Introduction
My experience with completing Writing 39B has made me a more insightful writer and person. Coming into this class, I did not expect it to be an "easy A". I was prepared to work hard and put in a lot of effort. This impression stems from my previous experience with higher-level writing in high school. I was in International Baccalaureate (IB), which is a rigorous college preparatory program with essay-based assessments. IB was a challenging, but rewarding experience. And, because IB is meant to prepare students for the rigors of college coursework, I expected Writing 39B to be challenging as well.
Approaching the first day, I had a high motivation to do well in the class. I noticed that I always have this mentality when classes first begin. I am super motivated, but as the school year goes on I lose that drive. In high school, while I was in IB, I would procrastinate on a few writing assignments and finish it the day it was due. Even though I did this, I would still get A's. However, before starting Writing 39B, I knew that if I wanted to be successful in my classes I would need a different mindset for college. And so, that is what I planned to do. My goal was not to lose the motivation I set for myself at the beginning of the quarter.
Approaching the first day, I had a high motivation to do well in the class. I noticed that I always have this mentality when classes first begin. I am super motivated, but as the school year goes on I lose that drive. In high school, while I was in IB, I would procrastinate on a few writing assignments and finish it the day it was due. Even though I did this, I would still get A's. However, before starting Writing 39B, I knew that if I wanted to be successful in my classes I would need a different mindset for college. And so, that is what I planned to do. My goal was not to lose the motivation I set for myself at the beginning of the quarter.
On the first day of class, we read the Brothers Grimm version of Snow White as an introductory to the course. This story reminded me so much of an art project I made in high school. The connection between the story and my art was such a coincidence to me that I mentioned it to my instructor at the end of class. I found the dark version of the princess story to be so interesting and it made me really excited to learn more about the content of the class. Following the commitment I made to myself of working hard, I reread the story later that day and made detailed notes based on what I highlighted.
Comment 1Similar to Brothers Grimm Snow White, the video piece I created portrays the concept of maturation. The motif of the colors red, white, and black that are seen in the reading are also visible in my art. I was so mind blown by the connection they both had and decided to add this to my portfolio to show the assignment that made me excited for the class. |
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After a few classes, my excitement subsided and I realized my expectations were true. The work intensity was similar to the IB program. The class felt rigorous because it was squeezed into ten weeks, which in comparison to high school, I was not accustomed to. A moment that I really felt how fast-paced the class was when we learned about the RIP. During class, we went over the required content of the project and then the next day the first draft was due. The quick deadlines were something I had to get used to. I was juggling classes, clubs, and work this quarter, so it was tough managing time and having enough energy to work assignments, but I actually think being really busy taught me to manage my time better because I had no time to waste. Writing 39B also felt like a challenge to me because I made it that way. I had the motivation to work hard, but I think that led me to overthink. For example, when I was writing the RA essay, I made four outlines because I was not satisfied with the ones before it. Being too careful made me spend more time than I needed to on completing the assignments. My perfectionist personality attributes to this because I needed to be personally satisfied with the outcome of my work. But, I was able to manage the workload and I was not overwhelmed by it. I think because I survived the IB program and was used to writing a lot of essays with quick deadlines, the work of Writing 39B was not overly shocking.
The RA essay was the most challenging assignment for me. This is because I had never written a rhetorical analysis essay before. In high school, my English essays were focused on literary analysis, so the content of the RA was a new experience. In the beginning, it was hard for me to distinguish the difference between a literary and rhetorical analysis.
I had many roadblocks during the process of the RA. The first was coming up with a thesis. I have always had difficulty with creating theses, but I had a really tough time when thinking of one for the RA. In high school, I was taught that a thesis is one sentence, but, after taking this class, I learned that it can be more than one sentence and should be detailed in thought. It was difficult for me to form a thesis because when I thought it was specific, my peer review said it was too vague.
I also struggled with structuring my essay. I knew what I wanted to address, but I was unsure of how to structure my ideas to transition and flow well. My thoughts felt like they were jumbled in my head. I had created an outline, but it was too vague and the connections were weak. I completed writing the essay by the draft deadline, but after looking at it again, I no longer agreed with what I wrote. I wrote that the escapism in the novel helps the audience escape nihilism. But, after thinking about what I learned in class discussions, I agreed more with nihilism being revealed through escapism. Additionally, I wrote about consumer capitalism creating nihilism, but I realized I was writing about the concept without fully understand its relationship. The draft that I created also seemed more like a literary analysis rather than a rhetorical one. In all, I was lost and did not know what to do.
