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Midtermreflection

Jim Farrell reflects on his experience in his midterm UWRT course. He discusses how the concepts of critical reading and reflection were initially foreign to him, but how through assignments like analyzing Malcolm X's writing and multiple drafts of papers, he has learned to critically analyze his own and other's writing on a holistic level rather than just proofreading. He also notes how composing using different technologies for his multimodal project took him out of his comfort zone. Overall, the course has helped ease his anxiety about writing in a college environment and given him freedom in his literacy paper.

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69 views

Midtermreflection

Jim Farrell reflects on his experience in his midterm UWRT course. He discusses how the concepts of critical reading and reflection were initially foreign to him, but how through assignments like analyzing Malcolm X's writing and multiple drafts of papers, he has learned to critically analyze his own and other's writing on a holistic level rather than just proofreading. He also notes how composing using different technologies for his multimodal project took him out of his comfort zone. Overall, the course has helped ease his anxiety about writing in a college environment and given him freedom in his literacy paper.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Jim Farrell
UWRT-1101
3-18-16
Midterm Course Reflection
The word composing carries such a negative connotation in my mind. I am not entirely
sure why that is. I cannot recall any even in particular that brings about repressed feelings or
horrible memories that relate to the word. Composing seems so academic, and academia has
never been an environment I have been fond of. Naturally, I compose everyday. Technology
being the driving force that it is these days, I often find myself lost in a land of text messages and
emails. These forms of composing never seem to require much of a process. In fact, they seem
to be more of a reaction than anything. When someone sends a text message asking you a
questionyou respond, its that simple. I have tried to carry a lot of this thought process (or lack
there of) over and apply it to my school work. As a result, my process seems to be very similar to
one I used to compose emails while I was enlisted in the Air Force. I write things exactly how I
would say them, as if I were locked into a conversation on the topic. After my point as been
made, I devote the majority of my time making adjustments to my writing. This just ensures that
my writing is politically correct, professional, and audience appropriate.
The critical reading concept was foreign to me prior to this semester. In a lot of ways I
consider critical reflection and critical reading to be the same. I have only ever proofread my
works, which is something I find to be completely different. When I proofread I am only
concerning myself with spelling and grammar. It is more of a micro process that critical
reading. What I mean is that, when I proofread I am checking individual sentences to make sure
that they make sense. When I read my papers critically, I am making sure the entire paper

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makes sense. I have to analyze all of my paragraphs and make sure the paper relates to my topic
as a whole. Also, I have to make sure that the paper is written in such a way that my audience
can relate. A paper written as more of a conversational piece with slang usage and funny stories
may help my classmates to relate, but it may alienate the teacher who is grading the paper. That
may not be the wisest choice. I find myself constantly concerned with these types of things as I
read through my papers over and over again. Some may see proofreading as the same thing as
critical thinking, but I dont. I choose to delineate between the two, and I think it helps my
process tremendously.

Rhetorical Knowledge- I think my best example of rhetorical knowledge is my


Multimodal project. I wasnt at all familiar with composing using anything other than
PowerPoint, so this took me out of my comfort zone a little. My project forced me to
really analyze my literacy draft so that I could utilize multiple technologies to present my
topics in a visual and more entertaining matter. Also, after analyzing my audience I
realized that I could dial down the formalities and really focus on the entertainment

value.
Critical Reading- When I think on this SLO, the only thing I am constantly reminded of
is the Malcom X piece that we read early on in the semester. We spent a lot of time as a
class really trying to break that passage down and really understand what was meant by
it. We had discussions on the subject and even wrote blogs. Even after so much time was
spent on it, each of us seemed t still have our own opinions on what Malcom Xs purpose

for writing was.


Composing Process- My Final Literacy draft is my best example of my composing
process. Reflecting back on it, I believe I wrote four different drafts before finally
submitting the paper. Draft one to draft two, there was very little difference. Just some

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word changes and grammar fixes. Draft two to draft three, I actually rewrote paragraphs
and included a lot more detail to some of my topics. Draft three to draft four, I actually
did away with a lot and chose to completely restart certain topics and include some

pictures to support my examples.


Knowledge of Conventions- I stressed about the expectations and guidelines that came
with writing in a college environment when I first got accepted to UNCC. This class has
eased a lot of that anxiety I experienced. While the literacy project had obvious
expectations, the guidelines and rules were very loosely defined. The project was to
simply write! I enjoyed that very much, and I feel the little bit of freedom I had gave my

literacy draft a lot of life that it otherwise would have lacked.


Critical Reflection- The literacy paper was the best representation of critical reflection.
We had to do several rounds peer reviews which forcing you to look back over your work
and consider certain changes. My peer reviews were awful, but their lack of effort forced
me to reflect even more critically on my own writing.

Day books- Relate to critical reflection and critical reading


Peer Reviews- Critical Reading

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