On April 16, as a “comment,” post your process cover letter. Make your response a thoughtful two, to four, paragraphs. Make in-depth comments (of at least three sentences) on at least three other entries from this class before April 18.
In the cover note section, in your “collaboration” page, note whose responses you replied to for Process Cover Page blogging. If you have not done so, also note whose responses you replied to for your previous blogging.
anne f walker 
Throughout this semester, I see how much my reading and writing skills has improved. This course has and still, teaching me many way to approve my writing skill that i was not able to grasp in high school. Writing to me, is such a difficult subject because I could not write what I want to
say into a “essay” format without it making it difficult for myself. I have trouble with this concept many years now and ,it can get frustrating. I feel this semester taking Writing 10 and Core 001, help improve my reading and writing skills in many ways because during the week, i would do nothing but read and write on articles, essay, or novels.
As the semester pass by, I was able to pick up many techniques that help improve my writing. I pick up how to set up my essay very well. Cutting down words in my sentences, and more. When it comes down to writing down my essay for this course, i would check to see if my thesis is right and my topic sentience it on the right track. I do not usually have to much trouble getting evidence and incorporating into the essay, Is the thesis and topic sentience that i have trouble on. I feel that the peer review help me understand what i need to change because my peers are going through the same process and they have a better understanding on what is going on.
I agree that my writing and reading skills have improved throughout the semester. I also like the peer review, because your peers know what you are going through as well. I like the way you mention your difficulties throughout the semester, but you also mentioned how you improved them and made them become easier.
I also find writing in the essay format as difficult as well when it comes to getting my point across. But the format that we followed this semester (thesis and topic sentences) has helped me get better at this. So I have to agree that this semester in writing ten has helped me to improve my writing skills.
I definitely agree that this course as well as others helps us understand writing much more than in high school. Cutting down our words definitely makes writing an essay worth it as we can be able to get the point faster. I also agree that double checking my thesis and topic sentences help me stay on course when writing my essay.
I agree with you that this class has also helped me improve my reading and writing skills as well and this experience was very different than what teachers expect you to do in high school. Yes essays can be very frustrating this is true for me too I usually have trouble gathering my ideas about what I want to write about and creating an introduction. I also agree with you that this class has made us aware of how important thesis sentences and topic sentences are.
I completely agree to your first point of how much our writing skills have improved, I think its safe to say that the saying is true that you can never stop improving. The paramedic method is one that I have no regrets what so ever, the method is very helpful. Finally, I also agree that peer editing is a great tool to use.
just like you, writing is not my favorite subject I am not good at it, but this class has helped me learned new techniques that have improve my writing. I also struggle with writing an actual essay but little by little i gain some confidence and was able to feel comfortable when it comes to writing. Over all i agree with the fact that this course helped us with out thesis and topic sentences.
With processing comes progress, and I have slowly progressed in this class throughout the semester. The word “process” can be defined as the “steps someone takes to get to the end of an outcome,” so revising essays and reading are small steps to becoming a better writer. I have learned something new with each essay I have written, each novel I have read, and each GLD I have presented. I have made progress in this course, by being able to compare and contrast my essays to other students when doing peer review. This method has made me a better writer, because by looking at an example of a well-structured essay, I am able to structure my own essay. I have also progressed in the course reading by learning to read and understand themes of the novels more quickly than in the beginning of the course.
By progressing in this course, I have also learned major lessons in revising essays with the feedback I receive. When someone revises your paper and leaves efficient feedback about errors you have made, you have a better chance of correcting them. Also, getting feedback from peers and relevant faculty can help you find your most common error, and avoid making it in the next essay. By being able to identify and correct your errors, you become a better writer. Along with becoming a better writer in this course, I have become a better public speaker. This class has made me better public speaker because I have learned to have a conversation with the class rather than lecturing to them. This process section has not only allowed me to improve as a writer, but has taught me the steps it takes to become a better writer.
I really like the last sentence of your entry. I think that it is so true that this course overall did not just help me improve my writing skills, it has really taught me the steps. This is effective because some people (me) learn better when they are shown rather than when they are told.