I had many roadblocks during the process of the RA. The first was coming up with a thesis. I have always had difficulty with creating theses, but I had a really tough time when thinking of one for the RA. In high school, I was taught that a thesis is one sentence, but, after taking this class, I learned that it can be more than one sentence and should be detailed in thought. It was difficult for me to form a thesis because when I thought it was specific, my peer review said it was too vague.
I also struggled with structuring my essay. I knew what I wanted to address, but I was unsure of how to structure my ideas to transition and flow well. My thoughts felt like they were jumbled in my head. I had created an outline, but it was too vague and the connections were weak. I completed writing the essay by the draft deadline, but after looking at it again, I no longer agreed with what I wrote. I wrote that the escapism in the novel helps the audience escape nihilism. But, after thinking about what I learned in class discussions, I agreed more with nihilism being revealed through escapism. Additionally, I wrote about consumer capitalism creating nihilism, but I realized I was writing about the concept without fully understand its relationship. The draft that I created also seemed more like a literary analysis rather than a rhetorical one. In all, I was lost and did not know what to do.
I knew I wanted to redo my essay, but I was unsure of how to rewrite it. So, I decided to go to office hours. Before going, I proofread my essay and created a revision sheet that listed an outline of what I wrote and my areas of concern. Because the connections I wanted to make were a mess in my head, I created a mind map so I could better visualize what my claims were. Then, in my revision sheet and mind map, I wrote in areas that needed further development. Going to office hours was very helpful because I received guidance on how to restructure my outline and create a stronger thesis. Based on the feedback I received, I was correct with my areas of concern. I was able to distinguish them beforehand. My essay had too many loose and uncorrelated connections. In addition, instead of escapism of fantasy helping the audience escape nihilism, my new essay became about how the escapism of fantasy helped the audience realize the nihilism that was prevalent. My instructor was able to help me form an outline that was structured with more detail and answer the questions I had about the relationship between consumer capitalism and nihilism. After going to office hours, I felt more comfortable with the new direction of my paper.
After I rewrote my final draft, I went into office hours again the day that it was due. While being there, I realized that I just wanted reassurance with my work. Even though I had already restructured my paper, I decided to reorganize the structure again to make the transitions flow better. I worked the whole day refining my essay and at night I went to the Middle Earth writing tutors to have them look over my work. I came in with a printed out rubric and I expected the tutor to make a lot of corrections. Instead, she said it seemed like I had a strong understanding of what my task was and I completed it successfully. I guess I just needed to feel reassurance to make sure that I was heading in the right direction with my paper. I expected my paper to be marked up with a lot of revisions after going into office hours the second time and the writing tutors, but I realized that I actually went in already knowing the areas I needed to improve on. I was more harder on myself compared to the people who looked over my essay.
I was more excited about the RIP project because it gave me the opportunity to express myself creatively and pursue a topic that interested me. In the beginning, I had trouble thinking of a medium I wanted to use. But, miraculously, I remembered a memory of me reading visually aesthetic fantasy books at Barnes and Noble when I was a young child. I knew I wanted to write about the Brothers Grimm version of princess stories because the Snow White version from the beginning of the course fascinated me so much. I used the book Fairyopolis as my model because I liked the style it used of being an observational journal and it fit perfectly with the class theme of fantasy.
In the beginning process of the RIP, I created a mind map so I could sort out the concepts I wanted to mention in the project. I also made a list of subjects I needed to research in order for me to have a better understanding of my topic. Then, I wrote a detailed outline that contained a list of princesses I would write about and a summary of their stories. I also included a sketch of how I wanted the pages to look.
Comment 8 & 9:After using a mind map for the RA, I really liked using this tool. I decided to use it again when brainstorming for the RIP. The file to the right is a detailed outline of the content I planned on addressing in my RIP project. This document also contains some research I did about the contemporary issues that my RIP focused on such as gender roles, body image, and romantic relationships. Learning from creating the outlines for the RA, I tried not to overthink my decisions. Because the first outline I created was detailed enough, I did not have keep making new ones. |
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Completing the project took way longer than I anticipated. It took ten days for me to finish the RIP. When I decided to create a journal with the true story of all the princesses, I was not aware of how ambitious it would be and how long it would take to complete. After realizing this, I knew I would not be able to complete my project in time for the first draft deadline. I could have chosen to change my idea, but I decided to take the risk of it being too ambitious and time consuming. This is because my topic really fascinated me. Consequently, due to my commitments like classes, clubs, and work, I was correct and did not have enough time to complete my RIP by the first draft deadline. But, all the time I did have outside of my commitments was spent working on finishing the RIP. Unlike high school, I did not procrastinate. Once it was complete, I was very happy with the outcome. I am glad I took the risk to carry out this project because it was a really fun experience and I enjoyed designing and organizing the information. I learned so many new things about the influence that Disney princesses have on young girls that I was not aware about before.
