Brooke Boyd

UWRIT 1101
Zicherman
November 16, 2014

Final Reflection
At the beginning of this semester I was expecting a class just continuing things we have
already learned about writing and using previous writing knowledge as a base, but as the
semester progressed we actually began to learn things to and not to do. We learned what
professors prefer and do not prefer about paper styles. We learned the differences between high
school and college and future writing. We learned complex definitions of what we thought were
simple words, such as literacy and genre. We learned how to manage out time, or to suffer the
consequences. We learned how to create a portfolio and how to work as teams on projects. With
this new found of writing skills base, we can properly write in the future. Throughout the
semester Ive also learned about other topics and perspectives of different people. Not only have
I learned of different perspectives amongst my peers but also in informative videos we have
watched in class such as National Geographic TedTalks and YouTube videos on Consent.
They shared specific perspectives that differ from the usual, which was pretty interesting and
informative. We also learned of discourse modes (speaking of informative) such as argument,
informative, report, and descriptive and the importance of recognizing these modes in respect to
the intended audiences of our papers. With all this comes more cohesive and successful papers in
the future.

At first my writing was very fresh out of high school and typical. I wrote a quick and
simple five-paragraph essay and got my point across the way I had been taught for the past 10
years. But later in the semester I learned that professors arent looking for five-paragraph papers
and arent focused on structure as much, which scared me. I didnt know any other way to write.
So I started from scratch and just wrote what came to mind and how it came to mind. The first
draft of my Literacy Narrative, in turn, was pretty bad. But as we continued in our work my
papers got better; flowed better, had better structure, and better grammar. It was hard in the
beginning, having absolutely no path to follow and to just figure out how to write with my own
style and structure but practice makes perfect.
The most influential readings and videos this semester have been the National
Geographic TedTalks and the speech given by the middle-aged African woman both about
Culture. I thought both of these videos were very inspirational and give you new perspectives
of our very Americanized one-sided point-of-views. Although the TedTalks was had a wide
vocabulary, he spoke very quickly, and was hard to keep up with, I liked the video a lot. I liked
all the different anecdotal evidence the speaker supplied us to prove his point, that we should
learn from other cultures rather than try and conform other cultures into our own. At the same
time, the video with the African speaker was a very inspirational video speaking on her
experiences with people assuming her culture and things she has learned from how others have
treated her. Both of these videos gave me a new outlook on culture and to be more open-minded.
This semester we wrote several papers and pieces in class from narratives to reflections,
but I am most proud of my literacy narrative. I really liked writing dialogue and writing more of
an anecdotal paper. I was really worried about it and didnt think I would do very well with it but
it turned out great. We had just talked about straying from the five paragraph essay style paper

so I was very worried about how this paper was going to go. This hardest part of the paper was
actually reflecting on a time to write about when your perspective on literacy changed. It seemed
that most of my peers chose a story about a teacher they had in the past but I wanted to do
something different. After choosing a story about one of my favorite but illiterate relatives words
just seemed to flow. Later I revised some things like making the paragraphs transition better but
overall it was very easy to write and flowed well.
My biggest struggle in this class was meeting deadlines. I really struggled with it at the
beginning of the year because I just wasnt organized or paying attention to deadlines. I also
wasnt into the habit of doing a forum due every class period. This is the only class where I had
homework due every single class period so I wasnt prepared for that mentally. But as the
semester progressed I was more accustomed to doing my homework every single night and
making deadlines. I thought the teacher consultations were very useful and quick. They were just
enough guidance without guilt tripping you for things you didnt turn in or making you feel like
you need to be a better writer. It was a good reality check to make sure everything would be
turned in. If you turn everything in from here on out, your grade can only go up was great
advice that I was given at my consultation, just to keep myself positive with my grades. After my
consultation I havent missed a deadline or assignment and have really been on top of things and
making sure theyre in on time.
I most enjoyed the people and the group activities in class. I really liked having assignments
with other people, for example the Genre project I had with Dache. I thought it was a great
experience and is an easy way to make new friends and get to know another person and see other
perspectives. That is a big change in college for me, is hearing so many new perspectives on
everything and theories and beliefs and group projects are a way to get involved with other

people. Our class is very diverse and has many different cultured people and different
personalities; which makes for an interesting class. I really liked writing things on the
chalkboard. I thought it was a good way to input on discussion without having to talk or put a
spotlight on one person. Also the chalkboard activities are very short and to the point and not a
lot of fluffing to reach a word count or to fill a page. I also thought the day we all got onto the
same interactive website and typed in answers to your questions was a good way to mix things
up. I do wish the responses were anonymous though, rather than having our names plastered on
them.
The least enjoyable thing about this class to me was being forced to talk for a grade. I am
quick to participate in writing on the board or adding to group discussion but I do not like having
to talk in class. It is not because Im nervous to talk as much as it is that I think people are just
saying things to say things for the grade rather than actually having a cohesive thought. Also I
find that most people who input after the first one or two responders are only repeating what
other people have already stating and I see that as pointless rather than the purpose of class
discussion, which is to share everyones individual opinions. Other than my personal opinion on
mandatory class discussion, I simply am not one to speak in class. I dont necessarily like to
express my opinion on smaller points that Im not passionate about. Although Im a motor
mouth and can talk for days, its hard for me to just talk in class about random topics. I also feel
like if Im writing and completing all assignments and paying attention in class then I am
participating. My participation grade shouldnt be based on whether I talk in class but instead
based on what I am actually working on in class.