I agree that with each essay I write or book I read, I learn something new or from a different perspective. I also look at my peer’s work to see what I need to improve on or see what they translated the book into. It does feel like our GLDs have been focused more as a conversation rather than a lecture, which makes it much nicer to come into the class expecting that rather than something that could bore us to death.
I had not realized it but I did learn something new from each essay. In general I have become a better writer and learned steps to make ensure that I make a decent essay every time. I agree that peer feedback was especially helpful when rewriting and to avoid silly mistakes.
I really like what you wrote. I agree on how process is taking steps for an outcome because in order to get you outcome you have to go through a process. Revising the essays are small steps for becoming a better writer. Also the feedback is really effective (for me) because you get a different view and thus it is helping with your essay.
“This process section has not only allowed me to improve as a writer, but has taught me the steps it takes to become a better writer.”-DeAngela Morgan I really like this quote because is it very true. I have improve so much from this class and can use all the strategies i had learn from this class and incorporated to my other classes.
yes, just like you i have process in my writing. I can completely agree with you that this class allow us to improve in every aspect. learning from our mistakes has been a very useful technique that overall has allowed us to know what we are doing wrong and correcting it.
Being part of Writing-10 has been a process that has allowed me to improve my writing and expand my thinking. Throughout this semester I have improved, my ability to compare contrast synthesizes academic materials. For example, the essay prompts in this course have allowed me to write a biographical paper about Truman Capote, compare Truman Capote and the his protagonist, Perry, from his book “In Cold Blood”, and lastly compared and contrasted the translation between the book and the movie of “The Wizard of Oz”. These essays demonstrated my improvement and the effort I put in every one of them. For each essay I went through a revision process that allowed me to learn more about my mistakes and how to make my writing clear to understand. By incorporating peers’ feedback as well as my professor’s feedback, I have earned the grade I have received.
When it comes to obtaining communication skills through this course, I have learned to feel confortable when speaking to an audience. Through the GLDs, I have learned how to work as a group in a professional matter. I have learned how to incorporate my audiences’ opinion into my presentation, which allowed me to increase the time I presented. Overall, I was able to understand that when I am attempting to communicate by speaking or by writing, I have to do it in a professional way. Also, that for anything, even the most professional writers have to go through a process to make their communication clear.
I agree with you I also found the revision process helpful because I too could learn about the mistakes I had done in my essay and help me improve them. I also feel like I am now more comfortable speaking in public now because this class emphasized group led discussions so much I found them very useful. I like your last sentence yes even professional writers have to go through a process to explain what they are trying to communicate in their writing.
I definitively agree with the expansion of thought, I don’t think I would be as open minded if it wasn’t for this class. Also at the same time the ability to compare and contrast. At first I would just make note of easily seen differences now I have the ability to go more in depth such as colors and what they could mean. GLD’s serve in my opinion as great practice in professionalism and incorporating others ideas. To be honest I never thought of professionals in the aspect of how they do have to go through a process also.
I agree on how this writing 10 was able to improve my writing skills and thinking skills.
I really like how you mention “In Cold Blood” and how it relates to process. I totally agree on how you have to get comfortable in front of the class because it is nerve racking speaking to people you don’t know.
I have to agree with you because through the GLDs, it has help the group improve, not only their writing skills but, their presentation and analysis skills. It help out everyone that presented understand the true meaning on the quotes.
In this writing 10 class, everything that we did had to go through a process step. This process step helps us in preparation with our essays we are writing for the class. I really felt that the process part of the class has really help me become a better writer. Every time we had an essay to write, we had to submit 3 rough drafts of our essay in our Process section of our blog. I fell that this does help because it shows us how much we have improved on our essay. Before an essay can be perfect, it must goes a process of constantly editing. Plus with the 3 drafts, we get a different view on how the grader sees our essay. This is helpful for me because I get a just on what the grader is getting from my essay. If we didn’t have this process step, I personally think my essays wouldn’t have been great as I wanted them to be.
