Midyette 1

Hannah Midyette
Olivia Rines
UWRT 1101
March 1st, 2015
Midterm Reflection
When I heard that taking two writing courses were mandatory as part of my general
education, an overwhelming sense of dread hit me. Ive never been a fan of writing essays and
while I knew I would need to for some classes in college, I had no idea I would have to take a
whole course focused on writing. The reason I hate writing essays is because Ive never felt
satisfied with my level of writing skills and for some reason Ive always felt like my essays were
terrible compared to my peers. Looking back on my pre-conceived notions about this course, I
think I had it all wrong and heres why.
When I walked into a small classroom filled with around 20 people, I knew that I would
like how this course worked. My first semester I took a biology lab which also had a small class
size and this made the discussions more intimate, meaning I actually got to know people and
develop friendships outside of the classroom. Theres only one difference though. Last semester I
had a problem with motivation, the amount of effort I put into assignments given to me, and even
attendance in some classes. This semester, even though Ive thought about skipping, Ive showed
up to every class in this course making it easier for me to complete every assignment.
Although I may have completed every assignment, my effort put into each one varies
depending on what the assignment is. Most days before class we have a discussion forum where
you post an article or video and ask us to respond formally. Ill be honest, on some of these
forums when you post an article Ill skim through and then read other peoples responses before

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writing my own. This is because if Im not interested in what I skimmed through, then I know it
will take me forever to get through the article completely with a full understanding. When I do
try to read this sort of article I get distracted and confused. For example, Baxs chapter on genre
was something I really tried to understand, but I came out more confused about the subject than I
was before. This is true with other readings we had on genre. There were a lot of terms I felt I
had to remember but honestly couldnt tell you what they all mean now.
This brings me to the Genre Analysis assignment that weve been working on. My effort
in this assignment is a lot different than that of my discussion forums. When we did peer reviews
I found out that people had started the first draft of the essay at 2 AM the day it was due.
Normally this is what I wouldve done if I hadnt asked my mother for review the weekend
before. To get the first draft done I knew that telling my mom about it would push me to
completing it because she knew when the assignment was due. My mom would like to read
everything I write for college, which includes this midterm reflection. The first draft of my genre
analysis was really hard for me to begin even though we read the article on Shitty First Drafts
in class. I had read all of this research and even had prior knowledge on horror movies because
theyre in fact my favorite genre. I think I sat on my bed for around 2 hours before I really began
writing. It took me two days to complete my first draft and then after that my mother dissected it
in order to give me a better understanding of how I could expand my writing. This was tough
because no one really likes to hear that they could improve and that their paper isnt perfect even
if they already know it themselves. But my mom has really helped me develop as a writer.
Although my first draft was not successful writing, I definitely took everyones critique to
heart after peer reviewing in class. I feel as though the track changes setting on Word and your
comment on how we needed to revise extensively gave me motivation to do more than I

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ever would have done in high school. Im really proud of my second draft and for me thats
saying a lot. I dont think that Ive developed much as a writer yet when it comes to skills in
grammar and sentence variation but my views on what I can accomplish in the future have
changed. My view on writing essays and writing courses in general has changed. Id say my
development as a writer has just begun.
This class so far has been awesome. I always look forward to our daily writing, the
question out of the If book and the responses that come with it. This daily assignment has
helped me a lot with participation. I usually cant raise my hand in class without getting anxious
on how others will judge what comes out of my mouth but so far Ive spoken up in almost every
class. I think our class is really diverse in every aspect and learning more about people and their
views is something that really interests me. Our discussion on culture and stereotypes after
reading the Nacirema article was my favorite class because I really got to learn about other
peoples views on culture and how some stereotypes have affected them personally.
Id say my effort on in-class assignments is high because its easy for me to get motivated
when Im either working with a group (like when we took photos of different genres on campus)
or the assignment has some aspect of discussion out loud. I also feel like Ive learned a lot a in
this class that classes prior havent taught me. An example is when we discussed the bi-dialect of
texting. I wouldnt have even known what a bi-dialect was if it werent for the TED talk we
watched. Another example, even though confusing, was learning about genre. I now feel like I
have a better understanding of what genre is and how it affects my writing. I am however
concerned about our Micro-Ethnography project. I dont feel as if I still have enough time to get
all of my observations in when outsiders arent allowed to view sorority meetings. Other than
that, this class has been lovely and I look forward to the rest of the semester.

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Grading myself is really difficult because I know the behind the scenes of what goes
into my work. Id love to give myself a 100 (wouldnt everyone) but because of my effort on
small assignments such as the discussion forums and the fact that this class isnt graded just on
development of writing makes this impossible. I would however give myself an A, maybe around
a 93. A great deal of this grade comes with my participation, in-class assignments, and my effort
and time spent on my genre analysis. Even though I didnt outline my essay, my reading and
research actually took a long time. I put more effort into finding well written and on-topic
research than Ive ever done before. I felt as if I had to read all of it before I knew which articles
would be the best to pick. In doing this, I learned a lot about the genre of horror even from
resources I didnt use in my essay. In the two weeks we had to write our second draft, Id say I
used at least a whole half hour every night for a week until the weekend before it was due when I
focused both days of my weekend solely on this essay. I believe that if I put more effort into the
smaller homework assignments and continue motivating myself to get things done then I could
bring this grade up.