Magliba 1 Erenea Magliba Dr Lynda Haas WR 37 December 3, 2013 Reflection Essay During high school, I took typical English

and writing classes students would normally would take. Additionally, I took AP Literature and Composition. When I enrolled in Writing 37: Intensive Writing at UC Irvine, I thought it would be similar to classes I had completed before. I expected to be seated in a desk and lectured about grammar, punctuation, and composition for the whole quarter. Well, after attending the first day I knew that those expectations were nothing less of false assumptions. Throughout these past ten weeks, I have been able to expand my writing skills through methods that I had never used before in other writing courses. For starters, I was able to work both independently and collaboratively on several assignments. Plus, the assignments were not boring or tedious but rather engaging. Assignments that I completed throughout the quarter included: blogs, Connect modules, essays, and presentations. Each time I worked on one of these assignments, I always exercised at least one Habit of Mind. The Habits of Mind are a list of characteristics that are essential to developing writers. The list mentions curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognition. Reflecting on all that I have accomplished in this course I can confidently say that this course has shaped me into not just a better writer, but also a better communicator.

Magliba 2 The first assignments that we got familiar with were the blogs and Connect modules. I had never written a blog before so this was foreign to me. Almost every week, we were assigned to write a blog in the writing class studio that reflected what we had learned. After composing the blogs, fellow classmates would respond to what we had to say. The Connect modules were also new to me. The modules were interactive assignments online that tested our knowledge on grammar and punctuation. They were actually a refreshing change to the endless worksheets I was accustomed to completing in contrasting writing classes. At first I did not recognize the significance of the blogs and modules; however, I soon discovered their importance. I found that these two exercises were basically tools that I used often to help me work on other assignments. Additionally, they helped me further develop my sense of metacognition, or my ability to reflect on my thinking and cognitive processes. I would often find myself referring back to the blogs that I had written in order to ponder the main ideas or lessons that we had already covered in class. I essentially used them as a source that I could always turn to when I needed to reflect on my own thoughts, especially when I was working on essays or presentations. After the class was familiarized with the blogs and modules, we moved on to more complex and time-consuming assignments. These major assignments were mainly presentations and essays. The presentations were completed in groups and the essays were completed individually, of course. The first presentation that I did with my group was an analysis of the film I Am Legend. Our job was to explain how the movie fit into the zombie genre. We chose to create a PowerPoint with all of our

Magliba 3 main points. We included a brief summary, a character list, the rhetorical situation, and several zombie conventions. Within my group, my task was to collect the information from my group members and to create the PowerPoint. My job was also to present to the class in what ways this film was similar and different to other films in the same genre. After each presentation, every group received feedback from fellow classmates. The main criticisms we received on our presentation were due to the lack of images and lengthy text. Our professor also advised us to practice our eye contact. Since it was our first presentation, I believe we had done an average job. The second time we presented, we fixed all the problems we had before. We added visuals, shortened the text, and improved our eye contact. It was great progress compared to the first presentation but no presentation is ever perfect. Personally, I felt as though our weakest point was still eye contact. This was not a major drawback though because every group struggled with this issue. Our strongest points were definitely our visuals and oral presentation. The images we added were sufficient and I thought we did a great job of conveying the message we were trying to get across. Nonetheless, we were clear and well prepared to inform the class. Overall, I feel that the presentations assigned in class were beneficial to me. The process leading up to the actual day of presenting involved much dedication. They required responsibility, flexibility, and creativity. The most important of these Habits of Mind was responsibility because it was a group assignment. Therefore, everyone depended on one another to fulfill their task. If one person did not complete their part, the whole group would suffer the consequences. Luckily, this

Magliba 4 was something I never had to worry about for presentations because I had responsible group members. Succeeding the first presentations, my professor assigned essays on the same topic. This was convenient because the essay basically had to include the information from the presentation, only in essay form. That being said, I still had a hard time organizing my thoughts onto paper. The drafts that I had constructed were far from flawless. The reviews I received from classmates and my professor gave me an idea of what details were missing though. The main critique I was given was on my choice of conventions. I had chosen loss of a loved one for the classic convention and the zombie appearance for the twist on a classic convention. These two were the most obvious conventions and it was clear to see because all three of my group members used the same ones in their essays. Another criticism I received was on the insufficient use of film terms. I had only used a couple but I should have used a minimum of five terms. I was appreciative of the criticism that I received from my professor and peers because they allowed me to see what aspects of my essay needed to be bettered. Revisions normally occurred in the form of peer reviews. A peer review was simply a method of giving and receiving comments or advice from classmates on how to improve your essay. Personally, I know my sense of openness was further developed due to the use of peer reviews. Because I received helpful feedback from my peers, I was able to see topics and ideas through various perspectives. This is what helped me improve my final essays. I was able to incorporate these new views while maintaining my style of writing. In the end, I would have to say my use of film terms could be better in my zombie genre final