With in this class, we had to process new information that we were gaining from the material of the class and the peers. For the GLDs, we had to process the material that we read and form that into a presentation. This took awhile because you had to make sure you covered everything that you read and you are able to make it an 45 minute presentation. Processing the stuff I read and translating into a presentation was pretty hard because of making discussion questions for the class so they can engaged in the discussion. Another thing in this class that I felt was the most important was being able to process on the comments that Professor Walker gave us on our essay. These comments helps me because I am able to learn from my mistakes I made in the essay and able to not do these same mistakes for the next essay. Overall, process help me become of better writer by all the information that I gather from the class.
I agree that at first coming up with a presentation for the GLDs was difficult. I had never done anything like this before. I think GLDs required the presenter to really think about the text and work to comprehend it and then once presenting they help everyone else understand it and event think about it in different ways.
I do also agree in the aspect that process overall was a great aid in my writing skills. It served to show how we can improve each and every step, where something can always be improved. The required three rough drafts are a great example of this process steps. Finally, it was also difficult to come up with the right questions so the audience would get involved.
Before college, i have done some presentation but nothing like what i have experience in writing 10. It is hard to analysis the text because you truly understand what your reading in order to have a great presentation. throughout this course, that what i have improve on.
Critical reading, public speaking, and formal writing are the main components of this course that have improved my abilities with the help of Group Led Discussions and essays.
The Group Led Discussions have improved both my critical reading and public speaking skills. By introducing the reading material in class discussions, a welcoming, thought-provoking atmosphere is created. If there are unclear areas in the reading, I can rely on others to share their thoughts and ideas, shaping my understanding and giving insight on the text. This has greatly enhanced my comprehension and communication skills. For public speaking, the routine presentations have eased my concerns. The process of summarizing and dissecting text has become much more enjoyable.
My abilities to compare, contrast, and synthesize academic materials have progressed at a steady rate throughout this course as well. During the first week, we each wrote in-class diagnostics that were traded and peer-edited, an activity I usually dislike. However, the critiques I received were helpful in the process of crafting my final draft (viewable under “Diagnostic Essay”). The consistent revising for each assigned essay has tremendously improved my work, also all viewable on this page. In addition, Professor Walker’s extensive evaluations posted on the final drafts are hugely beneficial and appreciated because of the detailed reasoning for grades given.
The GLD were a big part of the course and helped me improve my critical thinking skills as well. It is always challenging to speak in front of others but the GLD’s helped me in this area. I agree that the evaluation provided by Proffesor Walker helps me understand my grade and my areas I needed to improve for my next essay’s.
I would have to agree with you that the Group Led Discussion did serve as a positive activity to improve our critical reading skills and public speaking. They helped understand the novel from a different perspective and be confident in my own opinion.
I agree that the GLD are the most (well essays are more important since there are more of them compared to GLDs) important part of the class. The GLDs were challenging because you have to speak in front of the class and it can get a bit scary when nervous. The evaluations that we get from Professor Walker are very helpful because we get to know our mistakes.
yes i can agree with you with the fact that i felt that i could count with my peers when i didnt understand something about the reading. i also feel that the GLD were really helpful and allowed me to grow as a speaker. i also agree with you that Anne Walkers feedback helps not only in that specific essay but beyond that and i highly appreciate.
This course introduced a strict formula to implement when writing papers. The thesis sentences in the opening and closing paragraphs needed to be explicitly similar. Another requirement being topic sentences which clearly state the ideas of each paragraph. This formula has helped me be more direct in my writing. This has been a work in progress all semester long and I believe I have come a long way in terms of learning to utilize this method; as time has passed I have realized its value and have gone on to apply it to my papers in other classes. My adherence to this structure is shown from essay to essay and even from draft to draft. By keeping in mind professor Walker’s comments on previous essays I was aided in writing the next paper. These comments are also provided as evidence in the comment portion of the ‘process’ page.
Arguably, writing is an art. As many artists find it difficult to ever see their work as ‘done’—the word “process” is accurate on many levels. A requirement of this course was three drafts of each essay before turning in a final draft. As a writer I was forced to see where I went off on a tangent; which lines were imperative and which were unnecessary in respect to helping prove my point. This course really taught me how to tailor my writing toward an academic audience and the importance of doing so. In order to write to an academic audience, I learned it is best to keep my writing direct and focused.