The essay portion of the RIP was easier to write compared to the RA. Because I had spent so much time creating the project, I knew in detail every step of the process and my decisions for my conventions. Because my journal was inspired by a set model and genre, I believe I was successfully able to target the audience of my project. The design of the journal, character's language style, and content of the story further supported this. More detailed information on the genre conventions I used to target my audience are written in-depth in my RIP essay.
The essay portion of the RIP was easier to write compared to the RA. Because I had spent so much time creating the project, I knew in detail every step of the process and my decisions for my conventions. Because my journal was inspired by a set model and genre, I believe I was successfully able to target the audience of my project. The design of the journal, character's language style, and content of the story further supported this. More detailed information on the genre conventions I used to target my audience are written in-depth in my RIP essay.
I was not done yet after I finished writing the essay. In addition to proofreading it, I made a detailed outline that consisted of what I wrote in the essay. Doing this was very useful because it made it easier to point out areas that needed further development and see if the ordering of my essay seemed choppy. I did find certain sections could be improved, so I moved them around. I also used a text-to-voice program to read my essay aloud so I can hear for mistakes or inconsistent sentences.
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Looking back at my journey with Writing 39B, I improved in many ways. I had some weaknesses that developed into strengths. Before coming into this class, I lacked confidence in my writing skills. I did not think I was a good writer. In the IB program, I was surrounded by so many people who I thought were more superior. I often found myself comparing my writing to theirs. When I read their essays, their language was eloquent and their claims were strong. When I wrote, my thoughts felt jumbled and I did not know how to structure what I wanted to say. I would have writer’s block because I did not know how to start my essay. However, after taking Writing 39B, I realized that the lack of confidence I had actually made me a better writer. My perception of being bad at writing pushed me to work harder because I wanted to improve. And, it was successful. I stayed motivated throughout the quarter and it made me a more diligent student. This was a good quality that I developed and I will continue this consistent hardworking mentality for my future classes and jobs.
Another weakness that I feel like I had during this course is underestimating the amount of time I would spend on each assignment. I think the deadlines for the assignments were manageable, but it took a long time for me to complete because of my perfectionism. Especially with the RIP project, I realized I need to better understand when my ideas are too ambitious. I learned that if I want my work to perfect, I also need to be efficient. From this experience, I plan on being more efficient in anything I do. I will plan ahead and create a schedule for myself so I finish before the deadlines.
A major strength that had throughout this experience is that I was able to achieve my goal of sticking with my motivation. I did not lose my drive and was focused on staying hard working. As a result of this, I was happy with my outcomes because it reflected the amount of effort I put into the assignments.
Overall, the challenges I overcame and the strengths I gained from Writing 39B has made me more reflective and a hard worker. Through the RA and RIP I learned to refine my work ethic and I found out my strengths and weaknesses. I learned that in order to improve and become a better writer, it is okay to take risks and ask for guidance. Sticking with my hard work mentality throughout this class has opened my eyes to the abilities and potential I have.
Another weakness that I feel like I had during this course is underestimating the amount of time I would spend on each assignment. I think the deadlines for the assignments were manageable, but it took a long time for me to complete because of my perfectionism. Especially with the RIP project, I realized I need to better understand when my ideas are too ambitious. I learned that if I want my work to perfect, I also need to be efficient. From this experience, I plan on being more efficient in anything I do. I will plan ahead and create a schedule for myself so I finish before the deadlines.
A major strength that had throughout this experience is that I was able to achieve my goal of sticking with my motivation. I did not lose my drive and was focused on staying hard working. As a result of this, I was happy with my outcomes because it reflected the amount of effort I put into the assignments.
Overall, the challenges I overcame and the strengths I gained from Writing 39B has made me more reflective and a hard worker. Through the RA and RIP I learned to refine my work ethic and I found out my strengths and weaknesses. I learned that in order to improve and become a better writer, it is okay to take risks and ask for guidance. Sticking with my hard work mentality throughout this class has opened my eyes to the abilities and potential I have.