Thlog Week 10... Adios

This week has been exciting and gloomy all at the same time. This was the last week in Writing 2, and I feel like I have improved and developed into the writer I hoped to be in the beginning of the week. As I worked through the survey questions and my portfolio, I noticed the immense improvement that I went through and all the elements I learned from the articles, self-referential videos, PBs, and WPs. Although at times I felt overwhelmed or had too many writing assignments due, I am glad that I was pushed and given all this work, because through the process of writing multiple papers, I was able to learn about what parts of my writing I was weak on and the aspects I should work on. Comparing my WP1 to my WP2 to my WP3, I realized an improvement in my analysis, punctuation, grammar, creativity, and use of sources. I also took a look at my Thlogs written in the beginning of the quarter and recognized how naive I was in regards to really important concepts like genres, conventions, and rhetorical features.

I recently discovered through the survey that the requirement of this writing class was, “achieving a heightened ‘genre awareness’ – studying genres and their conventions across both scholarly/ academic and non-scholarly sources.” This class has immensely fulfilled that requirement. Through the assignments and De Piero’s teaching, I acquired a skill for recognizing different genres, their conventions, and each individual’s distinct “moves.” I can’t even go through a whole day without labeling or realizing certain genres or a specific “move” of an individual/book/movies. This skill would not have occurred if it wasn’t for De Piero’s diverse teaching style and constant teacher-student class interaction. I came into this class a little nervous but I am leaving confident in my ability to write a thorough and well-developed essay. I even learned how to make a website! The skills and experience I gained through this course was something I never expected or anticipated.

Thlog Week 9

Thlog Week 9

            T-minus one week until we are done with the quarter…Or at least with classes (we still have lovely final exams). These 8 weeks have flown by and I am honestly surprised as to how much we have learned in such a short amount of time. I feel as though the next week will be the most productive and developing week for my writing thus far. The portfolio I will be working on throughout these last days of writing is an assignment that I have thought a lot about. This is the first assignment that, as a student, I am given an opportunity to redeem myself as a writer. De Piero’s immense amount of feedback with WP1 and WP2 has allowed me to take a closer look at my many weaknesses and strengths. I am starting to work on this portfolio a little bit earlier than I thought, so I can feel like I have enough time to read, and reread, and reread the WPs and focus on the various ways to develop my analyses. My WPs that I submitted as a final has turned into my, “shitty first draft.” On top of Zack’s comments, I will also look back at my peer’s comments and see how I can additionally advance my paper.

             Also, I am super into the Portfolio Week Google Doc’a’thon. This will allow me as a writer to get help from several of my peers with an issue I have been struggling with. It’s also a plus to see other people’s questions. It likely some things others are struggling with is something I may be. I am looking forward to enhance and improve my writing through suggestions from other writers like myself.

            The PowerPoint presentations we had today have also introduced me to mistakes I have made in my previous papers. For example, I should start focusing on parallelism. Have a grammatical incorrectly sentence is very annoying to reader (see?). Also, I think I am going to start incorporating more semi-colons in my sentences to develop a more diverse amount of sentence structures. I will also start focusing on my hedged language. I think if I go through my essays and change non-hedge language to hedge it will create credibility and professionalism with my audience.

            Overall, as we are getting closer to completing this writing course, I feel pretty accomplished and proud with my progress. I am also ready to complete a fabulous portfolio!

Thlog Week 8

             Finally we have finally finished our last WP! After having finished this project, I feel accomplished and proud. I put much more time and effort into it than I planned, but it was so worth it in the end. Compared to the difficulty level of WP2, this project was much more exciting and I felt more relaxed. Being able to pick and choose what I wanted to focus on and the direction I would like to take with my writing was a huge relief. The topic I chose, which concerned bullying, was a topic I am very passionate about, and it is a problem that I have witnessed multiple times. Being able to choose my own topic and display it in my own way was the best part of this project. Because I chose to make fake Facebook accounts in order to get the conventions down perfect, I had fun messing around with making up the individual’s personal information, such as the person’s name, age, profile picture, where they live, etc. The TIMES article I worked on was also an interesting path I chose to take, because I worked on a cover page and put in a lot of effort trying to make it look authentic. As I was writing the article, I surprisingly did not have writers block, and I wrote exactly what I hoped and expected to accomplish. I felt in control of this project.

