Sanchez 1

Mariyah Sanchez

Maddie Roepe

WRIT 2

09 December 2023

Reflection

“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” This is a quote by Nathaniel

Hawthorne that is so simple but yet has a significant meaning. I wanted to start off this reflection

by mentioning this quote because I feel as if it perfectly describes my experience as a whole

throughout Writing 2. The course flew by in a blink of an eye and yet it still has not processed in

my mind. One day I was writing my first journal entry and the next I was making my final

revisions for my final portfolio. Although the time passed by so quickly, every assignment within

this course left me with some piece of information to improve as a writer. When reflecting back

on my writing from the beginning of the course I can see an immense difference. I feel confident

in saying that I now have a better understanding on how to think, read and write like a writer.

Throughout Writing 2 I learned so much about myself as a writer. I was able to analyze

my writing in depth which allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses. Two readings from

this course that have consistently stuck with me and impacted my writing throughout the year

were, Peter Elbows, “Teaching Two Kinds Of Thinking By Teaching Writing,” (1986.) and, Clint

Johnsons, “On Genre,” (2016.) These two readings really played a huge role in both my WP1

and WP2. In completing both of these projects, I believe the most important stages were deciding

what pieces of information I wanted to include in my writing, as well as how to include it.
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Starting off with my first writing project, WP1, I learned that almost every text can be

translated into a new genre. It was interesting to see how I could take a scientific article with

complex information and completely turn it into a brochure, which is a form of genre that is

more simplified. Specifically with WP1 I looked at Clint Johnson's article to help me make the

transition between genres. “Each genre is different in form but also in how, when, and why it is

used. This is because each genre exists for specific reasons, to do particular things in the world.”

(Johson, 2016). Johnson's text helped me come to the conclusion of translating the scientific

article into a brochure. I made this decision because I knew that the information would be

targeted towards parents. With the brochure I could inform them as to why excessive screen time

is not beneficial and provide solutions to this problem. Reflecting on the project, I would say that

my favorite section was my conclusion. I say this because I was able to give credit to the four

sources in helping me efficiently translate the genre as well as state my main purpose of the

translation. On the contrary, the most challenging part of this project was deciding which pieces

from my article that I would carry along throughout the translation. “What we learn about one

genre in a specific situation can often help us learn to communicate effectively in a similar but

not identical situation.” (Johnson, 2016). With the advice Johnson gave, I was able to identify the

most important pieces of information that would help me effectively convey my objective in my

brochure.

Now looking at WP2, I can see a huge difference in my first attempt compared to my

second. I had a difficult time understanding the whole project which is why my first attempt was

rough. The research for this project was not like anything I had ever done before so getting to my

final goal was not easy. Truly, the research process set me back a lot and as a result I did not
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complete the project on time. After going through the entire project a second time for this

portfolio, I would say I was able to better analyze the articles I chose. With a better

understanding of the articles I could connect them to my main argument, which was how

different classroom environments affect students' learning capabilities. Reflecting on this project,

I give a lot of credit to Peter Elbows, “Teaching Two Kinds Of Thinking By Teaching Writing,”

(1986.) This article helped me to distinguish between first and second-order thinking within my

project and make changes to improve it entirely. “Second-order thinking is a way to check our

thinking, to be more aware, to steer instead of being steered…we need first-order thinking to

generate a rich array of insights” (Elbow, 1986). The way in which I used this information was to

recognize first-order thinking such as deciding to include a lot of detail in my cover letter and

realizing the mistake I made with second-order thinking to reformat the entire letter. With this, I

was able to complete the objective of the project; to have a scholarly conversation with a friend.

Personally I didn't really like the idea of a scholarly conversation because I don't think it’s

necessarily a conversation I would have outside of the classroom about this specific topic. Aside

from that, I enjoyed making the translation and I hope that is noticeable from the amount of work

I put into it.

All in all, I believe I learned a lot from Writing 2. The course gave me a better

understanding of writing and methods that I can use to improve my writing. WP1 and WP2

definitely challenged my writing capabilities but also taught me new things such as genre

translations and new ways of researching. These lessons will stay with me as I progress my

writing experience as I already see myself using them constantly. I give thanks to the course,

professor Roepe and my peers for helping me improve my writing in giving me an outside
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perspective on it. I believe they truly played a role in my progress, for there is only so much

room for improvement in my own eyes. Although the time flew by quite quickly, I was left with

knowledge that I will continue to use along my writing journey.

Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. New York: Oxford

U Press. 1986.

Johnson, Clint. “On Genre.” Open English SLCC, Open English @ SLCC, 1 Aug. 2016,

pressbooks.pub/openenglishatslcc/chapter/on-genre/.