Magliba 5 essay. If I had more time to work on my essay, the film terms would be my priority. On the other hand, I would say my strongest point turned out to be my conventions. In the end, I switched my conventions to disagreement between survivors for the classic convention and the lone survivor plot for the twist on a classic convention. The next essay our class was assigned was a rhetorical analysis of the novel World War Z by Max Brooks. Essentially my job was to analyze some aspect of rhetoric in the novel. For my essay, I chose to explain how World War Z fit into the zombie fiction genre, so I had to define the zombie genre and include conventions from the novel. This task was similar to that of the first essay I had composed but it required more attention to rhetoric. After turning in my drafts and receiving peer reviews, I quickly realized that my drafts needed a vast amount of revision. My professor highly stressed the unnecessary amount of summary that I had included and advised me to add more analysis to my essay. This problem lied more in my introduction of characters. In my essay I chose to analyze two characters: Dr. Kwang Jingshu and Fernando Oliveira. Instead of focusing on character analysis, I merely retold their story from World War Z. While revising my paper, I tried to focus in on the details that described the characters in order to avoid summarizing. For instance, I paid more attention to the tone and nature of the characters. This proved to be successful because my final essay is significantly renovated and improved when compared to my draft papers. I believe the strongest point in my final essay is the use of credible sources. I used at least at least four sources and successfully weaved them into my paper. They also help in proving my expertise on the topic. My weakest point I would say would be the rhetorical situation. I added background on

Magliba 6 the author but I feel as if it could use additional details and information. If I had more time to edit this essay, this would be the point that I would examine and modify more closely. The last and most important class assignment we had was the RIP Seminar. The RIP seminar was a presentation that we gave to another Writing 37 class. The aim of the presentation was to showcase the hard work we had completed throughout the course. Each group was assigned a different task for the completion of this seminar. Our professor ultimately created five groups. There was a handout group, a presentation group, an MC group, a flyer group, and a food group. My group was given the duties of the presentation group. Our task was to collect and put together visuals for the presentation. In our group, we decided to split the work as well. I was responsible for creating the first part of the seminar, which had to incorporate the group film analyses. The whole class worked on their specific parts for about two weeks in preparation for the actual seminar. During this time frame I had the opportunity to expand some Habits of Mind. For example, I evolved my sense of persistence and engagement. I feel like my persistence was further developed because for some people the zombie topic had grown to be tiresome but for me, however, the topic seemed to be getting more in-depth and intriguing as the days went by. I also feel like my engagement was further developed because I invested a lot of time into learning more about the zombie genre during the two weeks of the presentation construction. Not only that, but I also obtained a great feeling of involvement because I communicated a lot with my peers in order to make the seminar presentation polished and impressive. We day of the seminar arrived, I felt

Magliba 7 confident because we were well rehearsed. The only revision I would make to our final seminar presentation would be more visuals. We used a lot of images but more would only enhance the presentation. Our strongest point I would say was our preparedness. When we presented to the other class, it was clear to see that we had committed a lot of effort and time into learning not just about the zombie genre, but theme, conventions, and rhetorical analysis as well. I was proud to know that the professor from the other Writing 37 class was equally impressed. I believe the RIP seminar was an excellent way to end the quarter because it exhibited the skills we acquired throughout the course. Some people might not think that the lessons I learned in Writing 37 will be beneficial outside of this specific course, but they would be wrong. I personally feel that all of the skills obtained in this class will help me throughout my college life. Being able to develop an essay has its obvious benefits. Without a doubt, I will be asked to write numerous essays and I already feel as if I well have an easier time organizing my thoughts onto paper. I am confident that I will be able to develop a clear, scholarly essay with less difficulty. As for examining rhetoric, I feel like I can now do this with any film or text. If I am ever asked to examine a novel or film, I will automatically have the advantage of already knowing how to detect the rhetorical situation. I value this skill because it is not one that most students have. Lastly, I am sure that examining genre will be useful to me throughout college because I will automatically think about genre and conventions no matter what subject it pertains to. Overall, I know this course has helped me enrich one of the most meaningful Habits of Mind, which is curiosity. After completing this course, I have a stronger

Magliba 8 desire to learn more about the world. At the beginning of Writing 37, I looked at the zombie theme in a superficial manner. After going into depth and becoming an educated individual on this topic, I now have a more appreciative outlook. Consequently, I feel like I can approach any topic or subject in this manner. This is why I am certain that I will use the lessons that I attained in Writing 37 throughout my college life and any future endeavors.