Alanna Morton

Final Reflective letter

Dear Professor Campbell/ Mr. C, Big Dawg/ various other nicknames (that is how I

addressed you in my first letter!),

I have got to admit this class has been quite an experience. I really enjoyed the

way that you teach. You dont treat us as if we are just students, but you got to know us

on a more personal level. You showed interest in more than just what we wrote, but

instead on whom the writer is and what they might be trying to say through their writing.

You let us know that we could come to you with questions (no matter how stupid the

question is, loved your sense of humor) and you answered those questions accordingly

with examples too! Now, as for the class and all of the assignments: there were a lot.

However, I enjoyed almost every assignment. I will be honest instead of saying I love

every single assignment and blah blah. I truly did enjoy every assignment because I

genuinely enjoy writing, except the annotated bibliography. I just have the worst time

citing my sources correctly no matter what! This class made me see my strengths and my

weaknesses in my writing, showed my progress from the beginning to the end, and really

made me see that I could and did complete the Eportfolio and to be honest I am damn

proud of it!

First, I would like to discuss the freewriting as a process, the Daybook, blogging,

and the peer editing process. Freewriting was actually really enjoyable. Almost every

class I would sit down at 1:55 p.m. pull out my Daybook and then for whatever the topic

of the freewrite was that day I would write it. I would write every Daybook entry in a

different color pen just for fun! Honestly, I really did enjoy the freewrite process because

you could really write whatever you wanted. Whether instructed to write about a

particular assignment and how we are doing on it, or in general how we feel that day, or

something that we really remember reading/writing/doing. I liked it because it helped me

get my thoughts out and to organize just what I was thinking. Specifically, I remember

one of the freewrites was how we feel about some of the work we had done and at that

time I remember I was working on my annotated bibliography, which I really am not a

huge fan of! I wrote, frustrated, annoyed, antsy to finish, will finish, hope to get a good

grade.. It is funny. I enjoy looking back and reading exactly how I felt while working on

this assignment or any assignment. No matter what it is one of those things where you

think you are doing it all correctly and then you get the grade back with all of the marked

up errors and just ouch. I have never been good with citing sources correctly! Anyways,

this is one main reason that I loved having the Daybook. It gave me an opportunity to

look at ideas that had popped in my head for my topic proposal, my literacy narrative,

and even research in general for my EIP.

General and assigned blog posts were a very personal and relieving activity. As I

have mentioned I really enjoy writing so having a blog was a great way to just let out all

my feelings in my writing. For every assigned reading I would read the article and sit in

my desk chair thinking about the deeper meaning. My favorite reading was Joyous

Valadoras, it was an article that really made me realize that it is not solely about the

functioning of different living creatures, BUT more so about how when it comes to an

end it is because every heart eventually runs out of time and beats. Whether that is in two

years like a humming bird or several decades like a whale. When young we think there

will come one person who will savor and sustain us always;() all hearts finally are

bruised and scarred. You cannot run or hide or even be protected from the end. The

reality is that one way or another your hear will run out and no one can stop it. I really

enjoyed the assigned readings because most of the time they had a bigger picture. I like

reading something that makes you think deeper about what the real message is. The

message is never just flat out and said, but is more beyond that. There was also several

TED Talk videos that I wrote reactions to that were also very entertaining because most

of the time they were regarding something that was very relevant and a prevalent topic.

For example, a video named Nobody Writes Alone. The video covers the concept on how

many people produce better writing when they have other people read it over. I

personally feel as though my writing is too personal to share, but I also do find that when

it is peer edited that the outcome of my final piece looks a lot better. Blogging gave me

the opportunity to agree and disagree with the readings and or videos assigned and also

being able to let it all out in my writing. There are several unassigned blog posts that I

had written. I wrote at least four of them. One of them regarding alcohol and drug usage,

another was about suicide pertaining to the recent suicides occurring in colleges, and

even just thoughts going through my head when I am doing my favorite thing which is

running.

The peer editing process was very helpful in working to in develop my writing

and myself as a learner and person. While peer editing the EIP draft I was able to not

only help my partner, Jenny Nguyen, see her mistakes, but also to open my eyes up to

some common mistakes that I may make when I am writing. After she peer edited my

paper she gave me a lot of suggestions on either rewording sentences, fixing grammatical

errors, or further elaborating on certain parts. After rereading my final EIP I could

definitely see an improvement in my writing. I would suggest maybe throughout the year

or for certain assignments be sure that the peer editing partners are actually peer editing

and giving feedback to their partners. Jenny and I were partners and our third partner did

not do any of our peer editing. But, then again this made us have to take action to make

sure that we did complete our peer editing, so at the same time this helped us to take

responsibility and be sure we got it done.

My most important work in this class was my Literacy Narrative. My literacy

narrative pertained to how I am literate in communication skills through my job

waitressing at IHOP. I go into details about a specific encounter with a customer. But,

really in this piece of writing underneath the story and the information on how I am

literate in communications skills comes out the real meaning behind this piece of writing,

which is that I work to communicate. I communicate to learn. I learn to better understand.

