Casandra Phillips

Writing 2
03/17/2016

Metacognitive Reflection
I definitely did not expect this class to be the way it was. I do not think I had other
expectations for this class, but I sure did not have these expectations for this class. I know, it
sounds confusing but I just think this Writing 2 course was different in comparison to other
Writing 2 courses I have heard about. I really enjoyed the approach you took with creating WPs.
I really enjoyed writing WP1 and WP3 but completely hated WP2. I think that I had the most
trouble relating that WP back to the readings and fully understanding it so I just had a very hard
time editing it this time around. I just was not a fan of WP2 but I really like how we worked on
them and had time to improve them in class, I think it helped me out a lot.
For the most part I enjoyed the lesson very much. I think you took an interesting
approach with all the videos we watched and it made us, or at least made me understand the
writing process a little more in depth. I especially liked when we looked at the art videos of the
men painting a tree and the Disney artist because it really made me think about the moves I make
with whatever I do, not just writing. I think that is what I liked about the class overall, it did not
just apply to writing, we actually got to tie most of the things we learned in here to real world
experiences and actions we take every day.
I definitely think I got a reality check in this class. I always thought I used to be a really
good writer and I knew exactly what I had trouble with so I always got help with that but this
class made me realize otherwise. I am not saying I am a bad writer but I think I just had higher
expectations of my writing than I really had. I never really payed attention to how long my

paragraphs are and how weak my evidence can be sometimes. One thing I do think I improved
on was my thesis statement though. I was able to write a complete WP without a thesis and then
going back to create one after my paper. That was something I had never done before that I tried
out in this class and I think really worked.
Studying this stuff meant that I would really analyze my writing and really think about
where I could improve. With this being said, my stance towards writing has definitely shifted to a
more positive note. I think that I was so used to learning about how to write in such a
standardized way and then I had to go home and follow all these rules and regulations in my
paper, that I just felt like my voice was not being heard. My own special flavor was not present
in my writing under all these restrictions. This class differed in that way, I was able to approach a
lot of the writing in my own way and truly give it my all without dreading it. With that said,
going back on my thlogs right now I think they really are helpful, when I need a reminder of
what I learned or what I am trying to mention I just go back to my thlogs and it is there.
The thlogs, in-class journals, freewrites, and conversations with our classmates were
really interesting. I think they just differed from week to week, some were more interesting than
others. I definitely think that the in-class free writes were helpful, I would have liked to see some
at the end though so I could write about what I learned the day, and what I liked about it. Or
maybe a short free write to make sure we got the entire concept of the lesson because there were
a couple of times were I was a bit confused leaving class and would have liked to just write an
example of what I understood to make sure that what I was thinking was correct.
THLOGS:
#1This week was very interesting. I never really pictured a Writing 2 class to be this exciting and
upbeat as it is, I really thought it was going to be another teacher just standing in front of class

