Akayla Galloway

Professor Ingram
UWRT 1101
5 August 2014
Humidity
Todays the day its my first day of college. I woke up in the uncomfortable twin
bunk inspired that I was on a college campus and ready to achieve my goals. I walked up
the hills and down the hills making my way from Hawthorn Hall all the way to Cameron.
As I arrived at Cameron I slowly opened the door walking towards my future. I instantly
felt the cold air hit my face; a chill ran down my spine. I slowly walked into the empty
classroom and instantly felt knots rise in my stomach. This is the writing class, I HATE
WRITING. I took my seat in the rolling chair and faced the front of the class not
speaking. My fellow classmates were talking animatedly around me and I remember I sat
there thinking, What can I learn from this? What is this class? Why am I here?
Instantly my body started to fill with doubt and I wanted to run from the building
screaming. Then the professor walked in and I knew I was in for a journey. Now after
five weeks I realize that Ive come farther than I couldve ever imagined.
The journey from high school writing to college writing was interesting. Ive
learned to stop questioning my abilities. In these five short weeks I have grown as a
writer and as a person. In my blog posts you can see that I have had doubts about both
writing and my college experience. However if you look at my literary narrative you
wouldnt be able to tell that I have major insecurities surrounding my writing and how
people perceive it.

The Design
My blog was nameless for the majority of the class, until one day when one of the
tutors from the writing resource center referred to the fragmented sentences from my
literary narrative as imperfect but perfect. Then the name for my blog was born. Perfect
Imperfections. This goes deeper than my literary narrative but it represents my writing as
a whole, no writing is going to be perfect. My writing is mine, and thats why its perfect
just the way it is.
Back to the design of my E-Portfolio, it is all black with colorful pictures because
I used to think of writing as a dark, dreadful activity the only light at the end of the tunnel
were my personal experiences, which is why I used pictures of personal relationships and
bonds to make my page more appealing. My homepage includes a slide show of the
bonds I have with different people in my life, the people who I have included in certain
parts of my writing assignments. I wanted to include photos so that when people read the
works that include my journey and evolution they can see who molded me into the
passionate and emotional young woman that I am today. I want people who read my blog
or look on my website to feel as though they know me and they know what is important
to me. However, as time went on I began to believe that writing was more than a boring
task. Writing became an outlet, with this course I have faced issues that I have put away
and didnt want to remember, but recalling on personal experiences has made me grow as
a writer.
The work in the different tabs is organized in order of my process. For example in
my tab for the literary narrative I have my two drafted introductions then I have a process
artifact. It goes in order of the way I designed my paper so the reader knows my
evolution. As for the Wild Card and Writers Notebook pieces I decided that I would put
them in order of importance and which one helped me evolve more as a writer.
The tabs on my Weebly include everything from my literary narrative to the
portrait of a writer assignment each of these assignments show my progression as a
writer.
Literacy Narrative
First let me start off by saying I did not title my literacy narrative. I decided not to
title it for creative purposes. I felt like my literacy narrative covered so much information
about myself that I refused to soil it with a title. My literacy narrative was a bit lengthy
but it showed how I like to write, with personal experiences. I remember Professor
Ingram told us we had to create a second draft focusing on one event. I immediately
hated the writing class all over again. Why am I writing another paper? Why is she being
difficult? #ICANT. Then I created my second draft and it added the necessary push I
needed to make my paper better. So I decided to include a draft of the second part of the
literary narrative, which I reluctantly completed.
Ultimately I ended up combining my first draft and my second draft forming a
beautiful combination. I have also included a feedback piece that my peers and professor
have picked apart. The response I got from my peers and the response I got from my
teacher were completely different. The contrast between the views on my writing
confused me. Am I doing the assignment right or am I completely in the wrong? I often
second-guessed myself, which was and somewhat still is my biggest set back. In my
opinion the writing I did for the literary narrative was a journey within itself.
So, I decided that I would show my journey in my portfolio including two drafts
of an introduction that I wanted in my paper. Both the introductions made an appearance
in my literacy narrative, and that made me feel better about my paper. I got to include
both introductions without sacrificing the point of the paper and not being overly
repetitive. My literacy narrative was about social literacy and personal evolution. It was
about how the people I was around helped me evolve into the young lady I am today.
I began to understand that I was part of the In crowd. My In crowd
consisted of: My parents, my best friend, my teachers (J acobs and Shipman), as well as
everyone who told me I wasnt going to be able to achieve my goals. The last group is
only relevant because theyve remained my motivation to keep moving on. Approach.
T. Toe touch. Bounce bounce. Split. Victory J ump. Final buzzer. I won the game.
Akayla Galloway is who I am today.

Portrait of a Writer
The most stressful assignment of them all would have to be the Portrait of a
Writer assignment. When I first opened the assignment I shut down. Who am I as a
writer? Who asks that? I gave up. When I finally did embrace the assignment I was on a
roll, describing my writing as a scared, intimate act. I was surprised when I received
feedback that my peers and professor had not got my metaphor and were unable to see
that I did answer the eleven questions that we were assigned. I included the draft with the
feedback to show the contrast between my first and second drafts. My final draft of
Portrait of a Writer is more blatant with the answers to the questions whereas the first
draft left something to the imagination and allowed the reader to decipher it on their own.
I included the draft because I wanted to show my changes. I wanted to show how
I changed my drafts according to the feedback I received. I managed to keep my
creativity and metaphor without flat out answering the questions.

Writers Notebook Pieces
In class we were assigned reading homework and warm-ups. At first I was like,
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? THIS IS TOO MUCH! There was a warm-up a few days
before the Final Portfolio was due and it was basically a free write and I got all my
frustrations out in those five minutes. What does this have to do with my learning
experience? It made my writers block disappear.
Scratch. I just received a tweet. Maybe I could include a collage of tweets in my
portfolio? Funny I can write 140 characters easily but cant write a paper?!
I began to think of the paper as a series of tweets instead of an essay; this caused
my writing to go by faster. I began to organize my essay with more lingual modes of
communication. My essay went from me telling the reader what I was doing to me also
engaging with the reader. It was definitely a change for the better. Then the Read and
Response Letters that I hated so much also helped me as a writer. The first reading of
This Isnt What We Did in High School: Big Changes in the Teaching of Writing by
Donald A. McAndrew I was affected because the reading spoke directly to me. If
writings arent personal or I have no connection to them then my writing is going to suck
(Just being frank.)
I f I am assigned to write about a topic that I know from first hand and Im active in
the learning of the topic, Im more likely to hand in my best work.
This final portfolio essay is personal so I have a connection to it however so much
has happened in these past five weeks that Im having more trouble on what to include or
what not to include. This reading did mold the way I wrote for the course though. Instead
of looking at writing as a chore I looked through the lens of myself and tried to
incorporate as much of myself into the writing as I could.
Wild Cards
I got to choose 2 assignments from any course that were integral to my learning.
The first assignment was my letter to my professor that was the assignment that made me
open my mind and heart to writing. I wouldnt say that I knew what I was capable of
when I first wrote the letter, because at that time I still felt insecure I felt as if I was a
horrible writer. The letter was a stepping-stone to me embracing my style as a writer.
Once I wrote the letter the knots in my stomach somewhat melted away. It began my
journey unto a whole different type of literacy. Now as for my second piece, I never
wanted to talk about my fathers incarceration, to anyone. But I had already talked about
it in my literacy narrative, so when I was assigned to write about an event I instantly
thought; I might as well talk about my dad again. But unlike my second draft from my
literacy narrative I focused just on going to see my dad. I didnt want to think much about
it, and I didnt. I included more heart, I included more feeling and I could instantly see
that I was letting out pent up, repressed memories.
Now what does that have to do with your learning? Well I couldve just copied
the second draft and resubmitted it. But I didnt. I reconstructed it, made it more
descriptive. I used skills as a writer. I made my reader visualize the visit. I dont know
where the piece came from, but it made such an impact that I also ended up taking parts
of it and putting it in my final literary narrative. Knowing how to but subjects and verbs
together doesnt make you a good writer, knowing how to be connected and authentic is
how you learn to be a better writer.
Blog Post and Midterm
Wednesdays. Thats the day when we had to write blog posts. I liked this, I was
eager to write about myself, answer questions and not have to be so formal. I wrote about
my transitioning from high school to college and my feelings about how I felt about
UTOP. Even in my blog you can see the change in my thinking and my evolution as a
writer and as a person. Initially I thought of UTOP as a prison and I felt forced to stay
here and interact with people. In one of my first blog posts about my UTOP experience I
said: This whole program is taking me out of my personal comfort zone. Being an
only child, and having to share a room and bathroom with another person (and a
bathroom with 3 other people) is the biggest change I need to adjust to. Back home I
have a car and I can leave home at any time I feel, however now that I 'm in this
program I am forced (for lack of a better word) to converse and make connections that
I probably wouldn't have if I did have my car on campus.
This view has made a complete 180 in my mind. Along with the course and
personal experiences this has been a journey for the best. As I wrote in my final blog
post:
I came into UTOP thinking that this was the worst thing that could've happened to
me. However now that I reflect this was the best thing that has happened to me. I 've
learned to accept that there are always different people with different views and I 'm not
always going to like it. This writing class has helped me evolve as a writer and as a
person.
I wrote about my views, and myself, it was all personal and real. It became an
outlet I got to put my feelings in the blog post. My blog was expressive; it showed me as
a whole.
Concepts?
When I first looked at the class syllabus I was instantly turned off by the key
concepts. How can she tell us what the concepts of the course are? After the first week I
kept trying to see if I was engaged in any of the key concepts then when I stopped
monitoring my use of the concepts thats when they kicked in. I was instantly making
connections. I would be in writing and refer back to a theory I had learned in Global
Connections. I was thinking critically, and I was curious. This wasnt new to me, I was
always like this, but back in high school when you do those things youre a nerd. But in
this course its what you need to survive. I was curious to learn what my writing style
was and curious to see what my drove my peers to write what they wrote.
The writing process and revision was the best concept that I utilized it helped me
the most when I was writing for the literacy narrative I constantly changed sentences and
reworded paragraphs. In a first draft I said something along the lines of: My dad came
into the room walking slowly. This was him, my dad. But over time and with the help of
feedback from my peers, it morphed into:
My dad walked out. With his signature slow, cocky stroll. That was my father. His
beard had strands of gray hair, his hair was gone, but when he smiled, his beautiful
pearly whites told me he was still my father.
The last key concept that resonated with me is the responsibility for your own
learning because as I said in my midterm:
Mom isnt here to say that you cant go to the party if the essay isnt done. She
isnt here to get you up in the morning and force you get you to class. Your learning is
your responsibility; no one else can make you learn.
Taking control of my own learning has been a struggle but I have made progress
and it has benefitted my learning.


Grade
I believe that I deserve an A for this course. Not only because I have successfully
completed the FPE but also because I have evolved as a writer. I believe that I have
answered all the questions that I could about this course and my involvement. I have
quoted my work and even showed a bit of how I have evolved as a writer. Not only have
I successfully completed the assignment but I have also shown my personal maturity a
maturity that surpasses the classroom and is even shown in my personal life. I deserve an
A because I have applied this class to my everyday life. I have made connections that will
help my college experience go by smoothly. I deserve an A because I have analyzed
myself both in coursework and in my personal life.