1. Which of your pieces was the most challenging to write? Give three reasons and explain.
Out of all the pieces that I’ve written throughout the semester, I thought the Bobby Fischer essay was the most challenging to write. Similar to the SAT and ACT essays, the Bobby Fischer was timed so it was difficult to write a piece of good quality. Unlike the SAT and ACT essays, I was unfamiliar with the prompt of this essay so it took me more time to brainstorm and plan. I was stuck with coming up with three meaningful connections that I could make between the film and my society or life. I also found it quite difficult to put my thoughts into words. I often found myself writing a sentence, deleting it, and then rewriting it again because I couldn’t express my ideas clearly. I’m not very good at using the limited amount of time effectively, so as a result, I spent too much time writing the introduction and the first body paragraph. Towards the end, I ran out of time so I didn’t put as much thought into the last few paragraphs. Another reason for the poor time management was that I didn’t really carefully reflect on the film after watching it. If I had put more effort into relating the concepts of the film to my own life, it would’ve been easier to come up with ideas for the essay. This piece challenging to write because it was timed, the prompt was more rigid (didn’t allow for much creativity or freedom), and I struggled to think of meaningful connections.
3. Which of your pieces was the most enjoyable to write? Give three reasons and explain.
“What Makes You Come Alive?” was the most enjoyable piece to write because it was about something that I am extremely passionate about. This piece was not challenging at all, instead, it was really fun to write. I had so much fun describing the feelings that I get during karaoke with metaphors and other types of figurative speech. Since the subject was interesting, the ideas flowed naturally and I rarely had to stop to think about what to write next. Unlike the Bobby Fischer essay, this topic was pretty broad, which gave me a lot of freedom to write about whatever I wanted to. I was able to be honest and bring my voice out. Getting my peers to read this essay made it even more fun to write. I was so excited to share about karaoke. When I was writing this piece, I didn’t feel like I was answering a prompt, but rather just sharing about something that I love doing. I enjoyed writing this piece because it was on something that I’m passionate about, it’s a creative piece, and it allowed me to share my interests with others.
4. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? Explain.
I believe my strength is that I am able to describe things well and in a very vivid manner. I feel like I do a good job at creating an image in the reader’s mind and allowing the reader to experience what I experienced. I include a lot of metaphors and similes in my pieces, which helps to build the writing and make it more interesting. My strong descriptions help to capture the reader’s attention and draw them in. I also think that I come up with good ideas – things that aren’t thought of a lot. On the other hand, my conventions and mechanics aren’t the best, which are drawbacks for my writings. Sentence fluency and convention errors make a piece harder to read and understand. They also become distractions, meaning the reader spends more time trying to figure out what I’m trying to say instead of focusing on the ideas in my writing. Sometimes, I also find it difficult to express my ideas and put my thoughts into words. It takes me a long time to find the words to describe what I’m thinking.
5. What have you done to develop your strengths and minimize your weaknesses as a writer? How successful do you feel you have been? Explain.
As I’m writing a new piece, I try to focus on the weaknesses that I (and my peers) identified in my previous piece. For example, if I received a lot of comments on my grammar and word choice, I’ll pay closer attention to those – reading over sentences and replacing repetitive words. I also spend more time on my brainstorming and layout to ensure that I am prepared to lay my ideas down in an organised manner that makes sense. Since I get off track in my writings sometimes, I make lists of what I’m going to mention in my writing in my layout. I try to develop my strengths and minimise my weaknesses by reflecting on the peer edits as well as comments on my old pieces. I try to identify which areas of weaknesses and strengths that were commented on the most. Peer edits are really beneficial to me because they allow me to see what’s good and what’s bad about my writings. I’ll know what I need to spend more time on to improve.
6. What kind of future career or field of study are you considering? What kinds of writing might be important in this career or field? Explain, giving specific examples.
I don’t have a specific field of study that I’m considering, but I think writing is important in every career field. For example, for a Science related career, you would need to be able to write analytical writings that can clearly explain a concept or finding. In Chemistry, we have to write lab reports that consist of an objective, method, data analysis, error analysis, and conclusion. These reports require clear explanations and connections to prior or background knowledge. Scientific reports aren’t meant to be poetic but rather straightforward and packed with evidence. In general, writings that are important in the science fields require effective communication of ideas.
7. What advice would you offer the College Writing teachers as they plan this unit for next year? What might be some additional pieces of writing to add and why? How was the timing and pacing? Did you receive enough feedback? Did you receive enough instruction and input so you knew how to do each assignment? You can make specific comments about specific assignments here. What did you like or not like and why? What would make this unit more student-friendly, provide more learning, or make it more interesting? Explain.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. The majority of the assignments were very enjoyable – they were challenging but also fun. I’ve definitely seen growth in my abilities as a writer throughout the semester. The class provides us with a wide variety of pieces, which allows us to work on a range of writing skills. I initially signed up for this course because I wanted a sufficient amount of practice for the SAT and college applications. So, it would’ve been more beneficial if we wrote more SAT/ACT essays and college entrance essays. The other pieces allowed us to practice techniques and skills that can be applied to the standardised exam essays and college essay. However, I still think it’s good to practice more with an actual exam or college prompt. It’ll allow us to become more familiar with the type of writing that we would need to complete later on.
The course is well planned out. We are given a good amount of time, in class and outside of class, to complete our assignments. The instructions and expectations for each assignment is very clear as well. I rarely had questions on an assignment and was able to dive straight into writing. I received enough feedback for each piece both from my peers and from the teacher. The feedback was extremely helpful in helping me improve as a writer.
I liked this class! :))
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