From the beginning of the school year I was not too sure what to expect from a 8am English class. I was anxious and wasn't sure how I was going to be able to continously get up that early. From the jump my classmates were quite but my professor was a fireball of energy and I loved it!! My professor was able to keep me awake and alert and actually held my attention. I have learned a lot from my english professor and I was able to write about interesting topics that I would have never imagined. Transitioning from high scholl I only knew how to write 5- paragraph MLA styled essays (which I was horrible at writing anyways). I was able to write both informally and formally. I was able to ask questions and ask for feedback withut the fear of being torn apart and criticized terribly. I think that I can say for myself that I have applied myself into my writing more now then I ever had in the past and that shows a lot. My parents have even noticed a drastic jump from my high school attitude to my college attitude. I am able to apply myself and show off my writing in confidence instead of fear. I have learned so much from this class and will continue to apply the knowledge I retained in the future.
From the beginning of this semester I wasn't sure how this class was going to turn out. I expecting the worst but hoped for the best. So far it's been great. I have explored and written about many topics I've never heard about and have opened my mind to the therapy of writing. I feel that with this class I have slowly but surely enhanced my writing abilities in which I am truly grateful. With my website I am able to let myself write without the fear of being judged. I am able to write blog posts and post videos and photos to express my thoughts. With the website I was am to identify my writerly identity and express my emotions throughout my work. I was able to boost my confidence through my writing and allowing myself to write freely. I feel that with the reviewing, critiquing, and identifying, I was able to identify myself as a writer in which I felt was impossible before I started taking this class.
For my academic mindset assignment, I turned to the help of my parents. My parents are very observant and they have picked up on my habits and can relate to it as well. I personally feel that this was a good approach because my parents are very involved with my academics and activities. I explained to them the difference between growth and fixed mindsets and asked them to identify which one I related to more. Before I did this I identified myself first so that I could see if we were on the same page. The biggest obstacle was actually reading all of the articles about growth and fixed mindsets and all of the differences. To overcome this obstacle I made list to compare and contrast the different mindsets. I found this made it easier to spot the differences and made it less painful to write about.
I wrote this project in my room but at a reasonable time. For the hiraeth project I waited until last minute and it stressed me out. I found that starting the project earlier helps. I wrote bits and pieces everyday until it was finally completed. I wrote about this topic because it was required. This was definitely not my favorite thing to write about. I threw my own personal experience into it to try and make it more interesting and to personalize it. I will adapt my writing process by continuing to doing my assignments in a timelier manner and use the method of writing bits and pieces everyday until completed. I felt that this method was less stressful and allowed me to have time to revise it. For the Film-Based Project I worked by myself. Personally, I think that I wasn't as productive as I was in the past. I feel that I work better with others rather than alone. Working alone wasn't my best idea because when I work alone I tend to get distracted a lot easier. The most difficult part of my writing process was getting the project started and making it interesting. The movie Step Brothers is a very hard movie to write about because of how immature and scattered it is. I found it hard to write in a mature and professional manner when the movie itself is far from that. I tried my best to overcome this obstacle by incorporating my own personal experiences that related to the movie to add humor to the writing. I started this project in class the day it was due. I finished it minutes before the deadline was up. This was a horrible approach however, since I have been so busy this was the only time I was able to do it. When I started the project in the classroom I felt I got a lot of the project completed because I didn't have many distractions around me. I finished my project at my kitchen bar. Both of these locations was much better then trying to complete my assignments in my bedroom. I chose to write about the way parenting can affect children and their emotional state. I used personal experiences that I have witnessed to back up my argument and try to persuade the audience. I know that I have to work on time management for many obvious reasons. Also, I know that in the future working with others helps with the productivity of my assignments and helps to keep me on track.
For my hiraeth assignment, I turned to the help of my younger sister. My sister and I talk about almost anything and everything that crosses our minds. I personally feel that this was a good approach for the fact that she is always completely honest with me and does not hold back her opinions. I explained to her what a hiraeth is and we sat there reminiscing on stories of our past and how certain smells and songs remind us of the things we experienced as children. I think the most difficult part of my writing process was trying to remember the past as if it was a recent event. My past was not the best due to the many illnesses that ran throughout my family. I honestly struggled to find a topic to write about that was worthy enough to want to return to it. To overcome this obstacle, I took a look back at pictures from my past to try and conjure up some emotions and remember a good time from my past in which I would not mind to return to at least one more time. I wrote this project in my room late at night, hours before it was due. This however was a horrible approach because I was tired and it stressed me out which caused me to have a horrible night’s sleep. Also, choosing to right this in my room made me even more tired because I wrote my hiraeth while sitting on my bed. I wrote this project because I had some sort of emotionally connection to the story. It was that type of past where I find joy in writing, or even talking about it. I will revise my writing process by doing my assignments in a timelier manner so that I can actually review and revise my work instead of posting shitty drafts. I feel if I actually stick to my methods that I posted about becoming a better writer, I could actually do well on this assignment. However, the first step is actually getting the motivation to do it.
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Alina WesolowskiI am a current freshman student at DCCC who is looking to further my education and advance my writing abilities. Archives
December 2016
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