I understand to communicate better. I communicate better to learn how to test myself in

an even deeper way. I have become literate in communication and have become a better

and stronger me. A goal I have set as a writer is to not come out and say what I am trying

to write, but to instead let the writing speak for itself. As a student, I have always really

just tried to be straightforward in my assignments, projects, essays, etc. to get the point

across. But, I have found it harder to not flat out say what you are trying to say and

instead to bury it and let the writing speak for itself. The literacy narrative is my most

important work in this class because I got to chose the topic, say what I am literate in, but

then also all the while saying something deeper than just that: communicating has made

me a stronger person overall. And has made me realize that the best way to deal with

anyone that may be belittling you is to shrug your shoulders, push your hair back, put a

smile on and just deal with it.

I have found several strengths and weaknesses in my writing throughout this

class. As for weaknesses in my writing I tend to make a lot of grammatical errors and

sometimes I do not elaborate enough on what I am saying for the reader to understand

fully. Grammatical errors are quite common and I found that obviously peer editing

helped with this issue and of course myself re reading it more than just once or twice.

Elaboration on some of my writings were an issue in my EIP most of all. I went into the

science and biology of the brain when talking about schizophrenia within my essay about

the correlation between schizophrenia and genius. I did not elaborate or explain enough

some terms that were quite crucial to understand some experiments that I referred to such

as dopamine levels and neurocognitive. I do find this to still be a problem with many

assignments I work on that may not even pertain to this particular class, BUT I am

working on it! This class really helped me to improve my writing over all. It made me

reflect on my own writing as well as being able to identify the problems within them.

I found that my biggest strengths are writing with a purpose and having a deeper

meaning behind my writing. I feel as though I have always been skilled at writing with a

purpose because I have always enjoyed writing. Although, this semester I believe that

this class has helped me to write papers, blogs, Daybooks, freewrites, etc. with deeper

purposes behind the actual writing. As I mentioned earlier, I was not always that good at

not coming out and saying what I was writing. I would usually just come out and say

what my point was. However, now I leave the concept unsaid and instead let the readers

wait till the end or try and find the deeper meaning. I have always believed that writing is

better that way. When I dont come out and say exactly what the point is and the reader

really has to think about it it then leaves the concept open to interpretation. I think that is

my favorite part about writing too, is that it is all-open to your interpretation and it can

have so many different meaning. I dont want to ruin that for any of my readers ever so I

try to leave the deeper meaning hidden. I have also found that I am much better at

identifying deeper meanings in writing now in some of the readings that we were

assigned.

My progress as a thinker/questioner/writer in this class was quite impressive, even

to me. I think that I sometimes read my own papers or assignments and just automatically

think it is good. If I answered the question and did as directed then I think its great

writing. But, after being in this class my perspective on my own writing and skills have

changed. I can now think more deeply about a topic before I write it because now I find

that it really matters. For my topic proposal I originally wrote one on running. I am an

avid runner and running obviously matters to me. However, I found that I did not

personally have much to say about it. I loved to run but didnt have enough to say about

it. My second topic proposal I decided to rewrite was on my topic now, which was

schizophrenia and genius. I found that like when I am writing a freewrite in my Daybook

my pencil just flew all over the paper. I had so much to say, so many questions, and

overall interest in the topic. Maybe it was because I already know so much about running

that I thought I couldnt write about it, or who knows, but writing about the correlation

between schizophrenia and genius fascinated me and was very enjoyable to write about

and research. My writing, my questioning, and my thinking have developed in this class.

I have become a stronger overall student in this class because I have faced assignments

that I have struggled to write with, identified my weaknesses, and also my strengths.

I need to address a very prominent assignment in this class: the Eportfolio. I took

the EIP draft Iw rote and then the edited and peer reviewed new and improved final EIP

and was able to morph and combine all of my assignments into one! The Eportfolio

consists of all the assignments, papers, blogs, Daybook entries, freewrites, and essays that

I have written in this class. At first, I was slapping myself in the forehead after hearing

that we had to create a website because I have the worst luck with the Internet sometimes.

But, it was actually very enjoyable. It is like making a scrapbook of all of your memories,

but it is of all of your hard work from the class. I am not going to lie it was frustrating

and very difficult, but once you get the hang of it, it is pretty enjoyable. I just completed

my Eportfolio and I was excited. It looks pretty amazing! I thought out very carefully

eery page that had to be added. I even tried to keep it fun by throwing you in there too

(you are on the letter to professor page featuring me as well!) I even sent my dad the link

to the site because he is a teacher and I know hed appreciate it too, all the while giving

me some more feedback on any suggestions or mistakes that I may have overseen.

Honestly, the Eportfolio looks pretty badass and I hope you enjoy looking through mine.

I would like to leave on a good note with you Professor Campbell. As you said

earlier I know you may think everyone is going to write a letter saying how your class

was awesome, how all the assignments were so fun, and kiss your ass. But, I dont think I

did. I am honest. I said I really did enjoy most of the assignments because I did. I enjoy

writing. I admitted to thinking that some of the assignments, namely the annotated

bibliography, was frustrating, but hey not everything in class is going to be super fun

right? I just would like to say thank you. I think that this class is really fun all the while

incorporating educational and helpful guidance for writing. This class made me a

stronger writer and student and for that I am thankful.

I really hope you have an amazing semester next year. And lets be honest no

matter how many times you may say you want to stop teaching and just be a writer again,

you will never stop because you love it too much! And besides what other interesting

species would you write about if you cant talk about us crazy college students?