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Daniel Machon
UWRT 1101-002
Professor Olivia Rines
April 13, 2015
Final Reflection
Throughout my whole academic career there have been many different writing classes
that I have had to participate in. On a personal level I never took away any great writing skills. I
felt that those classes were more about grammar than it was about content. However, taking a
writing course in college has changed my perspective about writing classes. I can now see that if
taught in a certain way, focused on content, then it can be beneficially to those who are taking the
course. I truly feel that this course has helped positively influence my writing skills on a content
level.
At the beginning of one of the first classes we had to do a Daybook Entry. These
Daybook assignments happened at the beginning of every class from that point on. Personally, I
never gained anything beneficial to my writing from the Daybook activities. When I say that I
think the daybook was not beneficial, I mean that by furthering my writing. I do however; think
that the daybook activities created a balance in creative writing versus writing for my papers.
What I mean by that is the Daybook activities were a way that we could express our opinions and
was more of a free write compared to one of the main papers that the class had to write. I think
that it is important that there is a balance between the different of styles of writing and I do think
that the balance was created through the Daybook activities. For example, one of the topics that
were written about during the Daybook activity was if you could ensure that your child had one
experience that you have had what would it be? This allows for more personal writing, rather

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than having writing for content that is required in many of the other assignments and papers that
we had.
Another major part of this course was the Discussion Forums that needed to be responded
to by each student and then each person had to also reply to another students response based off
of the reading. This might be my favorite assignment that we had throughout the course. There
are many aspects that I like about these particular assignments. The first step was to read the
material that was posted online. Each reading had purpose to why it was being required to read.
One of my favorite readings that were posted was an essay that told the reader how to respond to
another students writing. This reading was being required to read before one of our peer
workshops. I think that reading this before participating in the peer workshop helped how I
responded to my peers work. The second step of responding to the material helped me, because
it required me to keep focus and extract the important information of what the material was
covering. While writing about that material helped me internalize the meaning behind it,
replying to what other students thought of the writing was also helpful. It added an extra
perspective of the meaning behind the article or essay. It was also interesting to see how other
students may have interpreted the information that was given through the reading. Throughout
the entire semester this was my favorite assignment and is one that I think was the most
beneficial to my writing, because it helped fully understand two of the main papers that had to be
written. These forums helped me because most of them were based off of readings that were
related to understanding aspects of the Genre Analysis and Micro-Ethnography.
The two main papers that were assigned throughout the semester were the Genre Analysis
and the Micro-Ethnography. Each of these two papers required research and much time spent
before starting this writing process in order to prepare. The Genre Analysis required more

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research because it was an analysis of a specific genre, but the Micro-Ethnography was more of
an observation and interview process in preparation. Looking back at preparing for both of these
papers I realized that outlining worked for the Ethnography, but did not for the Genre Analysis. I
think that writing both of these papers was one of my major successes in this class. I was not has
comfortable in my writing before this class. A process that came along with both of these papers
was the peer workshops in which my peers were allowed a chance to read my paper and then
comment and make revisions to it. This process of peer workshops helped me realize that my
writing is not bad. I did not realize that from comparing my writing to other students, rather
from the feedback and comments that I received about my own writing. The most beneficial
feedback that I received was from my professor, Olivia. This helped me reconstruct my drafts
into what will make the polished final draft. Even though some people take the peer workshops
more seriously than others do, I think that this was one of the most important parts to the Genre
Analysis and the Micro-Ethnography. It is important to get feedback from both other students
and the professor in the sense that it is coming from two different viewpoints. These feedback
and peer workshop activities tie back into the in-class experience.
My in-class experience was pleasant and truly helped me succeed in this class. One of
my favorite things to do within a classroom setting is to have a discussion, especially when all of
the students are involved in it. When it came down to it, I really did enjoy the discussions that
we had as a class. Discussion allows for students to hear what others have to say about a certain
topic and how interpretation and perception of that topic change from person to person. Not all
of the students participated, which brought down the discussion some, but overall I thought it
was fine. That is one thing that I would change, however. I would try to make all students
involved within the discussion. I would of liked to see everyone participate, which overall

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would have helped the flow and depth of the discussion. Participation in class came in many
different capacities, through discussion and small group work times. I think that the small group
work times also helped fully understand the topic in which the class was discussing. Overall,
when it came down to the experience within the classroom, I think that the activities that the
class participated in helped me, and hopefully everyone else, fully engage and understand what
the specific topic was.
Throughout the semester I have thoroughly enjoyed my time within this class. There
were some things that I enjoyed more than others, but that is to be expected. One of the biggest
struggles that I saw throughout the semester in this class was to get people to participate during
certain times. A solution to this could be to let students know topics that will be discussed in
depth the next class. Participation is key in a class like this one. Like I stated before, one of my
favorite participatory mechanisms was the peer workshops and allowing students to give
feedback, but the lack of participation here does not have the impact that it would if everyone
was involved. If all the students were truly engaged it could have much more influence on the
production of each and everyone of the students writing. Most students did not participate
because of lack of preparation in the topic of discussion. I think that my writing has changed, in
a positive way, since taking this class. Being taught how to add content and revise was one of
the lessons that I took to heart for my own writing. Receiving constant feedback from both my
peers and my professor, Olivia, helped me become more confident as a writer. My confidence
has definitely increased and because I feel more confident in my writing I am not ashamed of it.
I think that it is important to have that confidence in writing and this is the first class that I have
truly felt that my confidence has boosted when it came to my writing. This class, if taught well

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and with student participation can help many people feel confidence in their writing which leads
to success in future writing assignments throughout college and professional careers.