Reflection
In highschool I always considered myself a good writer. I was able to write analytical papers very well and would always score high on exams. However, that was all different when it came to personal writing. The first challenge I struggled with was college admission essays. It was hard to write about yourself without coming off as arrogant or entitled. When I was signing up for writing classes to take for my freshman writing class I had no clue what impact that would go on to have on my development as a writer.
When I signed up for educational development I was expecting to read a lot of articles about how the system was changing and writing reports about these texts we read. Apparently I had no clue what the class was about, but I’m very grateful for how it turned out.
This class was all about MY educational journey and how things I learned taught me something about myself. For the whole scope of the year I wrote pieces focused around culture because I was fascinated by the vast differences something as arbitrary as a border line can have on one’s identity. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to travel to the middle east and it was one of the most influential trips I’ve ever been on in my life. Throughout this class I wrote about reflections I had made about myself and the world around me after being put into a state of discomfort.
By reflecting on all these experiences I’ve had throughout my life and writing them has really allowed me to look at these moments in a whole different light. Prior to writing all these projects about travelling I thought the main reason I enjoyed travelling so much was because I liked seeing new places, which is partially true, I discovered that I wanted to do something different than my parents and their parents did. I wanted to be my own person and explore the world around me. I wanted to be more than the kid that went to the same highschool as his father. I think this is also a big reason why I went to a university across the country where I knew no one. Writing about my personal life really helped to expose these thoughts to me. This class allowed me to dive deeper into my own journey instead of looking at someone else’s, and it was a very weird experience at first. However, reflection is some of the best learning you can do.
It wasn’t until recently how impactful something as simple as writing can be on a person. As mentioned before up until this class I was writing about things that had nothing to do with my personal experiences, but rather the experiences of others lifes. After being forced to write about myself, I was able to open about my life for an audience. It was weird at first to project my work for someone else to read. In highschool just the teacher read my papers, and almost all of them had nothing to do with me. Writing to an audience allowed me to share my intellectual journey with others that could read my papers at their free will.
The process of writing these papers throughout the semester has been a truly humbling experience where I’ve talked about my journey while also showing low moments and periods of vulnerability, which really allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings. My writing and intellectual journey has definitely grown through the course of this semester. I am much more comfortable with my ability to write personal stories while also sharing information that is interesting and engaging to the reader.
By trying to get my message across without sounding arrogant or entitled, I think I actually increase my ability to write more perusal papers. Being given the chance to share my story to someone else really allowed me to connect with myself and really talk about what I want to, instead of being given a prompt.
I really enjoyed the structure this class offered as well. Even though there was a prompt for each paper it was still very loose and we could talk about what we wanted. This allowed me to get personal with the paper instead of trying to conform with a prompt. This made my writing much more valuable, as it was true and raw instead of something just fabricated to get a good grade.
On top of the class itself, my professor made one of the larger impacts on my writing. I really connected with what I was writing and was able to give valuable feedback that would just make my writing overall better instead of going for that better grade. He cared about our writing on a personal level and didn’t care if our paper was a few hundred words under, or we didn’t strictly stick to the prompt, he just wanted us to improve as writers. He was one of the large reasons why I believe my writing improved over the semester, because I knew that at the end of the day my writing would be judged off of how I presented it and what it meant to me.
Overall this class has had a very large impact on not only my writing but me as a person. I was able to write about what I wanted and how it made me feel. Through these writing projects I was able to uncover things about myself that I didn’t realize were there. Reflection through writing was able to show me what I want to do with my life and who I want to be. I was able to break this barrier of not being able to write personal stories. Not only was I able to get past that, but the personal papers made me a better writer in general. The structure of the class allowed me to thrive and write about what I wanted to, which also involved more reflection on my past. I never thought this class would provide me with so much insight about myself and my writing than it did. It truly had a great impact on who I am today and who I want to become, so to that I say, Thank you very very much Professor D.
