Week one the start to my journey
Beginning this assignment is an exciting one for me. Despite not being the most confident writer, upon hearing that we would be creating a blog in class, I could not help but feel a burst of energy. Writing and I have a love hate relationship, and as the years go on, so does my feelings of hate and angst towards writing. This is due to the issue of self deprecation I, personally, struggle with. Reading anything I write is a challenge for me, due to how critical I am of myself. So ultimately when I heard we were creating a blog about reflection, well it was a blessing in disguise. So even though writing is not my strong point, reflection is one of my specialities. I am the kind of person who over analyzes every encounter I have, a week after it happened. Yet this kind of seemingly annoying habit will aid me in a class where reflection and over analyzing is useful. Student learning objective one D, without knowing it is something I am good at since I practice this in my everyday life. Learning of this objective actually gave me a positive outlook on my over critical judgements on myself as a writer and person. This is because, this objective calls for a use of analyzing the situation in the text.
This week we are starting our annotated bibliography, which is another struggle for me. MLA has never been my friend and it only gets more confusing when APA and every other writing style are thrown in. Despite being slightly apprehensive at first, I know realize this will be a positive project for me. It will help me significantly with student learning object two C, which is focused on research methods. This is important to me because the fields I am interested in for my future are veterinary science or regular medicine, so having prior knowledge to aid in research will be very helpful.
Even though we are only just starting this new semester even the few things we have gone over have been significantly helpful in my thoughts on myself as a writer. I realize now that it is a learning process, and you can not just start and be the best. This is a lesson I am still working on and being ok with, but hopefully this year I can truly blossom as a writer. Since being able to just write out my feelings, is really a nice way to get my stress out. Thanks for tuning in this week, come back to see how I have progressed in my journey next week!
This is an accurate depiction of myself with my writing. Enjoy :)!
Week 2 OF THE BLOG!!! BUM BUM BUHHHHHHHHH
Last week to say was a struggle would be a complete understatement. Annotated bibliographies are not one of my strongest strengths. In fact I might go out on a limb and say, it is not one of my strengths at all. The thing that I thought I was originally the most confident in was the topic I chose, which was about bullying between girls in and out of sororities, yet I quickly found out that topic was not the one for me. It was something I could not connect too, and therefor lost interest in it. I knew I needed to make quick work on finding a new topic, and with the help of my lovely professor I made a good decision. So the journey of my annotated bibliography began. I chose a topic regarding social media and body dysmorphia, something every female can relate to. What surprised me the most was that finding sources was not a task but became a pleasure, I learned I really liked reading these articles due to how relevant they are.
As I kept reading and finding more sources, the new challenge actually became evaluating what were the most credible sources. I quickly got the hang of it as well, with all the practice we did in class, SLO2D came easy to me. The assignment which was initially stressful since I had no idea how to approach soon became a fun task. I even got good at synthesizing the important information, and figure out why the sources were relevant to my research topic. One thing which I am happy about from last week and this week is my new found skill of synthesizing and choosing important information (SLO2E)! Although it might not seem like any great achievement which I will admit it is not, I am just happy that I found enjoyment in the project. English is one of the classes that I actually enjoy going to, even if it is at eight in the morning. It is nice to start the day on such a bright and positive note. Things are looking up, my blog readers!!! YAY!
WEEK 3 OF THE BLOGGGGGG!!!!! NEW POST WOOOOOT WOOOT
This past month was a rollercoaster! Between getting ill and all the school work that began accumulating life was really not being the nicest, but honestly when is it. This past week we finished the annotated bibliography, which actually ended up being a pretty positive experience. I was sick on the peer editing day so I took my paper in to the think tank people, and they were really awesome to work with. They really helped me evaluate my sources and help with citing as well (SLO 2D). With this annotated bibliography coming to a close, there was only one more thing that I had to do and that was…..self evaluation!! The memorandum, was a scary thought for me since I am so critical of myself. It took a lot of deep reflection on trying to figure out my grade since I am my own worst critic. By going back through and thinking about the things that I struggled most with and the things that came rather easy for me, it actually was not that difficult of a process. After lots of evaluation I actually ended up giving myself a good grade with proper explanation as to why I deserved the grade I did.
