Some of the flexible strategies I developed for the above range from context reading, affirmations, and proofreading.
To be precise, in reading I always made sure to correctly identify the context the author was speaking in, in order to gather my opinions. This rereading and annotating of the text gave me room for the next strategy: drafting for improvement. I allowed myself to use what the given and make room for improvement; believing the words would string together like a web. Additionally, another strategy I picked up on during reviewing was to not skim through what I the author has written, rather to engage with it and build knowledge from it. In the collaborative aspect, a skill I developed was undertaking critique. I had to become comfortable knowing that nothing will ever be good until the second, the third, or even the fourth try. Which brings me to the next skill I developed with revising. During revising, I was constantly making improvements, adapting to the changing narrative I presented to the audience. In rewriting, a strategy I developed was consideration toward knowing that my opinions on the topic can change once I did more research. And lastly, in the final process of editing, I would allow myself to proofread more than once, a day or two after I wrote my essays. This became an important skill as sometimes I found mistakes, I could not see clearly first time.
For me, the collaborative aspect of writing in class was an eye-opening experience. As it allowed me to engage more frequently with the mistakes I made while writing, instead of shrugging it off. Additionally, it showed me how to become more openminded with suggestions and not view them in a negative way. My peers were there to view the essay objectively, based on the content and not on their feelings over the content.
In the social aspect more specifically, the collaborative efforts gave me the opportunity to open up and become vulnerable with my writing. I was entrusting my words to another individual and I did not know how they would react; however, their goal was to analyze my paper and give suggestions. And, at the end of the day, it was still I who was writing my content and not them.
It ultimately brought me to the conclusion that collaborating is empowering. Not only did it make me realize that I was in a place where my teacher and peers wanted me to succeed by saying, “this can better, let’s work on it some more!” It also showed me that although it is terrifying to make mistakes, it is far worse to not fix them.
In the end, the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process were my favorite things.