Another aspect of this course was public speaking. This is something that admittedly, I do not enjoy especially in the classroom. But as the semester progressed I came to wonder why I so detested it as I grew more comfortable. It took a while to realize I had to speak in a way that was not too excessively colloquial in order to be taken seriously. This progress can really only be attributed to the practice I got through exposure. Group Led Discussions offered a setting in which all students could voice their opinions whether they were presenting or not. Through these presentations I was able to become more effective in articulating my thoughts aloud, as the dynamic of these presentations was not intimidating and the classroom atmosphere as a whole encouraged all opinions.
The strict formula has really helped me form my theses and topic sentences and also helped me with trying to get straight to the point; something I definitely did not quite learn/grasp throughout high school. I agree with that analogy, writing can never be perfected since there are always different perspectives to each topic. I also agree that the presentations were not as intimidating to opinions unlike how it would seem rude to comment in a middle of a lecture as an example.
I like that you mentioned how the structure helped you in all of your essays and Professor Walker’s comments helped you do better on your next essay. It is true that this class has taught us to write for an academic audience by being direct and focused. I also agree with what you said how the classroom was a good environment that welcomed everyone’s opinion.
I have made great progress with being able to compare, contrast, and synthesize the various materials given to me throughout the semester. I support that statement with the three drafts of each essay improving upon time. I was able to thoroughly examine the various materials with compare and contrast drafts of an essay as well as create an essay with help of the academic materials. By having multiple drafts of my essays, I have been able to effectively incorporate the comments from my peers. As shown through my drafts of each essay, they have been vastly improved from draft one to draft three.
I have learned about my writing process is that I need to spend time to get a draft that I am satisfied with. But sometimes during the second, or even the first draft, I think that it can be the best it can get, although I know in the back of my mind that there are details that do not make sense to others, thus cue the peer reviewing. I have also learned from the expectations of the academic community expects me to be able to write to a word limit (e.g. 1000 words). At times that limit feels too long, and other times it feels way too short, it all depends on how much I have to comment and analyze the academic materials. As for public speaking skills, I still have much room for improvement and hopefully I will soon be able to comfortably speak in public.
I’ve never taken a class that focused on comparing and constrasting like writing 10 has. From each text that we read we were also able to get another perspective on it and increase our knowledge. Having drafts of the essay also helped me incorporate the paramedic method and other suggestiions. The 1000 word minimum will help me think critically on my other essays and develop them.
I think having three drafts has helped everyone in this course because it helps you see what mistakes you made and how you improved on them. I totally agree with what you said about each draft improving, even though you think your first and second one are the best. The 1000 words limit sometimes helped me and sometimes hindered me, but by practicing we’ll all get better at it.
Pretty much everything that was assigned in Writing 10 had a process by which the assignment had to be completed. Writing 10 has really helped me facilitate the process of comparing and contrasting course readings. After reading the Wizard of Oz and Wicked and discussing about these two course readings as a class during the group led discussions I felt like it was easier to compare and contrast the two readings because of everything we had already discussed in class about the two readings. One of the major lessons I have learned about revising written assignments is that there are many unnecessary words that I sometimes add to my essays that make it sound repetitive. That’s why I found the Paramedic Method so amusing and useful because it takes out unnecessary words.
I have learned that you don’t have to be the best writer in the world, but as long as you write about something that grabs your interest and keeps you engaged you would write a great paper. I also believe my skills in public speaking have improved in this class. I have never had to speak for so long during a presentation and just being able to keep a class discussion going for 45 minutes or more makes me feel like a better, improved public speaker, because it takes courage to stand in front of a class and present something. Writing 10 consisted of learning through processes and this was very effective in helping facilitate my writing and improve my writing skills.
The GLD’s helped me to compare and contrast books like Wicked and the Wizard of Oz also. By the time I came to write my paper I could draw on the knowledge I learned during class to help display my thesis. I agree that writing is much easier when youre interested in a subject so I’m glad that writing 10 allowed us to use broad topics and focus on what sparked our interest.
