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Lacey Reichert

Dr. Leston

English 1000C 129

1 May 2008

Process Letter:

Here I am, in the home stretch of my freshman year of college, and I am finishing my general English 1000C class. In the beginning I had no idea what to expect. In high school I was always told that writing in college was going to be difficult, impossible, and tedious. After this course, I have to say, that I don’t see it like that at all. Yes, it is a lot of work. This class made me write just about every day. But, that is a good thing, and something I should get used to doing.

My first day in this class was a good experience. We sat around, talked about what we would be doing this semester, and got acquainted with our fellow classmates. I liked this because in most of my other classes, teachers never took time to do this. This was also very helpful because we worked a lot with one another, and it was helpful to not be a complete stranger to the people in our groups.

During the first half of the semester, we wrote our first portfolio on a personal and life changing experience. I chose to write about my little brother being born, and he just turned one about a week ago. I chose to write about this because it was an experience for me that changed me significantly. I was a senior in high school and didn’t have much responsibility other than going to school and work. When there were complications with my step-mom and the baby, I stepped up to the plate and helped take care of my other younger brother because my parents were both at the hospital every day. It really made me see life differently and helped me grow up a lot.

For this first assignment, we also did something new. We did peer review, which was something I had never done to this extent before. We used to proofread each others’ papers in high school and grade school to help with grammar and changing little details about the papers. But, we never devoted entire classes to it. I was reluctant about this because I don’t really like sharing my work with anyone. I don’t even like turning it into the professor, but that is obviously mandatory. I just felt like my peers were going to read it and say “Wow, this is terrible.” Thankfully, that never happened, and my peers were very helpful with improving my papers.

Our second half of the semester, we started a lot of new things. We began floating workshops, which was a new experience to me. We would post our paper up on our blogs and then answer questions, give feedback, and talk about one person’s paper as a class. Then, there was the blog, which I previously mentioned. This was another completely new experience. I never had a blog, and the closest thing I did have was a facebook. At first I didn’t know what to write on the blog, and I didn’t really like it. But once I got the hang of it, I didn’t mind it, and I started to like writing about some of my experiences, like writing a blog post on my first Yankees game. We also wrote our second portfolio assignment, which was profiling an organization, business, etc. I chose to write about Student Government at St. John’s University. I had been helping with the campaign and was getting into the whole organization. So, I chose to write my paper to inform others on campus about this organization.

For the last stretch of the semester, we had our third and final portfolio, which was to write a critique. We watched the movies “Goodnight and Good Luck”, and “There Will Be Blood” and read critiques on them. I really liked both movies. Then, it was our turn to write our own critiques. I wrote a restaurant critique on a Japanese restaurant called Kotobuki. I liked this paper because I got to go out to the restaurants and make comparisons and write about my experiences there. This was, again, a new experience for me. Most of my papers I have written for high school and other classes were just about readings I have done, or random essays about a question given. I hated writing in that style. This was something that I got to write differently for, and I got to experience new foods while doing so!

For each paper we wrote, we had to visit the writing center. I liked this because not only did it help improve my papers, but it was a positive experience. The tutors were always helpful and nice. At first I felt intimidated going to the writing center because I thought that they were going to tell me my paper was terrible, but that never happened. They were always asking me questions and improving on what I wrote. Even though going was mandatory for each assignment, I am glad it was because it was helpful.

I think this semester has helped me grow a lot as a writer. Although I am not on the level I would like to be, if I continue to write and work, I think I can get a lot better. I really liked all the papers we wrote this semester. They weren’t just simple, boring essays that we were assigned where everyone had to write on the same topic. We got to write about what we liked, and what interested us, which was something I never got the chance to do. The closest thing I have to this experience was my term papers in high school, and even those were very limited. The style of writing this semester was different from anything I have done. I never used to write multiple drafts, do invention work, and have peers review my work and give me feedback. It was all extremely helpful. I learned that by simply changing the order in which you right something makes the paper that much better. You may not have to change anything at all. I also learned about minor details, which proved to be very important. Being descriptive and putting your reader in the middle of what you are talking about gives the reader more perspective and makes the paper more interesting to them. The tone, plot, and other details began to stand out to me more while writing and I tried to change my writing style to better my work. I think overall this semester was a great experience to grow not only as writer, but as a student too.

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