Following a trip the Wells' ASL club took to the Setsatian Deaf School, I volunteered to write an article about the trip which was published on the school's website. This was important since I had to inquire into the personal experiences of members in the club to avoid my own bias affecting how I present the trip to an audience. I was a bit apprehensive about taking this challenge on at first since I had never written anything close to being published on an important site, however I was still determined to complete an article.
The difficulties presented themselves early on as it was particularly difficult to gather each person's individual perspective while still remaining positive to promote the club. However, my attempt at this was successful as I briefly interviewed and received direct statements from each club member which I worked towards incorporating into the article. By the time I had to submit my final product, the advisor of ASL added a few suggestions and edits but was overall pleased with the quality. The article was further approved by leaders of the club as well, showcasing my growth as a writer by broadening my understanding of peoples' views even if they may differ from mine which was the true takeaway from this experience.
This experience has brought into question how one can continue to improve as a communicator by opening themselves up to multiple perspectives outside of their own, which is what I inted to continue exploring by writing more pieces that require the perspectives of a variety of people, and their reasonings.
Learning experiences:
Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth - I realized I had the ability to 'objectively' report on situations, but also realized that there is no such thing as true objectivity and as a reporter of information I will have to continue to try my best to exclude my personal biases when writing a piece representative of a large group of people.
Demonstrating that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process - I took on the challenge of writing a piece to be published on the school website, accepting that some people may read my writing which I have never been too keen on due to my rocky relationship with criticisms, however I have learned to be more flexible with myself and comfortable with what I write, since without failure success would not be nearly as refreshing.