Emily's+Reflection

The process for how I write changes depending on what I am writing and who I am writing for. Whether I am writing an academic paper or something more informal I have to know exactly what I am writing about and what I want the outcome to be. I also need to know what all my resources are and where I am getting my information from, or if it is just general knowledge, so that when I begin writing I am organized with my thoughts and my resources. Sitting down staring at that electronic piece of paper watching that cursor flash at you can be quite stressful. It doesn't help that starting off is the hardest part of the writing process, but if you have all of your materials with you and a general idea of what you are supposed to be writing about if not a great idea, then writing can be quite enjoyable. On the other hand, time can goes by pretty quickly while sitting there trying to get that first word out. That can be pretty nerve wracking for me, especially because I consider myself a procrastinator. It seems like I have gone back and forth from really procrastinating to kind of sort of procrastinating in my college years. It is usually my Mother who gets on me about completing assignments and she is the one that gets me to complete drafts for her to edit and those are some of the best pieces of writing I have ended up turning in. I will say that it is very rare that I ever complete more then 2 or 3 drafts before I turn in a piece of writing, unless required or it is one of those lucky times my Mom got on me about it. I love when I sit down to begin writing and the words just flow right out of me and I am able to complete the writing easily, not having to worry about my vocabulary or what time it may be. If I am able to put my own emotion into a piece I consider it very successful.

It is hard for me to think about what my strengths and weaknesses in writing are, only because I am my toughest critic and everything to me is not quite perfect. I became an English minor only recently and it has been a struggle for me to find what kind of writing I am good at. It seems that everyone around me just knows exactly what they're doing and they get it. They get how to put words together on a piece of paper, they know what their strengths and weaknesses are and are able to use their strengths to their advantage but it just seems that I am still somewhere in the middle. I have found that I am good at talking about myself and writing stories about my past experiences. If the piece of writing is something that I am very knowledgeable in or is very straight forward, telling me exactly what to write about and exactly where to look, I am very good at that. If it is something that is a little more complex and forces me to step out of my comfort zone, come up with my own topic, take the writing in a new and interesting direction I struggle. I am not saying the writing ends up weak and I am not good at completing it, I just think that I struggle in that area and it is something I am working on. Besides that I am a very bad procrastinator and when a research, information heavy paper is left to the last minute, then not only do I struggle, I also do not offer my best work and that is not something that will help my future.

Throughout this semester I have learned that I can actually become an English teacher and do well at it. I have also assumed that I would go right to a self-contained special education classroom, maybe a resource room and that would be what I would do with my English minor. After taking this class and teaching a lesson on writing styles and then analyzing high school writing I realize that my brain really can think that way and I really do enjoy reading high school writing and communicating with students at a secondary level. I am still a little afraid my heart may not fully be in it and I will never stop comparing myself to those that are better writers than me but I am beginning to know what I am and am not good at and I know I can use what I am good at to my advantage. One important thing I learned this semester is do not just put words on a paper to fill the page. Do not waste paper space with words that are meaningless and are just there to meet the length requirement or word quota, which usually is not even that important. I know I am capable of writing a great 3-5 page paper but if the topic allows me to write a great 2 page paper then that is what I should turn in. The feedback will help make it longer so I need to be confident and turn in what I have and get the feedback to help it grow. If I turn in something that is, shall I say, bull shit the last page and a half than the reader will become confused and may look at me, as a writer, in a way that really is not accurate. I want to become the best writer I can be and this class has helped me realize that meeting page lengths are not as important as solid, good writing.

Still thinking about this, I go to my expressive and reflective piece. I enjoyed this one because it was about myself and my experience but I ended up filling up space with words that confused the reader and there really was no main topic because I jumped around so much. I did revise it a couple of times but without starting completely over. The feedback I recieved was very helpful and I am choosing to take that with me in the long run but maybe not necessarily with the final draft. For the other pieces of writing that I chose to include in this portfolio I think showed a lot of growth between drafts. I think the persuasive piece of writing is strong because of its topic and the way I presented it. Bullying is extremely serious these days and everyone is aware of that but providing readers with a few serious facts and then simple tips for three types of audiences allows for an easy read but a persuasive read on prevention of bullying. My unfamiliar genre project was very fun to write, although it is so out of my comfort zone which is something I like to avoid when I write. I think I expanded on it a lot after my first draft. Although it may have come off to be more of a folk tale than a fable the moral is very meaningful to me and I wanted to display that as obviously as I could and if that meant a few extra words than that is okay with me. I think that the final product of that piece of writing is one of the most successful piece I completed this semester.