Zahrt-Tenzin 1

Sonam Zahrt-Tenzin
De Piero
Writing 2
11, March 2015
My Writing 2 Experience: A Meta-Cognitive Reflection
In the beginning of the quarter, when we first started to learn about genre, I thought that
this course was going to end up being review of senior year English. It turns out I was wrong.
While we did cover much of the material that I learned senior year, we explored the subjects with
exceptional depth. This course helped reinforce and enhance my knowledge of rhetoric, genre
and conventions. The second half of the course contained information new to me. I learned how
to think of writing in terms of moves and I learned how to more effectively research allowing me
to reach new levels of analysis than I had ever previously done before.
My experience with the writing projects is interesting and valuable. Despite my initial
confidence in my writing ability I found that it was much harder to get back into the writing
mindset after taking a long break. I overestimated my ability to write well and partitioned less
time for the assignment than was probably necessary to produce a satisfactory work. I found that
I struggled with putting my ideas into well-organized words, sentences and paragraphs. I also
had difficulty with achieving a nice sense of flow. Another thing that was difficult was finding
and embedding meaningful quotes from the readings. Before I submitted it, I wasnt sure what
kind of grade I was going to get because I wasnt quite sure how the instructor, Zack, was going
to grade the papers. The work I produced for writing project one ended up being C+/B range.
Seeing that grade was motivation for me to invest more time into my writing projects.

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In the second writing project I definitely improved but there were still many things that I
wasnt comfortable with. I spent much more time preparing my ideas and sources than I had on
WP1 and tried to map out my ideas using a handwritten flow chart. In the flow chart I wrote the
topics of each paragraph in a circle and then drew an arrow to the idea that came next. Despite
this attempt to organize I wasnt able to come up with an arrangement that had good flow. When
I got the paper back I was pleased with an A-. While this grade was better than the first writing
project, Zacks comments on my paper made it clear that there were still many elements that I
needed to improve upon in order to take my writing to a higher level.
I had the most fun with writing project three but also struggled with it the most
conceptually out of the three projects. What excited me about this assignment was its room for
creativity. To take one genre and mold it into two completely new genres was very intriguing. I
made scripts for both a YouTube video and a news radio show interview. If I had more time
and/or less work from other classes, I would have preferred to go further with my new genres,
and actually record a video and an interview between two people. The difficult part of the project
was deciding what information from the original genre needed to be kept in the new pieces. It
was necessary to consider the purpose of the original work and then decide whether or not the
purposes were to be changed for the two new genres. This was a very mentally taxing task, but it
was very engaging and I enjoyed it. I think it helped me grow as a writer and a higher-order
thinker.
For me, going to class was always an academic adventure. Throughout the course, from
day one to the very last day, I was constantly learning. Some days held more significant
academic breakthroughs, but after every class, I would leave a more confident, curious, and
informed writer. The lesson that had the largest impact on me was the idea that writing contained

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moves. It took a little while to fully understand this concept, but once I was able to see an
authors writing decisions in terms of moves I was exponentially more excited about writing.
Again what excited me was the realization that writing was creative. I saw that writing had a
capacity for creativity far beyond simply being imaginative with my ideas and being able to put
my ideas into words. It became evident that through the manipulation of the writing itself,
choosing genres, using specific conventions and rhetorical strategies, I have a very powerful role
as a writer.
Another important lesson I have learned from this course is how important it is to
consider the audience when writing. I saw that depending on the target audience and the purpose
of the text, writing can vary immensely in rhetorical devices and conventions. I enjoyed learning
and thinking about how the audience would most likely react to the alteration of certain
conventions and uses of rhetoric. Again, this made me feel more powerful as a writer, and this
sense of power motivates me to continue using writing as a tool both for creative outlet and
effective communication.
In this course we covered many valuable readings from the course reader. I did find some
boring but I believe that all contributed to my learning as a writing student. My favorite ones
were How to Read Like a Writer by Mike Bunn, and the Shitty First Drafts article by Anne
Lamott. The article by Bunn augmented the lesson on moves and helped me more fully grasp the
concept. The Shitty First Drafts was also very helpful, but in a different way. For me, it made
the writing process seem less intimidating. Knowing that a veteran writer experiences the same
difficulty in starting to write that I do, makes the act of starting seem much less threatening. It
was also very helpful to be told that the best way to start writing is simply to start writing.

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My stance on writing has absolutely changed due to the nature of this course. I remember
back in high school, I wasnt very fond of writing. I always did my best, and I really did like my
teacher, but all the essays and activities we did felt like chores to me. I dont remember looking
forward to sitting down, gathering my thoughts and starting to write. I came into this class with a
similar mindset, and approached writing projects one and two this way, but by the time writing
project three came around I had adopted a different view. I really enjoyed working through the
process of organizing, writing, then editing and finalizing the work. I felt much more in control
of my writing compared to the beginning of the course.
I attribute much of this shift in mindset to Zacks teaching style. His excitement for the
subject and willingness to work with students until they fully grasp a concept was extremely
motivating for me. Also, Zacks decision to implement the use of technology was both interesting
and helpful. I feel that using technological forms of media like blogger, watching short videos,
and providing us (the students) with the option of submitting an e-portfolio helps give students a
broader sense of genre and genre awareness.
While I still do not fully enjoy having to write assigned essays or writing projects, I have
decided that I do, in fact enjoy writing. I am better equipped to write in numerous genres, as I
have gained the tools to dissect the conventions and moves of any text and implement them in
my own work. Overall, both the course material and the course instructor exceeded my
expectations and I am very pleased with my experience as a winter quarter Writing 2 student at
UCSB!