From a technical writing standpoint, this entire first unit was somewhat eye-opening. I had believed I was a relatively strong writer, and I still do hold such beliefs. With that said, this belief is more so directed towards my creative writing abilities as opposed to professional/technical writing. Assignments such as the definitions or applications were slightly more challenging than I had anticipated as sitting down to write four or five paragraphs is typically an easy task in my eyes. That wasn’t so much the case. Putting together these paragraphs was more so challenging as I had to shift the tone to accommodate the audience my writing was directed towards.
The choices and process that I took through this first unit were not as calculated or organized as I had hoped. Going into this class, my intentions have been, and still are, to complete the assignments early, thus allowing time for me to be as meticulous as possible. I felt as though early in the unit, I was keeping pace with these intentions at an acceptable rate, but fell off a little bit over the last week or so. Furthermore, my process through the whole unit has been to implement more of my own style into the writing. An issue I have fallen into in the past is following guidelines too intently, and not considering how to evolve it into my own style. Over the last year, I have developed an understanding of the importance of ensuring that I own my own writing regardless of the audience. It tends to have better flow and also just seems to be more interesting to read when others aren’t following a script.
An adjustment that may be required for my success in this class is to ensure that I don’t go too out of control with how much I own my writing, as I mentioned above. Certain assignments that I have written deviated slightly from what was required in the rubric, and I do fear that may come back to haunt me. Thankfully, these first few assignments were more so introductory and that there is an abundance of time to refine my writing for the appropriate audience, and to the appropriate standards.
What I learned through this unit went well beyond the lessons from the textbook, blogs, and peer reviews. As cliché as it sounds, I learned lessons in resiliency and working hard through the tough times. A week and a half ago, a personal issue arose, leading me to significantly divided attention. I was submitting assignments last minute, which was unusual for me, and for a couple of them, I may not have placed enough attention to detail as what was required. This is where my learning began. My choices and process shifted from getting work done early, to simply getting work done at all. I swore to myself that regardless of what was occurring in my life, that I would continue on with my work and getting it done. The way I was raised was more so sheltered and allowed leeway when personal matters occurred. I challenged myself to restrict leeway. I allowed time to recover but also realized that life goes on and that I won’t always be able to delay deadlines when the unexpected happens. What I need to build on from here, is to understand that even when things happen, I can’t necessarily free write and need to pay closer attention to certain guidelines provided to help organize my pieces as I did with my peer review.
Hyperlink to peer review
Edited definitions:
