Hyria 1

Razie Hyria

Professor Zack De Piero

English 15

4 December 2018

Metacognitive Reflection

I walked into college thinking “Thank God! No more english classes for me! No more

papers!” but boy was I wrong. I had to take an english class for my major and as I was

choosing classes I noticed a teacher named Zack De Piero, and liked his name, so I picked

that class. Leading up to this point, english was a close second for a my favorite subject. But,

I mentally prepared myself so much for the math I was going to face in college for my major,

computer engineering, that it was as if a switch was flipped off and any pre-existing skills I

once had for english disappeared. I was scared to walk into a college level english class. I

expected a boring teacher, really long extensive pieces of work and A LOT of reading.

Luckily, Zack’s class was absolutely nothing like that. In fact, the most challenging part

about this entire situation was that Zack’s class was unlike any english I had ever had. I was

not sure how to go about it, but here I am now, writing a metacognitive reflection, and all I

can think about is that this is probably the most beneficial, unconventional english class I

have ever had. Im kinda sad its ending.

Within the first few days of class, we received our first assigned reading: “Teaching

two Kinds of thinking”, by Peter Elbow. I can proudly say I read this assigned reading

thoroughly. What was interesting to me about this piece, was that it stuck with me through
 Hyria 2

the rest of the semester. It was the first piece to start changing the way I looked at writing. I

loved how the author made such good arguments for the uses of first and second order

thinking. A particular example in that reading that stuck with me was when the Elbow said to

ask an individual a question and follow it up with “now think carefully” in comparison to

“don't think too hard” and the individuals responses were totally different because of 1st/2nd

order thinking (Elbow 2). Shortly after, the second thing to affect me as a writer when we

onto discuss conventions and rhetoric. It stuck with me mainly because I found it so

fascinating how stumped my class was. All of us knew what made something what it was,

but yet, its as if our brains went blank when Zack asked “Okay, so what makes a horror film

a horror film”. I remember looking at my computer screen thinking of how to answer the

question in my free write journal, and of course I did eventually. I said “the storyline is super

dry and has the audience feeling very anxious. Horror films tend to feature a lot of death,

blood, gore, or things generally unappealing” (Hyria 2). The class had similar responses but,

Zack went on to blow our minds even more when he played examples of horror films and

showed how not all followed those conventions, and we even came up with new ones.

Another in class example, was when he asked us to explain what makes a country song a

country song. I also found the same example later on in another assigned reading by Kerry

Dirk. Zack and Dirk both raised the same question of “ Given these characteristics, I would

feel prepared to write some new country lyrics. But what would happen if I wanted to write a

country song that didn’t do any of the above things? Would it still be a country song?” (Dirk

3). Once again, I was put into a very, annoying, yet beneficial, situation and was forced to
 Hyria 3

critically think. It was the first time I had been officially exposed to conventions and I

struggled with it, but by the end of our semester I practically understood how to break down

a subject into its components. This in class workshop was followed with another assigned

reading that we were given later on as we were introduced to rhetoric, genres, etc. I also

found this reading very beneficial, and it was called “Backpacks vs. Briefcases”. The author,

Laura Carroll, said: ​“understanding rhetorical is essential to helping us become informed

consumers, but it also helps evaluate the ethics of messages; how they affect us personally, and

how they affect society.” (Carroll 3). I felt as though I had a “Aha moment” because I’m a very

analytical person, and I do analyze things, but I never had a name to put on it, but now I did. But

not only that, It made sense all of a sudden. Why we were given those readings, and how the

assignments correlated, but also how rhetorics themselves worked . I loved that quote so much I

also used that quote in my WP1.

Going forth with our WP1, I took both of those readings into account, and the activities

we did in class. I’ll be honest, I struggled with WP1 more than any assignment we had in that

class. Looking back now, I can easily be given the assignment and do a better job. But my brain

had not been completely rewired the way a good writers usually is at the time, and naturally I

could not apply the concepts as seamlessly as I wanted. We had many assignments after that, and

I quickly moved past WP1. I loved doing the PB’s. In my opinion they were so helpful especially

when tackling something like WP3. They helped me really gather my thoughts and get a better

idea of where I was going with my assignment. WP3 was the project I enjoyed the most. Mainly

because by that point I had already learned how to become a better writer, and be much more

analytic. Most importantly, I was focused solely on work pertaining to my current major. I was
 Hyria 4

more motivated to work towards it because of that. Asides WP3, I also enjoyed another reading

which was the Losh and Alexander “Writing Identities” because it was a funny, interactive

comic book, instead of the usual boring, generic, papers and it helped me better understand the

idea of discourse communities and “changing your writing to better meet the needs of different

communities”(Losh 3).

Overall I can honestly say I have progressed as a writer. I took a lot of things with me

from this class. I no longer thing of genres as something that is strictly about categorizing books,

I think of russian dolls every time I need help honing in on a subject (and YES I do so with the

iconic “zzzzshhh” sound effect thanks to Zack), I am able to identify rhetorics in pieces that are

more than just a written language (TV Commercials, political propaganda, songs, movies etc)

and I actually know what rhetorics mean, I can properly annotate papers etc.. The list can keep

going. Additionally, because of the professional presentations we were required to do for WP3 I

am walking away from my ENGLISH class having learned more about; NEURAL

NETWORKING, a proper outreach email, and a very detailed annotated bibliography.

Im sure as I continue forth with my career I will actually have to be sending out more

emails, and putting together more presentations. Heck, im taking CAS next semester and doing

public speeches, so I quite literally will have to apply my knowledge of rhetoric to those

assignments to influence an audience. The things I learned in Eng 15 were worth the constant

mind “blunders” I experienced In Zack’s class as I was forced to really push my mental

capacities.

I’ll end this metacognitive reflection on a positive note. The class was fun while it lasted.

10/10 I would take it again, as long as Zack De Piero, and his nesting dolls make an appearance.
 Hyria 5

Anyways, Shout out to Zack for being the walking english-teaching jesus that we never

knew we needed.
 Hyria 6

Works Cited
1. Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical
Analysis.” Writing Spaces, Writing Spaces, 2010, ​www.writingspaces.org​​.
2. Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 1,
2010, pp. 249–262.
3. Elbow, Peter. “Teaching Thinking by Teaching Writing.” Change, vol. 15, no. 6,
1983, pp. 37–40. ​JSTOR, JSTOR,​ ​www.jstor.org/stable/40164191​.
4. Hyria, Razie. “The English 15 Free Write Journal.” Vol. 1, 2018. Pp. 2-22
5. Losh, Alexander. “Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing”. Cannon
& Cannon pages 1-31, 43-54, 113-139