Looking Back

At the beginning of the semester, I set three goals for myself: to be able to write for a variety of audiences, to be able to incorporate all aspects of the writing process into my writing preparation, and to be able to collaborate with others in writing. Looking back at my writing assignments, I had the opportunity to address two of these goals.

One of my goals for this semester was to be able to write for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts. Before this class, I had trouble in this area, because I was used to strictly writing academic papers. I wanted to leave college knowing how to write more than just academic essays. After this class, I feel confident in writing in multiple genres. Two particular assignments that helped me achieve this goal were the blog and the restaurant review.

For the blog assignment, audience, purpose, and persona were three essential things I had to think about. For my audience, I had to consider if my blog would be private or public. I asked my self questions like "will this blog be open to strictly my classmates?" or "will this blog be open for an array of readers?". Ultimately, I decided to make my blog public because of the blog's purpose. Regarding purpose, I had to consider what the purpose of my blog would be. I decided to create my blog for both students and teachers, so that it could be a collaborative sharing and learning environment. I hope to continue posting, in hopes, that it will one day reach the collaborative process where both writers and readers can share and learn from one another. Lastly, I had to think about my persona. Looking at my purpose, I decided my persona would be that of a student pursuing a teaching degree. Because of my chosen persona, I have had the opportunity to share my writing and receive feedback, which I found to be very helpful. Ultimately, the blog assignment challenged me to think about how I was portraying myself, as well as, my writing on the World Wide Web.

The restaurant review, which is here on my blog, challenged me to really consider my audience. I think the hardest part was determining how much detail was needed. When experiencing a restaurant yourself, it is hard to think about what details need to be included to make your reader part of that same experience. I had to consider what information was necessary, and what information was not so necessary. The restaurant review put me in a position where I had to pretend as if I was a reader. I had to defamiliarize myself in order to pick up on details I would normally ignore. Doing so allowed me to figure out what was needed, and what was too much. Overall, the review challenged me to write in a genre very different from what I was used to.

Another goal I had set for myself was to be able to collaborate with others in writing. One assignment in particular that helped me accomplish this goal was the proposal, which is also here on my blog. Before this class, I had never worked with someone on a collaborative writing assignment. Looking back, I think one of the most difficult things was coalescing mine and my partner's styles in a coherent way. The proposal assignment also challenged me to be prompt in scheduling meeting times with partners, to be communicative when it came to the purpose and process of the assignment, and to be patient in the overall process, which ultimately prepared me for future collaborative experiences.

Overall, this semester has taught me to consider the rhetorical situation for every individual assignment. Having practiced writing in different genres and collaborating with others in writing, I feel more confident entering into future work experiences.