. From this point forward, I will make sure that my pieces that are well backed-up and employ the usage of primary and secondary sources.
Through this class, I learned how to conduct interviews, write a profile, compose a letter, design an infographic, and the usage of advocacy ads versus public service announcements, and all of these modes of writing will continue to shape the way I compose my work. For other classes I’ve already found myself feeling the necessity to make sure my work is multimodal. I did not shy away from hard topics this past semester and will continue to write with passion to create societal change. I think the greatest lesson I learned throughout this course is the power that my work holds. Choosing homelessness as a topic for both projects was no easy feat but I feel empowered by my work in this class to continue to learn more about the homeless community and work to solve this issue that plagues our world.
Another important aspect of this class to me was the feedback process. I did not know how to lean on others for help or feedback before. I feel enlightened by the way I allowed myself to be open to feedback and essentially criticism. I have touched on this topic in my previous reflections but have now more than ever realized the importance of inspiration in others’ works. I recognize the influence others’ work, whether it is my peers’, or the professional research I reference in my compositions, has on my own work. I find myself very inspired by each piece I read now and find myself analyzing works like we have been taught to.
Going back to my first reflection, I noted that I’d hope to someday create a blog to showcase my work once I was confident enough in my writing to do so. Little did I know that this portfolio project would pay homage to that. This portfolio has been a creative outlet for me and I feel inspired to continue a personal portfolio beyond just this class. I have learned that it is good to share my work with others through this medium as I have a lot to contribute.
Through English 105 and the help of Professor Lindsey Novak, writing mentor Sydney Allen, and all of my peers, I feel confident in my writing. I feel confident that my work gives a voice to the unheard and underrepresented. I will take the critical thinking and analysis skills I've learned here and translate it into my future compositions.
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