Revision Review

     My first and final drafts differ in a few ways. My first draft was basically the shape of an idea, without any real support yet, and little to no organization. My first draft was also quite a bit shorter than my final draft and missing a lot of key and minor details that weren't added until later on. I didn't make a lot of major revisions, more like I made a lot of minor ones. I cleaned up the grammar and organization, added quite a few details, tweaked some run-on sentences and sloppy transitions, and voila, I had a final draft. Honestly, it was odd that I edited as much as I did, but I deviated quite a bit from my typical writing plan with this paper. I don't usually edit papers at all, what I do is more like a revision. I tend to edit as I write, but with this paper, I realized I couldn't do that because I wouldn't have a rough draft (or a final draft, depending on how you look at it).

     While editing, I noticed that my most common errors are sloppy or non-existent transitions, run on sentences, and the occasional comma splice. My grammar and style tend to be pretty good, its just that sometimes I have an idea and write more in a stream of consciousness style, and the end result tends to need a few commas, periods, and word substitutions. For most of these errors, I noticed them on my own as I was reading over my paper a second time, though peer editing helped me as well. For me at least, peer editing is more useful for figuring out if I'm being clear and concise enough, and if my style of writing is getting my point across, than for finding grammatical or technical errors.
   
     I think my essays strongest point was in all the details I included, and how they supported the main idea of the narrative. The weakest point would be that I may have gone a little off topic and on a tangent with some of the details (they may have drawn the focus away from the main point of the narrative). Overall I think it turned out pretty well.

Writing 101 So Far

     Writing 1 has helped me improve my writing in several ways. I've noticed my blog posts steadily getting stronger, and better organized. The first assignment I had no idea what was expected, or even what to write about, but as the class has gone on, and more blog posts have been assigned and written, I've slowly gotten more comfortable with the expectations, writing the blogs themselves, and even the topics chosen.

     I've also noticed my writing steadily improving. Before this class, I did little to no pre-writing for anything that wasn't a final paper or worth a huge chunk of points, but now I find myself brainstorming and outlining everything from the semi bi-weekly papers, to the weekly blog posts. Its been an interesting adjustment for me; everything takes much longer now, but in the end, my writing also has much better organization and flow.

     The class as a whole has forced me to be more introspective on my writing, writing processes, and behavior in a classroom environment. I went through most of my academic career thinking I was a great writer, and that I could write anything on just about anything, and write well. Now I have a little more perspective. I'm not quite as good as I thought I was, and I have some aspects that I have improved, and some aspects that could still do with some improvement, but I'm working on it.

     As for the changes I've seen in my classroom behavior, I've come to realize that sometimes its OK to be silent. I don't have to answer every single question, or dominate every discussion, I can just throw my two cents in when I have something truly unique to say, or when my opinion can further the discussion. I still don't know exactly why silent classrooms make me so uncomfortable, but I've learned to accept the inevitable, and deal with the situation appropriately when it arises.

Literacy Narrative Ideas

Learning to Read with Ma

     I was a very smart kid. By the time I was three years old, I knew my abc's, colors, & numbers, and could recite my name, address, phone number, my grans phone number, my pop-pop's phone number, and the entire Bulls starting lineup. The first book I ever read was the Beauty and the Beast. My mom took great pride in telling people I could read it word for word, cover to cover - that is until she realized I wasn't actually reading, I had just memorized the entire book!

Pros: Its a story people can relate to with a humorous tone, and engaging subject
Cons: I vaguely remember this (mostly I remember people telling me about it), it may go too far back for the audience to easily relate to it, and I may have an issue expanding it to the appropriate length for the assignment.

Mrs. Barker was a Real Bitch

     My kindergarten teacher's name was Mr.s Barker. To this day I'm still surprised that a) someone married her, and b) someone decided to allow her to work with young children. I remember it used to upset my mom that she would take the Oreos out of my lunch - she used to say "I'll bet that woman is eating them herself" - so my mom got creative. She used to tell my pop-pop "2 twinkies before school" so that I always showed up to class happy and HIGH. I remember these so called snack wars fondly, but I also remember coming home crying a lot because I wasn't allowed to read books aloud to the class anymore. Let me back up and explain ; Mrs. Barker used to reward 'good students' by letting them read books to the class after they mastered the book at home. I was a pretty smart kid (my mom and gran worked with me constantly), so naturally I was mastering the books a little quicker than the rest of the class. I remember getting up and reading to the entire class, and I also remember when I was told I wasn't allowed to read aloud anymore. I felt like I was being punished for being smart.

Pros: The subject fits the criteria, and its a funny and engaging topic.

Cons: It might be just a bit too informal, the necessary background information may come off as off-topic, and it probably won't expand all that well.

Senior Research Controversy

     I have always hated writing formal papers. Usually I found the topics my instructors would pick to be pointless and boring - until senior year. Senior year I had Mr. O'Neil for Honors World Literature, and everybody loved him. He was the type of teacher to give you a random, broad topic, and just tell you to run with it. For our final paper, the limitations were even more non-existant. He basically told us to pick any topic we wanted, and come talk to him when we had picked out our topic and figured out how we were going to organize and write out the paper. I chose to write on the similarities between Christianity and Paganism. As a Pagan, its a subject I've been interested in for quite some time, and naturally one I'm quite well versed in. It was only the second formal paper I'd ever written and actually enjoyed writing.

Pros: Its recent in my memory, and I'm passionate and well versed in the subject.

Cons: Imagery may be difficult to create, the content may be offensive to some people, and it essentially breaks the cardinal rule of polite conversation (never talk about religion or politics).

Why is writing 1 required, and what do I hope to gain from it?

     I'm taking this class because it is required by Northeastern and because it is required for an English major. Personally, I don't think its fair to require this class for every student. I understand the necessity for an aptitude test in English and math, but I don't understand why those tests can only test people out of remedial courses, and not test them into higher level courses (if they score high enough). The test would have to be altered a little bit, maybe by adding a few fill in the blank and multiple choice questions asking about proper grammar and rules of grammar (i.e. find the errors in this sentence and explain why they are errors) to make sure students grasp the subject fully, but I don't think anyone would mind sitting the extra half hour if they could test into a higher level course.

     Since I have to take this class, I hope to gain some new and useful skills. I hope to broaden my writing range -so to speak- and learn to write more effectively in a larger variety of styles. For instance, I'm comfortable with and good at writing poetry and most prose in general, but when it comes to more formal styles (i.e. persuasive, informative, and research-type papers), I don't do what I would consider my finest work. Ideally I would like to get more comfortable with and more proficient at these styles, I think it all boils down to a lack of motivation. Don't get me wrong, I can write these styles of papers, and write them passably well, but they are not as good as they could be. I think my problem is that unless I find a topic particularly interesting, or about something I'm passionate about, I have issues wading through dense material, and focusing on and truly absorbing the information for effective use later. It all boils down to discipline, a skill I need to hone, and hopefully one this class will help me with.