In this blog post I am going to summarize the video we watched in class about reflective writing. I will then tell you about my experience I have had this semester with reflective writing.
Reflective writing is documenting your reflective thinking. It is a three-stage process. It is about looking back, analyzing, and applying the knowledge in the future. Instead of just descriptive writing, you should write about your thoughts and feelings, during, after, and since. You also need to look at how it made you feel, why you did it that way, how you will change it in the future. You should use a small amount of description and a large amount of reflection. Description should be used just to put the reflection into context. Hindsight is important to look back on the event and use the information to change things in the future. That way you can use the knowledge to adapt to other situations. Reflection is trying to get every bit out of your learning. It is difficult when you start reflecting but will become easier with time and it is very rewarding and builds self-confidence. I have found reflective writing to be very difficult for me. I find myself falling into the trap of being too descriptive and not digging deeper into my thoughts and feelings about my writing. On Tuesday in class after we watched the video, I went back and worked on my reflective writing about my research paper process. When I originally wrote this blog, I just answered the questions that Dr. Mangini had put in the instructions. I did not really do a good job in reflecting on what I had learned. It wasn’t until I went back and tried to reflect on what I had learned that I started to appreciate the process of reflective writing. It is difficult for me to write about the errors that I had made and how I will work to avoid them in the future. I think this is because I equate errors to weakness and I am very insecure with acknowledging weakness. I need to learn to accept the fact that I may make some mistakes so that I can learn. If I can accept these mistakes and reflect on how to use them in the learning process it will make me a better student in the future.
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This weeks blog is a reflection on my growth as a writer midway through the semester. I also will be reflecting on my upcoming goals for the rest of the semester. You can see some of the processes I have developed by reading my Blog #7.
How did you feel about English Composition before the semester started? How do you feel now? All my life I have dreaded any writing assignment, whether it was at school or at work. I would do anything to avoid having to write a paper. I am realizing now that the reason for my fear was that I did not get the proper instruction in how to write. My only instruction was being told what I did wrong and I was not instructed on how to do it correctly. This approach left me very insecure in my writing skills and started a vicious cycle. Having the ability to write each week without the criticism has made me more confident in my processes and products. I am starting to not hate writing. In this class, how do we define composition? In this class we define composition as combining two or more communicative elements to make meaning. In this class, we write so we can make meaning. What have you learned thus far about yourself as a writer? I have learned that the first thing I need to do is get as much down on paper as possible without any filters. After that is done, I can go back and edit it to my liking. If I try to edit as I put it down, I freeze up and begin to doubt myself. The more I relax the more I write. As a writer in this class, do you feel as if you are improving? How so? I feel that my confidence has greatly improved, and this is allowing me to write more freely. Implementing what we learn in class to my blog posts is helping me to learn to be more descriptive and show more than just tell. The more I am practicing writing the easier it is. What are your three primary English Composition I goals for the rest of this semester? My first goal is to do some meaningful revisions to my life-choice memoir. My second goal would be to learn how to write effective research papers. I feel that this is a skill that I will need in my future classes. My third goal would be to stay open to learning and put in as much effort as possible. The more I can learn of the art of writing the easier it will become. As we reach the mid-point of the semester, I look back at how nervous I was to take this class. I came into the class absolutely terrified and doubting my writing and literary analysis skills. Now I am finding that each week the blogs are becoming easier and the life-choice memoir was not entirely miserable to write. I don’t think I am quite ready to say fun, but I can see that as a possibility for the future. That is something I would never have thought possible just a few months ago. I am hoping that my positive attitude will allow me to gain even more skills that will result in an even better grasp of the art of writing. In the first part of this week’s blog assignment, we interpreted and annotated the video Reflective Writing. I enjoyed the video very much, it gave me a lot of information on how to write more effective reflections. The video talked about writing more about your thoughts and feelings on what you learned and not just a time line of descriptions. In the future I hope to write more meaningful reflections by delving deeper into what I learned and how that knowledge will be used in the future. The second part of the assignment was to answer questions about how we wrote our Life Choice Memoir.
Who did you work with to compose your life-choice memoir? Was this a good approach? I wrote the first draft of my lcm alone. I chose to do it this way because I wanted to pour every memory I had of that time into it, and then edit it down to the parts that I felt were important. I did not want anyone else to influence me with the choices. I feel that this would lead to a more personal memoir. What rhetorical mode and genre are you using? I wrote this creative non-fiction memoir trying to use mostly description and some narration rhetorical modes. I wanted the readers to be able to see and feel the story instead of just read it. Where did you write this project? Good approach? I started writing this memoir in three free writing sessions. The first one was in class and was followed by two more at home at my desk. When I was done the free writing, I used the material I had to start editing and forming the memoir at home. I found this to be a good approach because it gave me a lot of raw material to work with. When did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote this over quite a few sessions. I found this to be very helpful to keep me from being overwhelmed by the task and I am planning to use this process for my future writing assignments. Working full-time and going to school leaves me with very limited time and getting in even a few minutes here and there helps to get the job done. Why did you choose to write about your chosen topic? Good choice? I chose this subject because it has happened recently and has had a very large impact on my life. I still struggle with the events that occurred and the fate of my future. How did it feel to write this narrative ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? I am hoping that by writing about my struggle, I will be able to gain some inner peace. It seems that the more I share it with others, the better I am accepting it. How will you revise your narrative? I am looking forward to my session with Sabatino to work on the editing. I am going to need help with taking out more of the unnecessary details and adding to the more meaningful moments. The assignment for my English Composition 1 class was to read and choose three quotes from the following articles: Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray), The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova), and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Ann Lamott). I was then to add three quotes of my own to this blog. Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray)
“Don’t look back. Yes, the draft needs fixing. But first it needs writing.” Don Murray “Be patient, listen quietly, the writing will come. The voice of the writing will tell you what to do.” Don Murray “Writing is primarily not a matter of talent, of dedication, of vision, of vocabulary, of style, but simply a matter of sitting. The writer is a person who writes.” Don Murray The Daily Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” E.B. White “I’m always in a hurry to get going, though in general I dislike starting the day.” Simone de Beauvoir “Nothing can hurt you, nothing can happen, nothing means anything until the next day when you do it again. It is the wait until the next day that is hard to get through.” Ernest Hemingway Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) “You don’t have to see where you are going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.” (Anne Lamott) “the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” (Anne Lamott) “I don’t think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won’t be good enough at it, and I don’t think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect.” (Anne Lamott) My own writing process Don’t Panic. Breath and know you can do this. Just write the first sentence. Get up and get a treat. There are much larger obstacles in life than this. |
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