Writing 10 also helped me a lot in comparing and contrasting the course readings within each other to make connections. In regards with the writing process, the Paramedic Method is very useful in taking out repetitive unnecessary words to make my essays more structured and formal.
The paramedic method was definitely a new process that greatly reduced my excess words. Cutting out all these words left a lot of room to add things in that otherwise would have been left out.The GLD’s seemed a lot more difficult than they appeared but really helped with presentation skills and to get my opinion out there.
This year in writing 10 I have improved my ability to read critically and draw deeper conclusions from the text. The majority of writing 1 focused on small short stories whereas writing 10 has developed my ability to draw useful information for larger texts and novels. I have always had trouble with reading throughout my academic career as it takes me longer than my peers to read many texts. Writing 10 forced me to face this problem and come up with a solution for getting the reading done. I learned how to focus on the most important part of the text (that relates to what I’m writing) instead of wasting time.
One of the most important aspects I learned from writing 10 is to have a formal structure for writing. Allowing myself to create a thesis sentence and topic sentences before beginning to write my paper helped me organize my thoughts. I had never been taught to organize my papers like this before but it really helps. I also developed my ability to create topic sentences that flow well with the paragraph they are in. By repeating the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph with different syntax I’m able to improve the flow of my whole paper.
As a student in college (regardless of your major) writing skills are always important to develop. Writing isn’t as much of a specific discipline as physics or other courses because writing is essentially being able to express thoughts clearly. Writing 10 has helped my public speaking because I was forced to think critically about the topics I spoke about. By improving my writing skills this year I have become an overall better student, writer, and thinker.
I’m glad you found Writing 10 useful as well in helping you focus on the main point of the text and enabling you to read better. I agree with you reading for me is hard to especially if the text is not interesting or if it doesn’t grab my attention it makes it really hard for me to focus. I can also agree with you that Writing 10 has helped me organize my thoughts better as well as becoming a better writer.
This course also helped me make bigger and greater connections from text to text. I agree that Writing 10 helped a lot in learning a set structure for writing an essay. The Professor’s advice to create a thesis and topic sentence before you start writing our essay is a great meaningful piece of information that worked so well for me.
I had a very similar problem with not being able to keep up with the readings. I agree that because we had GLD’s I tried a lot harder to keep up with the readings so that I could actively participate in class and give my perspective. The skills we have learned from the class can be applied almost to any writing and have helped a lot.
I also have had trouble reading at a timely pace for classes. I find the structure to be very important/helpful for crafting an essay, as well. I think everyone has improved on their public speaking skills, too.
My fear for writing has always existed, and still exits during today. I’ve known all my life, that writing was never one of my strengths but a terrible weakness. In all my writing classes I have ever encountered throughout my life, all teachers give me the same comment, “You have really good ideas, you just have to learn how to write them out on paper.” In this writing course Professor Walker demonstrated to me that my writing was much better than I originally thought it was.
Moreover, my professor also exposed the long process of the many different drafts that need to be done before the final draft is submitted. Here at the University I learned a great piece of advice, and that is that drafts make better, which means that more than two drafts are needed to give out my best work.
On another note, I did not know how the readings would be used for our essay’s but then as the weeks progressed I realized that comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing the readings during class discussions was a great way to make connections to brainstorm for our upcoming essay’s, which I took as a way to write my outline on. I learned how to revise my writing assignments by incorporating advice to make changes. Professor Walker gave us so many pointers on thesis writing, topic sentences, and creating our own tone as a writer.
Moreover, my improvement reflects in creating essays that follow the guidelines that are expected in the writing community. Furthermore, during this reading and writing process my engagement has become more thorough and also with my speaking; I’ve realized that the more productive time is used in writing and reading the better the outcomes of success are exposed. Furthermore, in including all these artifacts it is proven how I understood the importance of process as a form of success in the writing community.
Writing can be one of the worse subjects yet at the same time it can be the most beautiful. I used to get the same commments on my essays as well. I have the ideas, but there was not enough support and sometimes everything’s there but it just doesn’t make sense. Futhermore, I also felt that this class also set my perspective of writing in a different direction.
