AZaborowski+Portfolio+Reflection

====As I began this semester I was what one would call a “uni-drafter”. This was not by choice most of the time¸ rather due to time constraints that left me little to no time to write other than the few hours at night while the world around me slept. Knowing that this is not the “right way” to write I set my sights on learning other process’ and strategies for writing that I may use myself one day. Throughout this course I have been introduced to a variety of strategies, techniques and styles of writing that I was not aware of. By finally organizing my writing and time to a point where I could sit down and revise, redraft and edit my work based on peer support and my own knowledge, I was able to fix minor mistakes that I would have otherwise left in my final drafts. ==== ====At this stage of my writing I am still exploring my own style as I define my tone and audience. As seen in my writing to inform piece //How to Survive working Under the Golden// //Arches// I am most comfortable when I am able to use my own wittiness, sarcasm and knowledge that I have personally experienced. The strategy I used with this writing first began as a “uni-draft”, but after I had presented it to some peers in class revision groups, I was able to see some errors that I has made which created clashes within my finished product. This is where I believe the need to revise became apparent to me the most. I have always been able to finish a piece of writing the night before and simply submit it without a second glance and receive an A from the professor, and now in the classroom my peers were tearing my work apart (in a non-vicious way). ==== ==== “Better have my peers tell me all of my mistakes rather than the professor or even a publisher to read these things” was my first thought which was followed closely with ====

“how the hell will I make time so I can edit”?
==== My goal for this writing was to create useful advice for those new to the world of McDonald’s and how to survive it as they work through college headed towards their dreams. I believe that I have met my goal for this particular piece of writing, I found time that I could use to edit and draft as well as created a manual for new hires that I wish I received on my first day. Although I do not believe McDonald’s would help me publish this writing, I hope one day I am able to publish this piece of writing. I am extremely proud and happy with the way this particular piece turned out. With the year I have left working in the McDonald’s world I have thoughts that a website or blog site would work out better for reaching the general public and with publication laws. Although this course is coming to a speedy end, I do intend on working on this piece to not only expand it, but to get it out to those I work with. I believe the humor and wittiness can be understood more so from the eyes of someone who is experienced the McWorld and can add to my own thoughts. ==== ====My writing that was most critically analyzed, drafted and redrafted was my Unfamiliar Genre Project on //How To Write a Letter of Complaint.// My process for this piece of writing was to simply give step-by-step instructions on how to write this letter that are many times mistake ridden and non-effective. This produce required me to not only research effective and non-effective samples of complaint letters, but to provide a simple layout for my users to follow. I believe my background knowledge and prior experience with angry customers at McDonald’s not only sparked my interest in this user’s guide creation but motivated to constant revisions to make it error free and effective for my audience. The process used for this article of writing consisted of chunking and then adding on to the original. When I mention chunking it is meant as taking the whole project and breaking it into smaller, and more doable pieces to meet deadlines which I had created myself. This meant that I had to take a look at my conflicting schedules of work, school, pre-student teaching and possibly a few hours of sleep to allow myself a timeline that would work to complete this project on time. As a class we began this UGP (Unfamiliar Genre Project) by submitting a proposal of what we wanted to investigate, why it was important to us, and how we would proceed with this research. Then came the research and submitting resources to be sure that the torturous Wikipedia or social media sources were not the sole provider of information. After this was all check and rechecked, we were on our own to create our final steps of advice and expertise on the matter. By involving myself in the research process and taking to time to not only study good examples of complaint letters but also to not-so-great examples, I was able to give my audience both types of examples to clear up any misconceptions. I truly found the importance in writing a How-To in the classroom from doing so myself. This process gave me room to be creative as well as concise with a word count limit. ==== ====My greatest experience with the pedagogy of writing came from our chance to study student writing from the “real world classroom”. The challenge to look at writing and critique it based on factual evidence only gave me the opportunity to separate prior knowledge from the student and their writing. This evaluation forced me to look past the grammatical issues and into the actual writing by the student. The question portion of this presentation gave me the chance to write down my own questions, who was this student? Are they experienced writers or are they just learning how to convert their ideas onto paper? The questions were endless and prompted me to search for the student’s answers. By becoming the evaluator rather than always the one being evaluated gave me the power look at writing from the other side of the table, this was not my writing being evaluated therefor I did not have to defend it. If I could convey this message to my future students when it comes to writing I believe I could incorporate workshops such as those held within my college classroom. Students could have choices other than the five paragraph essay, genre exploration would be part of every writing activity, and students would be given the opportunity to draft, revise, draft and draft again. ==== ====Students today use the typical five paragraph essay to regurgitate exactly what they believe the teacher wants to read. After my experience in a writing pedagogy classroom I have collected the tools and references (such as Kelly Gallagher’s examples) to invoke critical thinking, writing and choices for my students. Students should not be given a “fill-in-the-blank” essay to write, rather a challenge to write a How-To book or write in a genre they are unfamiliar with. These activities get the students not only invested in their writing, but get them to research and study a topic they would otherwise not know about. As we have found through Kelly Gallagher’s writing, “I am not simply teaching the writing process; I am teaching the writer.” This quote can become the rationale for many lessons that Gallagher presents to incorporate deeper thinking within the writing classroom. I have come to find that confusion is good within the classroom because it is confusion that provokes learning. Writing to me is a beautiful process and an irreplaceable tool that is necessary in society. Our job as educators in the field of writing is to not suffocate and kill the art of writing, but to incorporate choice and important decisions that students will find in the real world. Writing is more than pen to paper, keyboard to the printer; Writing is a process of thinking, creating, drafting, and redrafting. A continuous process that takes time, patience and a devoted teacher to this writing process. ====