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.