lecturing on writing rules but it really is not. I was really nervous going into this class at first
because I believed it to be very strict and boring but this week has proven me wrong.
I think that starting the class off with blogging is the best way to start class. We are able to get all
our thoughts down for the class and prepare ourselves for the rest of the day. Being able to
release our thoughts before class and relax is a very unique way to start such a challenging class
but it allows us to be very open- minded and able to express our thoughts on paper. I also think
that the way our professor creates our assignments is a very exciting way to learn new things.
This week to be exact I learned what genres meant in writing and how to focus this in our writing
for our next paper. I think that the scary movies and timed free-writes were a great and
interesting way to break down and learn what genres really are and how we can work with them
a little better now.
Another assignment that I found interesting was our reading Spaces for Writing. So far this has
been my favorite writing due to the way they point out the different types of writing professors.
There is the professors who just focuses on rules and the professor who is just interested in
fabulousness, and then there are those like my professor who wants a little bit of both. For this
exact reason I am ready and prepared for what this class has to offer me.
#2 Well besides writing about what we learned in class this week or through our readings, I want
to focus todays blog on what I like about this class and what I found helpful. I really enjoy our
daily blogs in the beginning of class because it really helps me get my life together real quick
and get my thoughts out and down on paper (online paper) but I am really fond of our weekly
tips from Zack. This might sound stupid BUT this week when Zack gave us the simple tip of
reading over our week I really started to think about my entire college experience. I have always
been told by teachers to read over my paper and to read it out loud because there are a lot of
simple mistakes that could have been avoided. It is one thing to skim through a paper but it is
another to actually read it carefully and then read it out loud to hear what you wrote (reading it
out loud does make a difference). So when Zack said this and I started thinking about my past
writings I kind of felt bad because I have always been told that I am a great writer but that I
make a lot of careless little mistakes because I do not read over my work which is completely
TRUE. So I really appreciated this feedback from Zack because I kind of felt like he was talking
to me in particular so this is definitely something I want to work on more this quarter because I
have many classes that require writing and I completely want to give it my best. That means no
procrastinating and actually reading over my work.
Another thing I want to bring up that we learned this week was the difference between hyphens
and dashes. Although this sounds like something so simple that everyone should know, this is not
the case. I actually did not know there was a difference until Wednesday. I learned that hyphens
are to connect two words that cannot stand alone in the sentence. For example, 18-year olds or
on-campus. These are words that basically need each other to make sense in a sentence. On the
other hand, dashes are used for somewhat of a pause, like a comma or a thought break.
#3 For starters we started talking about the difference between whom and who. I never even
thought about it til Monday, I just usually knew when and where to use it. I use "whom" in
professional settings, I use it to address people that I do not know where the message is going to,
for example (to whom it may concern), and when I am addressing someone professionally
throughout a paper. On the other hand, I use "who" when addressing someone informally or just
in general when I am writing.
Then we focused on what a reverse outline is and how it can help us. A reverse outline is when
you write your entire paper first and then decide to go back and revise it after. This helps us out

because we are able to depict each and every paragraph one by one and get the full message out
of it. You are able to see whether you follow your main point throughout your paper or not. You
also get to see how much evidence you have throughout your entire paper and whether it allows
your writing to flow or not.
One activity that really helped me this week was the color activity. Due to this activity I was able
to see what I lacked, what I did not lack and what I had too much of. It also allowed me to see
whether my summary and analysis flowed with my evidence or whether I was completely just
jumbling around.I was able to see what the "good"part of my paper was and what did not work at
all for me. I really would have wished that we could have done this earlier on in the process of
the paper but now I know what to do on my own for next time so that is fine.
Another activity that I found really helpful was breaking sentences up one by one. This helped
me realize what sentences were run-on's, what sentences did not make sense, and how my
paragraphs were really structured. This is another activity I wished I would have learned about
earlier or at least thought of on my own because I have always had trouble with run-on
sentences.
#4 Before that though, I think this week was pretty interesting. We put more simple things more
into depth and searched for the real meaning behind it. On Monday we worked on italics. We
spoke about why we use them, where to use them in, and when to use them. I never really payed
attention to why people used italics, I just never used them unless I was citing an article because
that is the only way I knew how to use them, but today we learned otherwise. Italics is used to
emphasize a word or phrase and make sure it stands out of the entire paper. So this means we
should NOT use it in every other word. I like the how butterfly quote about italics. This is
literally such a beautiful quote, " Think of italics as butterflies that might swoop across the page,
allow them to flit about, land here and there, softly; gently; don't treat them as a blanket that
must spread itself across the entire page. The butterfly approach will bring a dash of color; the
blanket approach will darken everything" (William Noble). I think I might be reading too much
into it but this quote was very helpful.
Then we focused on MOVES! It sounds funny to say because it is something so simple but after
going into it more in depth I realized we all have certain "moves" in our style of writing. We
looked into The Rocks wrestling moves, Surfer AJ's friends moves, Michael Jordans moves, etc.
and it was just really interesting to realize that we literally have a move for everything. People
do, say, act certain ways because that is their special move, it is like their signature.
#5 The first tip we got for the week was very interesting, I was not expecting fonts to make a
difference in anything. It is just fonts, but they did. While writing my WP2 I got stuck often and
did not know what to write so I decided to do the whole font thing. This did not necessarily help
me think but it did allow me to break up my thoughts better.
The second tip was writing notes to self and I really related to it because I already do this so it
was not a big change to my usual writing necessities.
I really appreciated getting new ways to say "the author says...." when introducing a quote or
statement. I try to stray away from using the basic starter for every quote but sometimes it is
difficult to think outside the box. One thing that I really learned this week was the hedged
language. I never realized the difference that a few words could make but this is definitely
something that I will continue to use in the future. Parallelism is something I also never really
payed attention too in my writing but it is a lot more commonly used than I realized. Especially
in order to make our writings flow fluently.

