Final Questions

What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
I would have to say work shopping was the most helpful. It was really interesting to see what a peer had to say about my writing that maybe I thought was good. It was also helpful to get negative feedback on the things that maybe I hadn't even noticed were really bad writing. Reading my peers papers also helped me to see what they did well, and the topics they wrote on sometimes opened my eyes to new ways of thinking. The critical reading was really hard for me because for some reason I am really bad a criticizing someone's work, but I had to force myself to see where the writing could be better and that also helped me to see where my own could be better.

What can you do to continue/improve this development?
In order to continue this development, I think I will need to continue to have others look at the work I do. At work, I can have my peers read the documents I draft. Also, I can continue to read others work in a critical way. Even in recreational reading, I can pick things that probably could be done better and do some critical reading.

What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
I learned that there are a lot of different styles of writing that can be good. It just needs to be a consistent style throughout the whole piece. Also, it needs to be engaging. There were some readings that I had a hard time making it through because I had no interest. Good writing to me keeps me engaged through the entire thing. It also keeps me interested whether I know much about the topic or not. My favorite essay was Heart Sounds. I really enjoyed the emotion behind it, as well as the dose of reality that went along with it.

Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
The writing process that I find most beneficial was free writing. Writing down my thoughts and seeing where it takes me. Then I would come back and organize and figure out what can be expanded and what can be deleted. It works because it helps me to base my paper on me, and starts out my paper with my own strong voice. The problem with it is I don't always have thoughts that flow really well when I am free writing on my topic, and sometimes my writing is forced. I could do a little bit of research before free writing to give myself a more clear objective.

How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
The blog has been beneficial because it seemed to me like a really relaxed place to put my writing. It was safe place to display my work and get some feedback. The positive comments helped me to build confidence in my writing. It helped me to find my style of writing. The style that works the best for me.

What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
My favorite assignment of the semester was the Ruminative Essay. It may have been the topic I chose, but I really enjoyed putting myself into the essay and I was really happy with the final result. I think writing about something I felt passionate about was part of what made my paper turn out the way it did. I had fun writing it and that is what made if my favorite.

What was your favorite part of class? Why?
My favorite part of the class were some of the rush writes. It was fun sometimes to just see what I end up writing with a really quick prompt and only a few minutes. It was actually really hard for me, which means I probably need some more practice doing it. It was really interesting to hear what others came up with though. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's rush writes.

How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
This is kind of a hard question since the final portfolio isn't done yet, but so far it is helpful because I am going back through my work and seeing how I have improved throughout the semester. I can make changes to the writing that just wasn't very good, and see the things I did that were good from the very beginning. At the beginning of the semester I didn't think my writing was very good at all, and I can see that some of it was. It wasn't anything fantastic, there were definitely a lot of flaws, but there were some good things as well.

Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
It was beneficial because it helped me to see how much different a paper has to be to submit rather than to turn in for an assignment. When I submit an essay it needs to be outstanding rather than just adequate. The flaws I see will be magnified in a literary journal, so I need to eliminate as many flaws as I can.

If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
This is a hard question. I really enjoyed the class as a whole. I felt like we kind of got thrown into writing for our first paper with very little instruction on what makes good writing, but I can see now that the timing was necessary in order to fit all three assignments in with enough time to work on each paper. I sometimes didn't enjoy the readings. Sometimes I felt like it was a lot of reading while I still needed to spend a couple of hours on my writing as well. I did enjoy the exposure to all sorts of writing though, so I definitely wouldn't want to get rid of the reading altogether.

What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
I learned that I need to be more specific in my writing. Even in business situations, using more descriptive words is better. No matter what situation I find myself in, using generalizations don't get my point across as well as I would like. Even in speaking, I can see that I need to use more specific words, and I need to work on that in my writing as well.

What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
To me, good writing is something that can get me caught up in what I am reading and not think about my life. I like to read something that plays to me emotions. In one particular book I read, I was fully ashamed of what the main character did that I had dreams I was this horrible immoral person. That is good writing to me. I got completely wrapped up in it. For my writing, I feel like my best writing is on topics that really matter to me, and bring out my emotion. I just want others to feel the emotion in my writing as well.

Anything else you need to get out about the class.
I really enjoyed reading other students essays and blogs. There were a lot of really good writers in this class, and it was awesome to see.