            This class does a great job in forming me into a better writer. Through all the peer reviewing and question/ answer sessions we have in class, I leave the class feeling familiar and comfortable with what I am supposed to be doing. The peer reviews allow me as a writer to know which aspects of my writing need more analysis or are unclear and which aspects are strongest. The class itself feels very relaxed, so I never feel any pressure or stress when I find something confusing and need clarifying.  We spend a lot of time trying to become more creative and assertive writers, which I was hoping we would do. Although I sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the work we get, I know it only pushes me to improve as a writer.

           I hope portfolio prep isn’t toooo bad. I guess this assignment will only make me into a more advanced writer as I take a closer look at the aspects of my writing that need the most work.

Thlog Week 7

As we come closer to finishing up the quarter, I feel like I have learned and advanced much more as a writer. My initial ambition at the start of this quarter was to become a more creative writer, and WP3 has already started to allow me to become one. I am very intrigued by the concepts and rubric of this writing project, because it allows me to think outside the strict, firm format of essays I had to follow throughout the years. Before Monday’s class, I was very much confused and a little overwhelmed with this WP, but after the class lecture, I feel more prepared and excited to start writing.

Some activities we worked on as a group in class that I found very helpful was the practice of decoding genres and conventions through children’s books videos. Although this was such a simple exercise, it allowed me to better comprehend the purpose of being familiarized with an author’s moves in a text. The constant interactions between my peers and the teacher opens up questions that I would have never asked or thought of. Through various questions concerning WP3, I was able to have a better understand on what my goal and ambition would be. In particular, the group chat we had about some of our ideas for WP3 gave me a better realization with the path I would most likely take. The fact that I do not have to focus on the quantity of my paper, but more on the quality, gives me a sense of relief, because now I can spend more time artistically and innovatively showcasing and detailing my work- instead of keeping track of how many pages or words I have done.

An option I am considering after Monday’s class is to do a thorough children’s book that would gear towards the younger audience. The readings by Mcloud we were assigned to read were very helpful and informative, and it gave me an opportunity to see a great example of how to effectively and uniquely present my ideas through comics.Like most readings, this presented me with a sufficient amount of detail on how to format and explain certain ideas/concepts for certain audiences in certain situations! I am still struggling to decide whether to make a TIME magazine article instead for the younger audience. 

PB3A

And The Next Writing Project Begins...

In my WP3, I would like to broaden my ability to creatively write an authentic piece concerning bullying in schools. As I searched through scholarly and peer-reviewed articles pertaining to bullying, I am looking in particular for papers that address how to reduce bullying in schools and regulations that should be implemented to stop bullying all together. These articles relate to a wide variety of audiences- those who get bullied (children) and those who parent bullied children and take action (adults/parents).

            To first address the younger audience, I was thinking of either making a children’s book or a children’s magazine article. Although most children’s books have little to no words and contain mostly pictures, I hope to make my children’s book similar to a colored comic. Each picture frame would have enough words to perfectly suit to a child’s interests and fascinations. Due to the fact that this would be read by children aged around three or four to nine, all the vocabulary words used will be clear and easy to comprehend. Depending on how much time I have to commit to the pictures, I will either hand draw or use digital imaging. My purpose if for children to get the right idea of what bullying entails and steps they can take to be kinder, more well-mannered individuals. The colors might not be bright, since this topic is rather depressing and gloomy. The text will be larger than academic pieces. There will be a story-line described behind this that will contain 2-4 characters, a problem arising, and a solution that will teach a moral lesson. An example is Billy bullied Tom, Tom got badly injured, and Billy got expelled learning how his actions affected not only another individual, but his well-being as well.

