Professor Haas Writing 39B June 8 2014 Reflection Essay When I finished Writing 39A, I thought Writing 39B would be another class with many assigned readings and writings on a weekly basis. However, after a memorable ten weeks with Professor Haas, I can say Writing 39B was a great learning experience because I realized that I learned a lot of valuable lessons. In our class, we focused on critical reading and rhetorical analysis by examining the genre development, specifically the classical phase and the revisionist phase. I remember I was excited to discover that our class theme was Sherlock Holmes. Even though I understood there would be a lot of readings and writing in the class, I had interest in the class since the beginning. I was able to practice habits of mind, which include curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognition, throughout the entire class. This class helped me to develop as a better writer and a reader. I learned as a result of writing and revising academic essays and collaborating with my group mates. In the first few weeks of class, we focused on Conan Doyles texts and several scholarly articles. Soon after reading these texts, we started to write the literary review essay. We were required to put different scholarly texts into conversations and provide examples of the chosen convention of the detective genre. During the process of writing my literary review essay, I learned the technique of close readings. In order to fully develop the main idea and effectively use the scholarly texts and examples, it was important to understand the scholarly articles and put Wong 2
together their ideas in a logical order. Even though some of the scholarly articles were difficult to understand at first, I learned more about Doyles work from the scholars perspectives. From reading these scholarly articles, I practiced openness by considering and accepting new ways of thinking and other perspectives. In addition, I learned to include specific details in my analysis because I tend to write in a repetitive tone and omit important details. During my revision stage of my essay, I kept my main idea and paragraph focused in order to show the conversations between scholars. Also, I reorganized the essay so it flowed and was cohesive. For my final revision of the literary review, I chose to revise the first body paragraph because it is my weakest paragraph in conveying my message. The paragraph lacked accuracy and specific details. After revising, I think the revised paragraph had a stronger and more concise topic sentences and better synthesis of the two scholarly texts. The revised topic sentence is precise to both mention the scholars perspective and tie in with the controlling idea. The rearranged order of the synthesis was effective as the paragraph flowed. Besides the literary review essay, we wrote a rhetorical analysis essay based on the modern-day adaptations of Doyles Sherlock Holmes stories. Since the modern-day adaptations are a different medium from texts, we learned cinematic elements, such as camera angles, camera scales, framing, sound, and lighting among many others, that are used to analyze a film. I learned a lot from this section of class because I never paid attention to how television episodes and movies were produced and filmed. I was amazed by how many useful techniques and elements were involved in producing merely one scene. Without performing close reading of Guy Ritchies film Sherlock Holmes, and Stephen Moffatts television series Sherlock, I would never realize how much effort was involved beyond the actors and actresses in front of the camera. I was able to practice persistence in the second essay because I sustained interest in learning more about the modern adaptations. This was one of the Wong 3
reasons why I decided to fully revise my rhetorical analysis essay. During my revision stage, I removed unnecessary and repetitive parts of the essay. I also rewrote my thesis to be more concise and straightforward. For my final draft, the greatest strengths would be the emphasis on sub-points in the revised body paragraphs. Instead of analyzing the scene in a chronological order, I described the cinematic elements according to their level of importance within the scene. For my first body paragraph, I described the technique of play and re-play by effectively edited the scene. In my second body paragraph, I examined the use of visual texts by utilizing the camera angles. If I had more time to work on the essay, I would prioritize the conclusion for revision because it was not a strong paragraph in terms of concluding my main ideas. The restatement of thesis was boring and repetitive. I was not able to leave inspirational final thoughts for readers. From the Connect online homework, I learned that revision is more than changing and correcting grammatical errors and sentences structured. The revision strategy of spiraling down method was helpful in enhancing cohesiveness of my essay. In the process of writing and revising the essays, I practiced creativity and metacognition. Revisions required creativity because it was easy to be stubborn and stayed with the original versions. Also, through revisions, I reflected on my shortcomings and mistakes in writing. I learned how to improve from one draft to another. In addition to writing academic essays, I learned how to analyze genres. In the past, I always focused and tried to find what the correct answer in writing was and how to write well. However, after taking Writing 39B, I realized that there was no correct answer in writing, it was the ideas and historical context that matter. I learned that every piece of literature has its own genre and conventions. In analyzing genre with the class, I learned the importance of historical context and audience. After reading the scholarly texts and learning about the Victorian Era, I Wong 4