Questions

1. What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why? There were a few things I found most helpful during this semester. First the rush writes, they got my mind moving and helped me think of some ideas a probably wouldn’t think about if I were to just write. I think the blog helped a lot too because I was able to write then read what other people wrote on the same prompt. Their response was usually different then mine and I found it entertaining. I could read and respond which also helps improve my reading skills. The blog was probably the most helpful thing we did this semester. 
2. What can you do to continue/improve this development? I think the best way I can continue the things I have learned is to keep writing. Even if its only a couple times a week writing creatively helps to give me new ideas about boring things I may have to write about. I can also keep reading things from my peers and from other essayists to find things I can do better and find things I like. 
3. What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing? I learned that the essay is much more complex without the structure they teach you in High school. There is deeper thinking involved but it is still organized. I also learned that essays can and should be fun. I enjoyed “To all those who say write what you know’ and“Rooster Fish” those are the two that stand out in my mind. The first I enjoyed because it was poetry in essay form and it was the first essay I read like this. The second helped me realize that research papers don’t have to be boring. They can be personal yet informational and fun. From both essays I learned that putting yourself in the writing can help enhance the papers you write. I also learned that imagery and imagination are key to a good essay. 
4. Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved? I think after my paper is edited and I am able to see what I have done wrong and fix it thats what helps me most. I usually come up with deeper ways to describe what I am trying to say. It helps me see what is confusing to the reader and I can think of better ways to describe my feelings. It works when people give me comments that are beneficial and not vague or nice. It could be improved by more helpful comments and I should have set more time aside to fix it more fully and look into them with more detail. 
5. How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why? As I said before the blog was the most beneficial thing to me as a writer. I was able to write small things and have immediate feed back from my peers. I was also able to see the amazing writings of my class mates. I read pretty much everyone’s every time even though I didn’t comment. It is cool to see everyone’s different styles and different insights. Even though some of the blog prompts were kind of boring I enjoyed doing them because they made me think differently about a paper I was writing or a topic I hadn’t thought of. 
6. What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why? My favorite assignment was the ruminative essay. I feel like I have improved so much this semester and I think that essay is proof of how awesome the writing process is. At first this assignment was over-whelming but as I broke it apart slowly I was able to think of new ideas and new insights. I enjoyed writing it though sometimes I felt over stressed. 
7. What was your favorite part of class? Why? I think my favorite part about this class was it was a small class. I think by the end we all felt comfortable enough with each other that we didn’t feel as embarrassed about our writing and felt more comfortable to share. I also really loved rush writes! They helped me many days just get rid of the tension I was feeling and have fun writing. 
8. How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it? The final portfolio helps me realize that I have potential to write better essays every time I start writing. It helps me see that I have improved this semester. It helps me think differently about the things I have written because I see that everything I have written this semester is connected. I might have written something really random but it’s not going in my portfolio. I haven’t done a ton with my portfolio yet but so far it is helping me. 
9. Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial? I think its easier to realize your audience when you submit a paper to them. I write better because I know someone else is going to read it. 
10. If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep? If I retook this class I wouldn’t want to write the analysis essay. I really felt out of place writing it and like I couldn’t do it. I feel like I got lost somewhere. I don’t think I would get rid of it though because it was a cool assignment I just didn’t write a good essay. I would keep the blog! 
11. What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How? I learned what makes good writing. If I write a very crappy essay for one of my other classes I won’t feel as good as when I write a good essay with the skills I have learned from this class. I’m getting an English major so the things I am learning in this class will help me through out my English career. I will also know that I can always do better than my first draft. 
12. What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing? A list of things that make good writing in my opinion is, imagery, humor, irony, symbols, archetypes, themes, new insights on common problems, new approaches at old things, new opinions, and many many more things. Some an example of great writing is “Their Eyes were Watching God.” This book is full of everything I have listed, and the writing is full of the most beautiful and poetic language I have ever read. If you haven’t read this book I suggest that you did. I can contribute to the sphere of good writing by writing well. Instead of just throwing ideas out there I can think of new ways to have people read my ideas. I don’t have to be the same boring dead voice you hear over and over again but I can still have the same opinions as those people, it will just be better. 
13. Anything else you need to get out about the class. I really loved this class as many of you know. It helped open my eyes to a new style of writing and I think I have improved as a writer thanks to the many activities we have done this semester. 

Final Class Evaluation Blog (But not the final blog)

As part of your final portfolio grade (and as a blog post), thoroughly and thoughtfully answer each question. You can number your answers or respond in paragraphs, do what works best for you as long as you answer everything.

1. What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
2. What can you do to continue/improve this development?
3. What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
4. Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
5. How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
6. What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
7. What was your favorite part of class? Why?
8. How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
9. Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
10. If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
11. What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
12. What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
13. Anything else you need to get out about the class.