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Toby Miller

Stretching Your Comfort Zone

One of the first skills I learned in UWRT 1104 was stretching my comfort zone. For a long

time writing has been something well out of my comfort zone, especially when it came to academia.

Just before midterms was when I really found myself understanding better how to approach

expanding my comfort zone without experiencing as much burnout as I had in the past. The most

important part of the infographic I made as a part of the midterm study guide assignment stated that

stretching your comfort zone meant, “[w]rite in new ways or about new topics you wouldnt typically

present for a class but have an interest in yourself, but don't push too quickly and burn yourself out.”

Found here: https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-artifacts.htmlIt was at this point I found

myself garnering a better understanding of the concept, even through such a small in class project. I

would honestly say projects of this caliber were my strong suit in this course. Eventually, by the time

I was reflecting on my multi genre project, I found myself saying, “The mode of communication I

relied most heavily on I feel was linguistic. I feel I used language in two different ways across both

pieces to appeal to different sectors of my audience.” Found here:

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-eip.html I had really felt I was successfully stretching

my comfort zone when it came to writing, and had in fact begun learning to enjoy it to a greater

extent. That is not to say there were no bumps in the road however. Writing with bias is a safe space

for me now, but this did not help much when it came to my annotated bibliography. Looking back I

found that in my notes section, even though they were meant to be an unbiased set of notes on each

article, I found myself writing statements such as, “[a]s with the last article, this is attributed in large

part to the connection of the video game “Doom” to the perpetrators of the Columbine Massacre. In

an effort to make sense of their son's heinous actions, the parents of the perpetrators demonized
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video games and called for research to be done into their effects on teenage psyche.” Found here:

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-eip.html

Critical Reading

The next skill I found myself at the very least coming to understand was critical reading.

According to one of the two midterm study guide assignments done by my classmates, critical

reading is defined as “analyzing the deeper meaning of a text by taking counter arguments and

supporting points into consideration,” and was suggested to be used in class, “during peer

review, focus on their details and ask questions about their work to fully understand the topic.

Also when completing portfolio assignments, read the assigned readings for meaning and relate

it back to your own life.” (Critical Reading Study Guide 1) Found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11WZcWmEZ1Pnuw7DDPrHbuOc4bC_5tYZaztiWI_KlK

TE/edit In the second study guide on critical reading, the students suggested “[a]nalyze the text

and read slow, Ask questions using our critical thinking skills, Question what is the purpose of

this reading and why are you reading it” Found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CXDwq5gII_dLkwUTqEqc9pxEVqdQzY5AFC9T0WwN

cSE/edit One especially prevalent point I recalled when beginning to read critically was while

researching for the annotated bibliography, when I stated “I feel that across most of these

articles, Columbine specifically has been mentioned so many times that it starts to lose

meaning.” Found here: https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-eip.html From reading a

number of articles to research, I began to feel oversaturated with certain information. From this I

had started to break down the necessity of research from many different and opposed sources for
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a greater understanding and expanse of knowledge.

Effective Note-Taking

A final skill I began to develop in this course was effective note-taking. As described in

the midterm study guide on the subject, “When taking notes on writing it can be smart to look for

ideas and not pay too much attention to the cadence. Write less about anecdotes and more about

the understanding of the concepts and material. Note taking during lectures is similar in the fact

that it is vital to filter through and find the meaningful information.” Found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pUhGgz8-

Al5Z5Eo3rc6DNA0R9kjsm3CUSPC_3ppKDVg/edit?copiedFromTrash The beginnings of my

own attempts at getting a concise point across began in my midterm study guide project.

“Stretching your comfort zone means using safe methods to expand into working in the stretch

zone without hitting the panic zone.” Found here: https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-

artifacts.html At this point in taking notes on the subject of stretching your comfort zone, I had

begun to create concise and understanding based notes. This progressed in my annotated

bibliography, while not entirely perfect as stated previously, I had again begun to show signs of a

better development in my note taking when I stated, “[t]he current president has been attributing

video games to the creation of “monsters” since 2012.” Found here:

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-eip.html My ability to take notes on a subject I

have strong feelings about in an unbiased way had definately shown progression. I refrained

from including my personal opinions, settling solely on fact and recollection of past events. This

also showed an increase in my ability to keep notes concise and clear. Even throughout the

semester, my notes in my only other academic course, Japanese, showed improvement. Even
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though my notes got shorter, I had a much easier time going over and recalling the information I

had learned.

Some Final Thoughts

One quote I really wanted to include here but did not find a suitable place to insert came

from the reader response letters explanation document. “When you respond as a reader, you react

to the author(s) of the text(s) you just read. I like to think of reader response as a way to enter

into dialogue with the authors you read. This is also great practice for peer review, where you

will respond as a reader to your peers’ work.” Found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vj8MKbgGDVzKAqbvOk7NRTWb_-

EW_5CUn4LMuPSpoRs/edit This quote and the whole document really helped me

tremendously throughout this course as the reader response letters were one of my biggest fears

going into the semester. The thought of entering a dialogue with the author really helped me to

better grasp the idea of reader response, something that had been an extreme struggle for me. It

was definitely the bane of my high school english experience.

(I was not entirely sure how to cite unpublished sources so I have labeled and linked them here)
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Critical Reading Study Guide 1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11WZcWmEZ1Pnuw7DDPrHbuOc4bC_5tYZaztiWI_KlK

TE/edit

Critical Reading Study Guide 2

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CXDwq5gII_dLkwUTqEqc9pxEVqdQzY5AFC9T0WwN

cSE/edit

Note Taking Study Guide *Note, Original is “in owners trash” so this link is to a copy of it I

made.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pUhGgz8-

Al5Z5Eo3rc6DNA0R9kjsm3CUSPC_3ppKDVg/edit?copiedFromTrash

RRLs *Note, Original is a link to a microsoft document download so I have linked my own

version I copied to Google Docs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vj8MKbgGDVzKAqbvOk7NRTWb_-

EW_5CUn4LMuPSpoRs/edit

EIP Finals Page

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-eip.html

Artifacts Page

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-artifacts.html

Studios Page

https://tobiasgrayson.weebly.com/uwrt-1104-studios