Overall, the annotated bibliography and even the memorandum that accompanied it I think ultimately made me a better writer. It made me evaluate myself as a writer and think about what I could have done differently to make the paper better (SLO 4F). A lot of the times when doing these kinds of projects, it is hard to see past the busy work part. Although, with this project and the fact that we turned it in small chunks and was given feedback on each section, it was actually very insightful. Along with the peer editing, all the feedback made me reflect on what I was doing and how to make it better, ultimately hopefully making me a stronger writer. I think it did, especially when trying to do citing and appropriately use sources. This whole process I think will also help in my future career, since I do want to go in the medical field and especially on any future dissertation I have to do, the knowledge I know have on citing and evaluating sources credibility will help me.
Blog 4 ~ A Time of Craziness
This has been probably the strangest few weeks of most likely the majority of people’s lives. It seems as if the whole world is going crazy and everything is just becoming more and more inconvenient, but it is ok! Everything will be fine! Well at least that is what my therapist tells me, and by therapist I mean my dog.
Among the crazy that is going on we have finally resumed with classes, and to say it is pleasant would be a complete lie. Although I think everyone is doing their best, and making it as smooth as possible, it is still a weird transition. We started our proposals and to be honest, it makes me nervous. The topic I chose for my annotated bibliography does not have one clear solution, which makes it hard to find out what exactly I need to propose and to who. Do not fear, with the guidance of the lectures posted online I have now identified the audience who my proposal is directed towards (SLO 2F). I have targeted an audience and decided how I need to engage with them in order to make a successful proposal. To be honest, this proposal is actually a really helpful project. It will be helpful for my future no matter what path I take in my career. Having this knowledge of what is needed to make a successful proposal, is keeping me interested in the topic as well. Since it has a real use for my future, it offers greater incentive to try harder. Since none of my other english classes have attempted to teach me these kind of skills that could be necessary, this course and material has really kept me engaged.
This project has taught me how to construct a proposal and the formatting I need to use (SLO 3D). It has been very helpful having plenty of examples to go off of as well, and the guided presentation slides which explain the majority of the project. It is nice to do something so important and to be able to master or at least get comfortable with the formatting of it, in order to prepare us for the future. So while it may be a harder task, it is nice that we are getting practice in it now!
Week 5: The beginning of the end
Ahoy my readers, and welcome back to my journey! Times have only seemed to get crazier with this wild pandemic going on, but that does not stop life, because the show must go on! As an update on the proposal I was previously working on, it went great! Although it was a tough assignment, in the end we pulled through and finished strong. The assignment ended with a self review. It is interesting to have to grade yourself, since we are our own worst critic, but I put aside my own thoughts and really focus on my feedback, to try and lessen my judgement on myself (SLO 4E) . In the end I think it all went well!
With an assignment finished, that means a new one must come. This new assignment for me, is one of my favorites that we have done. It is a personal statement! The reason I like these so much is because not only are they a good tool to have but also they should be fairly easy to write. It is a statement about myself after all, and what more does a nineteen year old girl like more than talking about herself! (That was a joke, but also not really.) I am excited to learn about how to learn how to make an effective personal statement, and learn the formate to help with my writing (SLO 3C).
It is nice to be doing a project such as the personal statement, since everything in all my classes is getting very difficult and putting so much stress on me. For an example I had an essay, two different activities, and an exam due on easter, which is quite weird in my opinion. I am really thankful for how English is playing out right now, because the proposal was a difficult assignment, it is nice to be ending on an easier one.
Another thing I am excited about with this assignment, is that it is forcing me to apply to more scholarships, which I really needed to do but have been so lazy about getting started on it. So that is a major plus to this assignment, it is killing two birds with one stone! Personally, I have really appreciated the past few assignments we have done, because a common trend in them seems to be that they are not busy work but they are assignments teaching us valuable skills that we will need to use in life. This is nice, because it makes me more passionate to do well and understand what exactly we are doing.
A College Student's Journey to Becoming a Reflective Writer. 