I learned many valuable writing techniques, development skills and analysis strategies through out the literacy guide assignment. I started by organizing my ideas and dividing the “must-haves” into each category. Once that was complete, I was able to refer to the previous homework activities in order to find examples to implement in my guide. For example, I used the three charts as a starting point for exploring The New York Times. The most helpful chart in particular, was where we used the “most popular” page to find three articles. I had a whole section of my guide dedicated to using the “most popular” page as a tool for navigating through the newspaper. I was able to use my previous analysis from the chart to expand on my new thoughts with the examples I used in the guide. This showed me the value of taking a specific idea and elaborating. I feel that analysis has been one of my weaknesses when writing so this technique of using my previous work was extremely valuable. While implementing the analysis to my examples, I realized that I was having a hard time covering all the “must-haves”. I had no problem with hyperlinking articles, clarifying a voice, and analyzing the different styles and preferences. What I did struggle with was finding the different article forms and modes that would cover each of the topics I had assigned to topic prior to writing. I found that I would continue to use news reports and multimedia pieces repetitively. I had to rewrite sections multiple times and spend a lot of time searching for the perfect example in something other than news reports and videos. Like with the “most popular” chart homework, I used my previous work, “One topic three ways”, to get a better idea of the different article types out there. At first this chart was helpful, but then I realized it was still lacking the elements I needed. It is at this point in my writing of the guide, I happened to stumble across the times topic page. During my search for the perfect example, this page within the newspaper was able to have multiple modes of information with a click of a button. This initial frustration led to this new discovery within The New York Times. In reaction to this valuable and helpful tool, I was able to create the last section of my guide. This moment was extremely valuable to me because I was able to learn a valuable organization skill through my own mistakes. Out of the entire project, this was my personal favorite learning moment. I learned an important lesson and was able in return to use it to complete the assignment. With this being said, I believe that my advice to myself from this particular writing task would be don’t be afraid to make mistakes and implement these struggles into a unique way in which can be used to complete the task at hand or in the future. Practice makes perfect and rewriting is not a sign of organizational or developmental weakness.
Tag Archives: Writing tips
Common Reading Unit Reflection
Posted onThrough out this unit, I learned a lot of valuable skills and strategies that will help improve my writing in the future. One of the most important skills I learned was the extreme need to come to class prepared. I had finished the book, The Education of a Lifetime, before the beginning of school which was instrumental through out the entire first unit. I was able to use the homework and class assignments to strengthen my understanding of the book. This in return would help with the very little experience I had with timed writing assignments. I used many new techniques in order to prepare and complete my essay. For example, at my high school we wrote timed essays but we got the prompt the day before and were able to gather our ideas and organize our essay that night. With this writing, I was unable to prepare on the exact prompt but I was able to do some “prep-work” in a similar fashion. I spent the night before the essay gathering evidence and ideas from the previous assignments we had done in class and for homework. I made sure to include a wide variety of examples and multiple ways to use each piece of evidence. With creating different ways to use a single quote, I was able to create a wider range of analysis which could be used for different prompts. With my notes and ideas in hand, I then read each provided prompt. I picked the first prompt because I had the most examples and prior knowledge on that particular question. I felt that having that list prepared prior to class time was significantly helpful. I didn’t have to spend time searching through the book to find the quotes and I was able to chose a prompt quicker and more efficiently. Although this strategy was extremely useful to my writing process, I think creating an outline prior to writing my essay was the most beneficial strategy. I organized the evidence in the order I wanted the paper to flow along with creating a strong thesis. It only took about five minutes to complete and it kept me focused as I wrote my assignment. I felt I had good supporting evidence and my ideas were clear and appropriate for the topic. However, my weakness during the in-class writing essay was forming those ideas into a concise paragraph and fluent essay within the time restraint. I feel I struggle with rambling and re-writing the same idea repetitively. With this being said I also have extreme test anxiety. I found myself getting frustrated and discouraged when I didn’t have the words to articulate a particular idea. In the future, I plan on creating sentences ahead of time to use in my essay. I also will create a time limit per section in order to prevent me from spending all my time on a specific paragraph. Overall I learned many lessons from the mistakes and struggles within this one writing assignment. I hope to use these to improve my timed essays throughout my college experience.