This course was definitely a great challenge. I knew my writing was not perfect before entering this course but I can definitely say that this course no matter how difficult it may have been, it shaped me to become a better writer, better student, better critical thinker, and helped me get out of my comfort zone when it comes to writing. Using the course learning outcomes set by Professor Rodwell I was able to focus on improving my writing and get out of the same old habits I had in my writing during high school. This course made me realize that my writing needed some major improving and I will definitely take the course learning outcomes and lessons with me to my future writing courses and career.

The formal letter of introduction was an assignment to practice in writing professional letters. Writing a formal introduction letter to the professor introducing your background as a student and relevant experiences outside of class. Including information such as what are our academic goals? What other classes we are currently taking? What are we nervous about? I did not fully meet the requirements of the formal letter of introduction due to the incorrect address heading and layout of the letter. After receiving feedback from the professor I was then able to fully understand what I had done wrong and was able to increase my knowledge on formal letters. I could’ve included a lot more information about myself as a student, before coming to CCNY and how I see myself improving/changing as a student coming to CCNY. The formal letter of introduction helped me compose texts that integrate my stance using interpretation strategies, helping me in understanding the full explanation meaning of a formal letter of introduction and making me realize what it actually composes of.

For the product review essay we had to choose one item from our household, and review it using a grading criteria that we establish and share in our essays. Fully capturing the scientific knowledge and or innovation that made the existence of the item possible. The product review essay helped me grow as a writer due to the helpful feedback received by both the professor and the writing center. I was able to remove repetitive thoughts and leave more room for my own critical analysis. The product review essay helped me compose a text that integrated my stance with appropriate use of source using strategy for critical analysis. By composing texts that show my critical analysis it helped me grow as a critical thinker and contribute to becoming a better writer.

For the product review essay we needed to also write a self reflection, and this was my first self reflection so I really struggled writing this piece. But I really learned what it takes to write a self reflection essay and take the mind the of a reader and grader for your own paper to find the mistakes we cannot find in the process of writing them. Being able to not only highlight the strengths of ones paper but also the weaknesses to make future writings better.

The leadership presentation was a 5-minute presentation on a specific topic of the course, where we presented live with a purpose of sharing knowledge with a specific audience. The leadership presentation module helped me grow as a writer and a presenter, by allowing me to present the important usage of images and graphs and how to use it I was able to take the stand of an educator and help some out. Providing relevant information that will help my audience in using correct images and graphs in their future work. The presentation made me understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences. Whether someone will be doing a presentation, article, or even a research paper, images and graphs can play a major role in helping you tell the story to your readers and audience and it was important that I provided accurate information for the audience I presented for.

For the leadership presentation self reflection I was a bit more comfortable writing self reflections and I was able to find how I could’ve made the presentation better afterwards. I made sure that throughout each of my self reflections including this one I took a lesson with me to contribute greatness for my future writing pieces and presentations.

The annotated bibliography consisted of sources from our researched critical analysis. Annotations listing the the full citation of the sources, the main idea of the source, and a statement on how we plan on using the source in the researched critical analysis. Instructor feedback on clearly summarizing my article and specifically stating how I will use it on my paper, helped me develop a strategy for drafting by using the annotated bibliography as an outline in addition to my outlines document. The annotated bibliography helped me develop strategies for drafting. By allowing me to create an outline, when it came time to start writing my paper I knew the annotated bibliography had already helped me set up most of my thoughts and how I was going to set up my writing and it became an easier task to finish the draft.

The researched critical analysis was a researched study on the study of our individual assistive technology creations. Using multiple sources to construct an intelligent argument. I was able to develop a better writing process due to the feedback given by both the writing center and professors’ feedback. Using feedback from both I was able to diagnose many flaws inside of my paper and overall contribute to a better writing process by editing and revising. By using feedback from both the writing center as well as my professors’ feedback I was able to engage in collaborative and social aspects of writing processes because the feedback given made me realize how much more information my paper needed and thus contributing to the entire writing process.

My researched critical analysis self reflection made me a better writer as I was able to take the mind of a reader and consider the audience, making me realize any flaws and strengths in my writing. The self reflection on my researched critical analysis helped me recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.  By taking the mind of a new reader to the topic I was able to recognize the rhetorical terms used in the paper and made me a better writer using the rhetorical situations in my writing pieces.

For the multimodal presentation we had to reinterpret our research topics into other media and present that topic with the assistive technology creation. Researching my own portion of the project as well as receiving feedback from my teammates made sure that I grow as a writer for future presentations and made sure I presented the best possible information to this presentation. The multimodal presentation helped me engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes because as a group presentation we had to rely on each other to complete our work and continue off of others ideas.

The self reflection discussion was a peer collaborated discussion between me and other members of the class discussing the best practices we use when writing self reflection essays. The self reflection best practices discussion helped me understand more of what is expected by doing a self reflection, it’s not just taking the mind of a grader and finding what’s wrong in a paper, but finding out what strengths were in the paper so that I am able to continue those strengths in future writing. The self reflection best practices discussion helped me in engaging in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. By participating in the discussion I was able to not only give my thoughts on what are some of the best practices but also receive some amazing strategies that can help me not only in future self reflections but also writing.

The Alice Walker’s A Thousand Words discussion was group discussion between students to discuss specific sections of the book. Answering questions such as main ideas, what makes this writing special, what did we learn from communicating with an audience from this reading, and more. This discussion made me a better critical thinker and analyzer, it challenged me to look beyond the words being told but think about the authors thought process while making specific sections, connecting it real events and highlighting the importance of the specific section I talked about.