Drafting is a crucial step to writing, however never did it dawn on me how helpful drafting actually is until this class. In previous classes my final draft was normally my first, almost unedited. Since we have to upload our drafts online I felt the need to actually go through more than one draft. It surprised me how many small mistakes I would make in the earlier drafts, from something like a spelling error to grammar. Getting to the third and final drafts my work was significantly more precise and on topic than before. I found going through drafts and uploading them as my process made sure I went back and caught things to make my essay what it is supposed to be.
Going over my essay and drafting was tremendously difficult for me. It is almost like a pride issue that I don’t like others to read my work unless it is like the teacher, so allowing classmates to go over what I wrote tore me up on the inside. It was never that I did not want to share my ideas because I never had any problem speaking them, only when I wrote them they felt more permanent. Allowing others and myself to go over my writing has shown how much good another perspective as well as my own at a different time has to offer the work that I am doing. The process steps have improved my writing abilities as a whole.
I like your second comment. I understand the feeling of having someone else other than the instructor read your paper because sometimes an essay can be quite personal. I used to have that kind of feeling too, but now I’m glad to share anything with my peers. By having a peer review my work, I am able to improve as a writer.
As expected with any writing class a piece of writing perfected with take a series of steps to do. In my personal opinion I like to take my time with any piece of writing so that I know that it is at its best. Taking your time is better than rushing a piece of art. I loved that in this class every thing was asked for a step by step process. For example having three rough drafts required made us as students more accountable for going to a step by step process rather than doing an essay the night before it is due. This did not only help for the classes that I am in right now, but also in preparing for future classes.
While on the same topic being able to reflect on where we started in the beginning to where we finish. This is another helpful item being that we can reflect on ourselves. Before starting a reflective process is being able to absorb new material is key. Gaining new information from such as GLDs, lecturing, and reading material. I believe that it was not only the essays but also the GLDS served as a reflective process. Being that you had to go through the entire presentation and make sure that every slide was connected and flowed smoothly. All in all, it seemed as though some how every small item in this class can be seen as a process.
I agree with your point of the step-by-step process. This process helps me keep up to date instead of procrastinating for the last minute. When a rough draft was needed on that date, I made sure I had it on that required date. This step-by-step processing is helpful to writing.
In WRI 10 this semester, I was able to gain different experiences in writing, public speaking, and critical reading. From the formal essays to group led discussions, I have made growth throughout these sixteen weeks. Writing has never been an easy subject for me and it has always been hard for me to write out what I am trying to convey on to the paper. I know I can never escape writing, but along the way I was able to grow fond of it. WRI 10 has been a great experience and I was able to learn and process new experiences.
In this class, I have written a total of four essays. In my drafts below, I have been able to make progress in my writing. For WRI 10, the class has a set format that we have to follow. An essay must included an introduction, a thesis statement, four topic sentences, and a conclusion. This format has been very helpful for me in writing my essays. I am able to see where I lack in writing and where I need to make changes with the help of my peers. The critical readings that I had to have done on discussion days help me understand the discussion that was going on. Although I didn’t participated as fully as I wanted to, the group led discussion has helped ease my fear of public speaking and I am able to share different ideas with my peers. In the process of learning, being able to have a helping hand makes life my easier.
It takes much thought to even describe the way my writing has changed through this spring semester. After completing writing one, I felt the obvious change in my stereotypical high school writing to a more academic sense of writing. However, with the use of this course I felt that I have pushed beyond my comfort zones on what I write about. I had the ability to choose which pieces of literature I wish to write on, and I felt that having that privilege really inspired me to write with a passion and feeling.
As I look on the drafts that end up being the finals product of my writing, I can see the senses of passion that I feel for topics that I choose myself. I love the way my writing has changed to a more open, broader feel that make me seem more articulate and educated. My writing has changed with the essays and self reflections from that of a normal student, to a student belonging to an academy. I know that this class has changed my writing to a product I can proudly say belongs to me. Where my thoughts and actions are directly stated and done on this piece of paper, where I know I am truly free.
I agree that having a choice in the prompt/topic eased the writing and made the essays more enjoyable. I feel that this class has changed the way I write as well. I find writing to be liberating and know what you mean when you say ‘I know I am truly free.’