#6 This week's "painting trees" project was very interesting. I really enjoyed it because it played
on a lot of moves we really would not have noticed but were very obvious. I really enjoyed how
all artist in the Disney video were all painting one tree, the same tree for all of them, yet the
outcome of each individual drawing/ painting was so different and unique to their own touch.
It all began with each artist looking at the painting through their own individual lens. While one
artist looked at it in an emotional way, another one looked at it spiritually, and another one
looked at it very structurally as a scientist. They also all used different techniques to paint the
actual picture. While one artist, painted the tree by using a knife brush to create the tree another
artist used charcoal and the other one used water paint. Another move that I focused on was how
they each individually choose what to focus on drawing. While one artist focused on the tree
trunk, the other artist focused on the branches, and the other artist focused on the surroundings,
etc. At the end of it, this was an interesting project because the same exact tree looked so
different in all of their paintings because they each painted it how they depicted it individually.
I also liked how we kind of worked on WP3 by listing out different genres for each age range. I
literally looked at the instructions for WP3 and was already frustrated because I did not
understand the project. Now that we have a whole list I am more at ease because I know I have a
lot to choose from. I also liked how we spent a lot of time actually going over our WP3 because I
know I had a lot of questions to be answered and they really were. Now I feel more at ease
writing this project and I am sure I will do fine with it.
Going over all these thlogs and really reading through them, it is surprising how much I
actually learned each week I was in class. One thing that stood out to me while reading these
blogs was how much I learned about thing I thought I already knew. Going over dashes and
hyphens sounds silly but I really did not know the difference between them until I got to class, or
maybe I did and really never payed attention to it. Another cool term we went over was the
difference between whom and who. I always knew they were different but I could never put it
into words why they were different and after going over them this time, I was able to really
differentiate between them. Another simple concept we went over was italics. We know when to
use them but why do we sue them? Another concept I knew how to do but did not know exactly
why I did so until we went over them in class. Love this! I think it gives us a really good idea of
the bigger aspects of writing.
Something else that we learned in class was the reverse outline. I never really thought
about this being a thing but after we learned about it I definitely applied to my writing, especially
in my Chicano/a studies classes with all the papers I did.

My perspective on writing has changed quite a bit because I am now able to go into it
with a more positive mind set. I know how to edit my own paper and look for my own mistakes
so I feel a lot more comfortable writing, and writing my own way. I think I have definitely
improved as a writer, I am more aware of my mistakes and other concepts that I can focus on
while writing so it makes things a lot easier for me.
My approach to reading has also changed throughout the course. Now I cant help but to
look out for the writers moves and the genre I am looking at. I am now more aware of what
makes something a specific genre and how to look out for that for future references. I also notice
moves on readings that I would have never even thought about before learning what a move
actually meant. It is now a lot more interesting to read certain genres because I have an idea of
what I am looking for and I am surprised to see how diverse they can be within one genre.