Oluwakemi Osinowo

Professor Suzanne Ingram

UWRT 1101-022

25 November 2014

The Final Step

I would like to say that I have come a long way in this class since day one. Going into my
first college class was pretty scary for me. I never would have expected to learn the things I did
and become as open and confident that I am now. On the first day of class I walked in very
nervous not knowing what to expect. I quickly discovered that I was officially on my own and
my life started here. I no longer had my parents guidance twenty-four seven, seven days a week.
On the first day of class my professor Ms. Ingram asked us to write her a letter stating what we
looked forward to doing the upcoming semester and something about us. This was a major shock
to me. All throughout high school my teachers always stated, Enjoy your teachers knowing you
personally now, in college you are nothing but a student number to them. In my first assignment
I learned a lot about myself, never looked back and reflected on myself or my feelings. It was y
very first time explaining to my teacher that I had an attention deficit disorder ahead of time. Ms.
Ingram encouraged me to get the proper help with it. She stated, The DS office strongly

encourages it. You could meet with them to ask? They are on the 2nd floor of Fretwell.
This information strongly encouraged me to get the help I need.

The Base
When I look back, I realize how high school was the reason why I did not enjoy writing.
High school broke me down and made me lose my self confidence in writing. My first major
writing assignment helped me learn I am more educated than I thought. When I received my first
major writing assignment I was pretty nervous. The directions on draft one were very precise.
They were so precise to the point I felt like I could not achieve the goal my teacher wanted me
to. As I began to write I learned that it was not as difficult as I made it out to be.

I am literate in many different ways other than the written word form. I am highly literate
in the digital form. Technology has opened a wide door to share and express our work with each
other. Being digital literate you have to be more understanding to the new ways technology
allows you to compose your work. I understand how to work the new technology and how to
apply my knowledge to the situation. I understand how my words have more power through the
technology and can be misconstrued. From literacy narrative first draft

I learned how to really compose my work through spatial literacy. When I am using
spatial literacy I have to map out my work. Prioritizing and deciding what should be expanded
on is important when you are trying to argue a point or get your point across. Planning is key to

making a valuable perspective. Spatial learning also helped me learn the relationship in language
and power. When I am understanding different situations and problems I use spatial literacy to
understand the different views of the problems and why there is one. Learning this proved to me
that I am a great writer. Before this course I never knew how strong my voice can be when I
write. There are many ways to express how you feel visually. When you make art, there are
many ways to give your pieces a voice. Many different messages are displayed in artwork. There
is always what the artist wants you to get from the work and what the people actually get from
the work. I love this because there really I not a right and wrong in this situation. You can create
something from your point of view and it is up to the recipient to decipher it. Take what they
want out the piece and apply it to the situation. In visual literacy you do not always have to write
but instead you can figures and symbols to help express yourself as well. This helped prove
Donald McAndrews view, And in our class, Im concerned mostly with what is in the
paper, its ideas and content, not fragments and commas. I like this because this proves all
my high school teachers wrong. My high school teachers always stated that college writing was
based on how professional you can make a paper; they also stated that all college were
argumentative. I had to persuade my teachers on how I felt something was right even if I didnt
agree with it. The atmosphere in my current college writing class is definitely different than my
high school English classes. In my college writing class I am able to have more interaction with
my peers than in my high school classes.

This draft allowed me to experience my first workshop experience. These workshop

experiences helped me progress in my revision skills throughout the semester. One thing that I
can relate to the author is that you are a reader not an editor. Straub stated that Again:
Writers write, readers read and show what theyre understanding and maybe make
suggestions (pg. 188). Before our workshop experience we learned the dos and donts of work
shopping. My writer notebook artifact displays how I learned how to properly have an effective
workshop experience to get over my fear of working in a group. After my first workshop
experience we received directions on our second draft. I loved our second draft because we had
to pinpoint how became iterate instead of it being so broad. I loved typing this narrative because
I was able to reflect on a time period that I thought I absolutely hated. I loved this paper so much
that I hated the fact I was not able to share it with my group members. When I returned to class
Ms. Ingram reassured me that my paper was fine and had great potential to be a great paper. My
feedback article located on my literacy narrative tab displays how Ms. Ingram reassured me how
my paper was just fine. My other writer notebook artifact displays how I felt about my literacy
narrative, I call this my literacy narrative outlook. I also attended an SI session for my writing
class for this paper. I wrote a paper on this experience and used it as a wild card. I learned that
there is two types of writing by comparing draft one and draft two.

How my midterm has helped me

My midterm has helped me discover so many things. Halfway through the semester I
discovered how far I have grown in my writing class. When I first received the midterm rubric I
believed that the midterm was going to be difficult and it was. It was not only difficult but time
consuming. I was able to adapt key concepts into my life and understand how valuable to this
class. The key concepts that I feel that I am doing the best with are: getting out of your comfort
zone, making connections, intellectual growth and maturity, providing and receiving feedback,
and responsibility for your own learning. I think I am doing great at getting out of my comfort
zone because I am starting to open up more to make new friends. I am usually shy and standoff
to the back when I am around new people and a new environment. Opening up and actually
speaking to people have been a major step in stepping out my comfort zone. From midterm
Intellectual Growth & Maturity:
Through the essays we read for our RRLs and through the peer
review sessions, I feel that I have matured a lot as a writer and as a person. In an
essay we had to read, it talked about cultural differences, which was an eye opener.
This allowed me to connect with other peoples papers while going through our peer review
sessions.
-

Kelsey Summey

Kelseys statement shows that us students connect together and think on the same level.
Connecting with other students is something I have come over tremendously. To me that is a
major accomplishment so far this year. I am a very shy person who doesnt look outside box till
now. I still struggle with a few key concepts from my midterm.
The key concepts that seem challenging are: critical thinking, independent inquiry,
curiosity, and the writing process and revision. The writing process and revision seems

challenging because I second guess my writing skills. When it comes to the grammatical part in
the revision stage, I tend to freak out. I am never a hundred percent sure when there is a coma
splice or fragment. This is why I do not like revising other people papers because I feel like I
might miss something in the other person paper. I do not really understand what curiosity and
independent inquiry mean? I feel like if I had a better understanding of the key concept that I
would not question them. From midterm. I have gotten better in some areas but I am not 100%
confident in those areas. The midterm showed me how to pre-manage my time for future
assignments. I learned this by prioritizing my work and making sure to plan ahead of time in case
something goes wrong.

