WP4: A Final Reflection
Writing is something very special to me. It is so unique that all three of my writing projects before this one have revolved around writing and narrative. This class has been a necessary step on my writing journey because it has impacted my writing in so many positive ways.
Throughout this semester, I have been able to make several technical improvements to my writing. Before this class, I would say I was a pretty good writer, but my writing lacked a level of development that would take my writing to the next level. Constructive feedback from Professor Dissinger and workshopping ideas with my peers were instrumental in my growth. When I received my feedback for Writing Project 1, I’ll admit it was intimidating, but it helped me identify issues that I noticed were patterns in my writing. Much of my writing was compartmentalized into sections, which left my work disconnected and awkward. Professor Dissinger’s advice on how to combat this issue by breaking down the paragraph was very helpful. Now, when I finish writing a paper, I go through it, breaking down paragraphs and rearranging it to better connect my ideas. Although it seems small, taking those extra steps pulls the paper together and makes me more confident when writing. I found myself falling into the five-paragraph structure, even without the intention of doing so, and this class has not only made me more mindful of that, but the professor’s suggestion of breaking down paragraphs and grouping like topics has helped me avoid that trap.
This class has completely changed how I view academic writing as a whole. Writing always felt like a task when related to a class, just something that I was forced to do. In class, we are forced to cover topics that we don’t necessarily find interesting, and although we were given a lot of creative freedom in this class, it taught me to embrace the prompt being thrown at me and make it my own. For example, in our post on Storytelling, we were all shown the same thing and given the same prompt. However, I took that as my opportunity to tell a story that was important to me, and the assignment did not feel like something given to me by a professor. It felt like something that I created and would share on my own for others to listen to. When I tackle assignments in other classes, even with much narrower prompts, I find an aspect of it that I am passionate about, and I start there. This has really improved the quality of my writing because I treat every piece like others are going to read it. The use of Medium contributed to me having this mindset because we were posting our work publicly. I put my heart into my writing because now I understand that if it’s important to me, then there is probably someone else out there who it is important. I finally learned to stop just writing to fill up a page.
The assignment that I enjoyed the most was Writing Project 2 because I was able to explore a topic that I was passionate about and didn’t have other opportunities to explore. I’m the type of person who can talk about the things I love for hours, so it was therapeutic to get my thoughts on the page. The Writing Project also allowed me to dive deep into horror films and explain and analyze them in a way that might change how someone approaches watching them. This project gave me the realization that you can bring parts of yourself into academic spaces. I think that was a recurring theme in the class that I appreciated, that we were allowed to explore whatever we wanted, and I think that was a huge factor in my commitment to the assignments. Whether it was exploring niche hobbies, dissecting personal experiences, or diving into areas of personal interest, the assignments allowed us to create writing that was authentic, which helped me be more receptive to critique because I was revising a paper on a topic that I liked and genuinely wanted to make the paper better.
Further, the incorporation of diverse literature in the class has been an affirming experience, particularly as a Black woman. The intentional inclusion of works from a variety of backgrounds provided a platform for voices that resonated not only with my own experiences but also with others in the class. Too often, classes tend to overlook diverse perspectives. However, this class reminds me how important those voices are to the literary conversation. The variety of literature was valuable not only because I could relate to some of the stories but also because it exposed me to new topics I had never heard of. Reading the book All They Will Call You was the first time I had ever heard of the 1948 Los Gatos Plane Crash. Through the class, their stories were able to be heard by more people, which I think is really powerful. Also, reading more academic writing like Pedagogy of the Oppressed contributed to the class’s theme of exploration and showed different ways of doing similar things. I think the class’s literature was very well selected and demonstrated a lot of thought. Feeling heard and seen within the classroom environment made me excited about what we were being assigned.
I really enjoyed WRIT 340, and I attribute that mainly to Professor Dissinger and the welcoming classroom environment that all of my peers facilitated. Although I did learn in the class, the part that I found most valuable was the professor’s emphasis on personhood. This was one of the few classes where I didn’t feel like just a student, just a subordinate to the professor, doing whatever it took to get a good grade. Instead, Professor Dissinger encouraged us to question things, stand up for what we believed in, and treat us as his equals. This class empowered me to think critically and “go for the jugular,” which has given me to test the boundaries if it’s for what I believe in. Not only that but having a professor that was approachable has given me the confidence to ask questions and discuss things with my professors in other classes.
