Reflection

 Reflective Blog 

Coming into this class, after reading the description, I felt like it was going to be similar to my AP Language and Composition class. Learning about rhetoric, writing long essays and reading various articles were some of the things I was mentally preparing myself for. I was a bit excited at first, but since I was thinking it was going to be like AP Lang, I was a bit nervous too. Oh was I wrong. It was the complete opposite and unlike AP Lang, I actually really enjoyed RWS 100. I learned new information and tactics to write even better, while also having fun doing it. 

The assignments that I would engage in were very concise, yet made you elaborate and think thoroughly about what you were going to say. What I also liked a lot were the discussion boards. The reason I liked them so much was because after writing your thoughts down, you were able to read your classmates' thoughts and even get ideas from them to include in your own work. Topic: Multimodal Models It’s similar to the peer reviews where you engage with others and can also get ideas from others. The difference is with peer review we get direct feedback from others who read our work, which is something that really helped me become better and fix the mistakes I would make when writing. I think it helped me very much in order to become a better writer and it opened my eyes to realize that there will always be areas to improve no matter how good you are at something, and I am hoping these skills will translate in my RWS 200 class, and any future writing class or assignment  Topic: Research Paper, Peer Review.. Additionally, something I learned about reading and writing this semester is that I genuinely enjoy and might have created a love for writing. Although I think I have always been pretty good at writing, I feel like this semester, with all the blog posts and final research paper, it sparked a passion I never knew I had. Both of these assignments challenged my thinking with what I wanted to say and the evidence I used in order to create a good argument. When I was a little kid, I always told myself that if I didn’t become a professional soccer player, I’d want to become a sports journalist and analyst, and although I didn’t stick with it. I am thinking that maybe someday in the future I will start writing papers just for fun. This class helped me be more patient and overall think more before I start writing. 

I hope that in the future, all these assignments weren’t just for a grade. I hope I can translate these assignments and this whole class into something greater when it comes to my career. After finding a love for writing, I hope I can teach these things to others or that my words inspire others. My dream is to become a school counselor or therapist, and I want this career due to being inspired by the words of my former high school counselor and therapist. They both were very helpful to me and through pieces of writing, my counselor was able to help me through my problem and also helped me win a scholarship for school, which was amazing. I hope that I can also help others through my writing. 

When it comes to the Student Learning Outcomes, I believe that all the outcomes were reached and successfully completed as a whole class. Something that I would personally want to improve on is reading and analyzing texts because although I am not the biggest fan of reading, I will still get a book or article and want to read it. If I am able to master my analysis skills, I might even like reading more. Additionally, reading and learning about the minority groups that express their unconformity when it comes to their voice. For example, the TedTalk on the “Dangers of a Single Story” or  the articles “How to Tame a Wild Tongue" (“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua (1).pdf: RWS100-12:Rhetoric of Written Argument)

 and “Mother Tongue" (Amy Tan Mother Tongue (1).pdf: RWS100-12:Rhetoric of Written Argument)

While there was a variety of assignments that would guide us into becoming better writers, I think the writing that helped us the most actually taking it all and displaying our skills on the research paper, where although we were able to choose our topic, still was complex and had various steps to it in order to create the best paper. Although it was long and tedious at times, I think it was the best and my personal favorite assignment in order to help us become better writers, and overall improve all of our skills that the SLO were intended to help. The whole paper was really fun for me and as I have previously stated, it sparked a love for writing I didn’t even know I had. I always was pretty decent at writing papers all my life, but this assignment in general was really nice to do, and did not feel like a chore like every other long writing assignment my old teachers had assigned. Research Paper, Conference Submission Portal. 

This class was a really good experience overall and I was very glad I had you as my teacher. I am also glad I will have RWS 200 with you and I am hoping to move all of the learned skills in this class towards my next class.I appreciate every assignment and understand how each assignment would directly make us better readers and writers. I hope that all my skills won’t go to waste and I will use them someday. I would like to personally thank you professor for a great experience with this class, you made it really fun and I know that you will continue to get better as the years go by. One of my favorite classes ever!

(Flying towards the future lol)