Alex Bohnsack

Ingram
Midterm 1103 026

Growth and Progress

Humans, as societies and as individuals, have their own ethics that are placed
on a hierarchy. This hierarchy determines the most important ideals that people focus
on as they go throughout their daily lives. More specifically, students in a class will
also see a set of concepts that are deemed as vital knowledge in hopes to complete the
course. An interesting factor about these concepts is that for each individual, some
key concepts are easier to grasp over others. For instance, concepts I personally
thought were easier to retain were independent inquiry and curiosity, critical
reading, and getting out of your comfort zone. On the other hand, critical reflection,
multi-modality of print and digital texts were and still are harder for me to master. It
is important for a student to understand what their strengths are and what needs to be
improved on as their learning progresses.
At the start of the class, each student entered at their own skill level of writing.
As previously mentioned, the concepts that I thought I understood well were
independent inquiry and curiosity, critical reading, and coming out of my comfort
zone. In terms of independent inquiry and curiosity, I have always been one to seek
out more information about topics we are currently discussing in class. Discovering
more information about current discussions in class has always been interesting and
satisfying to me. In all literacies of life, I find that there is always more to be seen or
understood, such as why a specific word was chosen or a certain phrase added, which
also helps me with my writing. In my third blog post, I inquired more about the
equality in the modern day social landscape. I mentioned previous knowledge about
diversity and social equality that shows my personal interest in the concepts. As I
posed my research topic I analyzed recent articles about social injustice and asked
myself, why is there still inequality? Critically reading these articles and accounts
of injustice helped me to develop a deeper understanding to my research topic. In
terms of coming out of my comfort zone, I found the intimate group setting to foster a
more personal connection between my classmates and me. Having a small group
allowed me to connect with my peers in a way that I feel I would have been unable to
in a larger class setting. While I have not yet completely mastered these concepts,
they are ones that come easier to me and helped me continue to grow as a writer.
While some concepts come to me easily, there are still many that I have to
focus on learning and understanding. Right now the things I struggle with the most
are critical reflection and multi-modality of print and digital texts. I have always been

Alex Bohnsack
Ingram
Midterm 1103 026

accustomed to the pen and the paper as the vessel on which my words set sail
on. Venturing into new territories on how to present my writing has been something
that I have had to learn to get used to. On a personal level, it is easy for me to get out
of my comfort zone, but it is difficult for me to utilize novel mediums. Something I
also have struggled with as a writer is the process of critical reflection. A key concept
from Who says? The Writer's research by Holdstein and Aquiline for students as
writers is to be able to answer, why am I writing this? As I mentioned in my second
blog post, I often overlook the meaning of why I am actually writing something. I
have no issue with analyzing and rhetorically thinking about text, but I sometimes
struggle with finding my reason for writing. Even though I have yet to master these
skills, they have not stopped me from being able to write and overcoming my
challenges will take my abilities as a writer to a higher level.
Every writer faces personal challenges that they must conquer in order to grow as a
writer. As Benjamin Franklin said, Without continual growth and progress, such
words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. This relates to
writers because growth means having a better understanding of who they are as
writer.