Anderson Puckett

FPE essay Final draft

As a writer I know we all face challenges within our writing and the way we
explain things to others. Through out the course of UWRT I grasped many new
concepts I didnt learn in high school. This course has helped me mentally
understand the process of writing while helping me become a better student.
In this course, I learned more about writing. I now understand the purpose of
independent inquiry and reflecting on your own work. Asking myself about my own
work helps me further understand the topics and main points I am writing about.
This helps me get more ideas to elaborate on without leaving my work boring and
vague. Sometimes we get stuck whether its on the introduction, conclusion or the
whole thing all together. My curiosity about writing techniques has grown in this
class because I was pushed outside my comfort zone when writing. Before taking
this class I assumed writing was all text about academia topics. I have learned that
there are visual, spoken and inquired aspects of writing. This helped me get my
creative juices flowing in my writing process. I learned that these aspects are called
modes of communication. (Communicating your work to the readers.) I have
grasped the different modes of communication such as visual and linguistic features
in my writing.
The organization of my E-portfolio was fun because I am a creative student
when it comes to visual aspects. I created separate pages for each of my artifacts so
it would be easy for the reader to navigate through my portfolio. I enjoyed making

this e-portfolio because it is a collection of all work through a creative side of

presenting work.

Midterm
For my midterm, I took a formal approach to the format of my work. I
separated each question into paragraphs so the reader could identify the question
being asked. The goal of the midterm was to display my feelings and concerns as a
writer in this UWRT class. I addressed the topics and assignments being done in
class and how they affect me as a writer. So far the reading response letters seem to
help me understand the purpose and ideas of writing as a student. My midterm
explains how everything from this class has helped me improve as a writer and a
student. Talking about my literacy narrative I said, I felt that this draft was easier
to understand for the reader. With my second draft I found myself giving more
details about my experiences. I learned how to edit and revise my work with the
help of my peers and teacher. My midterm simply explains what I learned in class

and how I applied it in my work. Looking back at my midterm I would have liked to
add more visual aspects such as headings, color and pictures of my works. I think
my midterm best describes my feelings and goals as a writer in this course.

Portrait of a writer
The purpose of this Portrait of a writer essay was to explain my personal
style and thoughts as a writer. I was given the opportunity to portray this in any way
I wanted. I chose to focus on the visual mode of communication. This assignment
helped me and my peers understand who I am as a writer and what I enjoy writing
about. I wanted to experiment with the visual aspects of this essay because with
other assignments they have been more formal. I used different colored
subheadings for each topic being explained and I organized it into several
paragraphs to give the reader an easier view of what I was saying. I also included
several pictures of my work in high school to show the content I was being taught.
This assignment was different than most I have encountered mainly because it was
open ended. We could choose any style or format to write about ourselves as
writers.

Literacy narrative
One of the first assignments given to us was a literacy narrative. This could
be a creative writing describing us as students and writers. I chose to write about
my experience living in Germany for three years. The academia in Germany was
different than what I had experienced in my freshman year in the United States. I

was experiencing rigorous courses called the IB (international baccalaureate) which

consisted of time consuming projects and exams for two years. Through out the
process of writing my literacy narrative, I was constantly asking myself what I could
include for a better presentation to help the reader understand what I was talking
about. From my peers in class they discussed how they were confused on what the
IB system was, and I had trouble explaining exactly what it was. At first I was
confused on what exactly to write about in my literacy narrative. This assignment
focused on the history of our literacy as a student. Enjoying writing at a young age, I
took the timeline approach to writing this essay. I started by introducing myself as a
writer and talking about how and where I started as a writer. Unfortunately this was
a boring first draft to my peers and me so by the second draft I knew what to
change. As we went over the modes of communication I realized that I needed
something more in my essay. Something more personal than what I was giving.
Instead of listing my schools and assignments one by one, I decided to give a more
personal approach by describing my living experience in Germany. This gave a more
interesting side to my work as a writer because the things I learned in a different
country were things I would have never done in America. Traveling to different
countries every other week and learning new languages was something I wasnt
expecting before I moved. Adding this personal story helped the audience know me
better as a person and also a writer. By adding these aspects and hearing from my
peers, I found my essay easier to read and understand.

Blog posts
Being given the task to write blog posts on weebly is something I enjoy.
Responding to passages and works of other writers helped me see a different side of
writing academia. The different views and concerns other writers have helped me
understand the concept of being a good writer. Blog post 5 specifically helped me
understand what an e-portfolio really is. Nedra Reynolds did a great job of
explaining the different ways an e-portfolio can be designed and accessed. After all,
your e-portfolio is a collection of all works up to this point so you can be creative
when it comes to the design. In my blog post 5 I stated, Being a reflective writer is a
key to success when writing. Reflecting demonstrates your understanding as a
learner. The author of the passage I read implies that reflecting is VERY important
when it comes to writing.

As a writer it is very important to push yourself in new directions and styles

you may not be comfortable with. In this class I learned how to do just that. I learned
how to adjust to the college quality of writing though the modes of communication,
thinking independently and being curious with my work. In this course I expect a B
or higher because I put in effort to improve my skills as a writer and I am
determined to improve my work as a student.