            If I go with the direction of a children’s magazine article, I will refer to magazines such as, “TIME Magazine,” “KIDS Magazine,” and “Disney Magazine.” These three magazines are read by adolescents all over the country, so theses references are reliable and dependable. The diction of these articles are simple, so elementary and middle schoolers would be able to comprehend the information. Additionally, the cover page of each of the magazines does a great job as drawing the audience in, so if I go with this route, I will most likely make a cover page along with the article. I will also add multiple pictures throughout the article for the readers to refer to. Since bullying is a sensitive and touching issue, the pictures I use will affect the audience emotionally. This article will not be extensive or long, because children do not voluntarily read articles that seem extensive (they will get the impression that this would bore them). Rather, I would like to have an equal balance of pictures and information/analysis.

            I will address my older audience through an extensive Facebook rant made by a mother of a bullied child. Most individuals who are fervent and passionate about a subject turn to Facebook to notify the public about the importance and “essence” of their topic. This mom will post a picture of her bullied son’s bruised eye and will rant about how the school is not doing anything, there is no justice, there should be stricter bullying rules, etc. Just like most Facebook users who post long rants she would most likely start with, “I do not usually do these longs posts, but…” or “PLEASE READ AND SHARE!” In referring to this Facebook person, I will most likely make a fake Facebook account and after all is said and done, I will screenshot all the information, so it is displayed in the exact Facebook format. Additionally, a lot of this fake mom’s family and friends (who also have children and are within her similar age group) will comment, display anger, concern, show support for the mom’s decisions, and continue on with the rambling. Some will even share this post. Hopefully, like most important and touching posts, it will then become viral.

            Although I am not certain with the exact decisions I will make concerning this WP, I have a good idea with the genres I would like to use, the age groups of my audience, which articles I will most likely refer to, and how much work I am willing to put into this to perfect it. 

Thlog Week 6

             Finally Writing Project 2 is finally over with! Although this project was very tedious and took a lot of my time to write, I learned a lot after finishing it. I feel as though I improved with elaborating and incorporating much more detail in my thesis and analysis. I did struggle with putting my voice in the paper. I had trouble with limiting what I had to say with many of the concepts I tried to evaluate and explain. My problem was trying not to rant and go off topic. I tried not to sound too redundant, and I attempted to make my arguments clear yet interesting for my audience. After the four PBs and one WP I already completed, I found it much easier to determine who the audience is and to explain the genres/conventions of each piece. I repeatedly looked back at my past writings to help me organize and establish a way to layout and write my paper – and to incorporate the course readings.

 Although my thesis statement was much more detail-oriented and expressive, one aspect I struggled with was making it arguable/debatable. Though the paper explained the conventions, rhetorical features, and the “moves” of the author, so much of the information I included was purely factual- not opinionated. Hopefully my thesis statement accomplished what it was supposed to.

The peer review we do in class definitely helped me to see the parts of my essay that needed improving and further analysis. I not only became more familiarized with my writing and ways to improve it, but through editing my peer’s papers, I found ways to advance and develop my own. Also, through reading some of their body paragraphs and ways they introduced key concepts we learned in class, it gave me an idea of what I need to add. I hope this writing project has shown a huge improvement on my part.

I also enjoyed the online class we had on Wednesday and hope we are able to do more – having class in bed definitely beats class in the lab. The activities made me feel closer to other students in the class, because I got to communicate directly with people I never had. The independence and being isolated from the class allowed me to focus and write my responses more effectively and analytically. I now feel ready to take on WP3.

Bob Ross/ Disney Artist Videos

The Bob Ross clips were aimed at explaining to the audience each step to draw a realistic painting. The Disney Artists in the beginning aimed at painting animations then displaying it graphically. Bob Ross made constant eye contacts with his audience, while the Disney Artists Videos explained the artists “moves” in the background

Bob Ross allowed his audience to preview an art instruction, step-by-step process.He emphasized the technique and style of each of his moves.He used the technique of wet-on-wet oil painting, adding additional layers to each layer of paint.

The disney artists video established how different painters go about painting a single tree, in different settings- the indoors and outdoors. Unlike the Bob Ross video, these painters did not interact directly with the audience. instead, there was a background voice- This is what the audience was referring to throughout the video to better understand the painter’s techniques.

The artists also described the tools they used and how they are supposed to be used.

Both artists explained how an individual might go about doing something wrong, like Bob Ross with the mountains- then explained how to fix their mistake.

Each artist differed in which features of their painting they want to put the most emphasis on: certain parts of the mountains or trees.