The Final Step

In high school I was an okay writer. Believe me I would not put my best effort into my
writing. Since my confidence was low in high school I did not trust my writing as much as I do
now. In order to understand my writing history lets go back to high school. For most people,
writing class was the worst. I felt that writing class for me was no different. I did what I was
supposed to do. The teacher would give me a topic and I would write about it. I would write it in
APA or MLA format if thats how they wanted it. Now the one thing I did hate was the lies. None
of the writing that I have learned have yet to benefit me in college or professional life yet. In
college I have learned how to open up. I have learned how to put my all into something and trust
in it. College has allowed me to explore the voice I have within and accept it. Portrait of
Writer essay. Writing my portrait of writer essay was pretty tricky. I had to debate on what to
write for this essay. Since we had to answer multiple questions I felt it would be best to just
answer the questions first then worry about how to make it flow later. Once I answered the
questions I felt it would be best to choose something I could relate it to. Thats how I got the

design for my weebly site. I decided to choose something that I have progressing in throughout
the semester as well as boosting my confidence. I chose what I love which was makeup. I view
makeup as a form of art which is something I love.
When I wrote my first draft I felt that something was incomplete and I couldnt
figure out what it was. My first draft came up one page which is something I did not like. One of
my process work artifacts is my side shadowing activity to my first draft. I discovered I needed
more detail in order to feel complete. During our second draft I was nervous about my paper. I
wrote about something I loved but felt as if no one would understand. I was proven wrong. My
second process work artifact on my portrait of a writer essay is Evies revision to my
introduction and conclusion. Evies response showed me that my choice was the right choice
thats why I chose to base my weebly site around my growth and confidence with writing and
makeup. I learned that if I never started this paper just by answering it I would have never gotten
anywhere if I just answered the questions. I learned that just by taking a risk and doing it.
My strength as a writer is expressing how I feel. Most people are not able to express
themselves in their work. For me that is no problem because I have no fear in what I write. When
you are a writer the most a reader can do is disagree with how you feel. They cannot hurt you,
nor say anything to you. They cannot change your opinion on how you feel either. They may
opinion your eyes to other views but your point of view is your point of view. Portrait of Writer
essay.

The Final Look

This FPE has showed me how much I have grown this semester. I went from only being
able to write a blog post to now being able to type more than five pages. I have learned how to

believe in myself when I write. I do agree with Ostrom when he states, And truly, even
when our beliefs and attitudes remain the same, they change (p.247). Whether it is for good
or bad every person evolves within themselves overtime. Being in college and living with other
people for the first time other than my family, I have learned that I can still be myself but I have
to adjust to the new situation I am I as well. I also learned that everyone does not have the same
beliefs and attitudes as myself. Ostrom states, Writing may be the ultimate access-software
package for your cerebral hard drive. With it, you access images, memories, arguments,
ideas-your own, others (p.246). When you are writing and have to reflect on things, your
mind does allow you to access and recall many things. When I had to write my second draft to
my literacy narrative I had the opportunity to experience this. Reflecting on a specific time made
me recall how I felt, how things looked and how others felt as well. We all might not have the
same beliefs and reactions but we can all relate to what is going on. We may discover someone
else might feel the same way as us or even going through the same things.
My process does resemble the process that was listed below. I had to collect all my
artifacts before I could process how I wanted to design my e-portfolio and layout my FPE. I had
to make connections with my artifacts to major assignment to make sure it made sense and also
showed importance to my major assignments. I had to arrange and rearrange assignments so it
showed growth and in my writing. I had a lot of options to choose from for my artifacts.
Selecting the right ones that I felt was most important was a very difficult task for me. What
seems important to me might not be important to someone else. Others may not understand the
significant value that a minor artifact contributes to my major one so I have to choose an
assignment that is able to be understood visually. I would probably add a test run to the CollectMap-Arrange-Select-reArrange & reMap-Narrate/Persuade/Direct/Explain model. My thinking

has changed tremendously throughout my blogs. In the beginning I was not very confident in the
work I provided. As time went on I learned that it is okay to explore and have a voice of my own.
I find it very interesting about how open I became over time with my blogs. I gave my personal
opinion and didnt hesitate about it. By blog two I was able to express how I felt something in
class and actually enjoyed explaining how I felt. I noticed that even though each blog had a
different prompt, the all represented me in different ways. I was able to be honest with myself in
these blog post and accepted the fact that I am not perfect. I wonder if I will be able to keep this
boost of confidence in my writing up. The more I write the more confident I become with myself.
I am no longer ashamed of my writing. In each blog I noticed that in some shape or form I
mentioned how I was always nervous about being judged of writing, whether I it was my
grammar or tone, I was always nervous of what other people would think. I am glad to say that
today I am not. I will post anything with pride and will be prepared to back it up in any way.
Blog Post #5.