realized how much historical context could affect the writers and their pieces of literature. Audience determines the way and style of how a writer writes. In the process of analyzing genre, I practiced curiosity because I wanted to learn more about genre development for different genres. Another factor that contributed to my personal growth was the collaboration with my group mates. In the ten weeks of class, Professor Haas placed great importance on group work. I collaborated with several classmates on three different presentations, which included the British Empire in the Victorian Era, Doyles short story A Scandal in Bohemia, and the cinematic elements of camera proximity. As the quarter passed, I learned different lessons on collaboration and public speaking. Public speaking can be intimidating, so it was important to practice as much as possible. I recalled that I did not practice enough for one of the presentations, and I ended up stumbling words because of nervousness. Within our groups, we tried to meet in person in order to practice our speeches and improve our confidence. In addition, I had a great experience working with my teams. Overall, I was able to practice engagements through presenting and listening to presentations. After ten weeks of presentations, I can call this class my Writing 39B family. I believe presentations were the key that tied our class together because through various presentations, each of us met new people and made friends. I was able to be engaged in these presentations by investing time and effort in my topics and actively involved in learning. However, I believed I truly learned about coloration with others through the RIP Seminar. The Rhetoric in Practice Seminar was our end of the quarter presentation. In preparation of the RIP Seminar, my group presented about the classical conventions of the detective genre and the Conan Doyle texts. I am responsible for the conventions of our main character, Sherlock Holmes. In corporation with my group mate, we employed the split-man theory in our Wong 5
presentation. We compared the opposite characteristics of Holmes and Watson by taking turns in explaining their differences. Also, I took care of the organization of the PowerPoint Presentations. I think our classs presentation was great and everyone has enjoyed it. The organization of the seminar was great. We transitioned from the classical phase to the modern films to show how conventions of the detective genre had evolved over time. We were able to entertain and interact with our audience through different means. As a class, I think we were able to teach our audience more about the detective genre and its conventions. On the other hand, I think the other classs presentation was great as I learned a lot of conventions about the horror genre. They mentioned several frequent techniques of making a horror movie. One thing that went really well was their pre-seminar preparation. It was evident that they spent abundant amount of time to direct, film, edit, and produce each short movies. In the RIP Seminar, I learned and practiced my public speaking skills. Even though I have not mastered the highest level of the skills, I am developing it through many practices. I remember I was nervous and could not speak eloquently in the beginning. I will never forget how my leader, Pauline, petted my shoulder to give me confidence. This was the kind of team spirit that I enjoyed and cherished from this class. Another reason that I worked well with my group mates was because we were able to divide up our responsibilities and duties according to each of our strengths and interest. By completing an assigned task where each of us can sustain interest in, we were able to practice persistence. Through working and collaborating in a group to produce a piece, I learned openness, engagement, flexibility, and responsibility. When I was working with Wuchen on the split-man theory, we had different ideas into how we should incorporate it into our presentations. I learned openness by accepting new ways of thinking. It is important to be open because if one tries to achieve his or her own way without considering others, it will be hard to cooperate with Wong 6
the person. It was great that we could reach to agreement in a short while. Engagement played a role in this RIP Seminar because in order to produce a good work, one should always invest time and be actively involved in materials he or she learned. I learned to actively participate in the production stage of the presentation. Also, flexibility is important because it was almost finals week when everyone is busy with their work. It is even more important to be able to adapt to demands and situations. In order to fulfill my duties and assigned tasks, I learned to take responsibility and ownership of my actions. During a group work, if someone doesnt complete their parts, it will affect the whole group. So, being responsible is essential in a group. Overall, this RIP Seminar was a great learning experience. Besides writing essay and collaborating with group mates, mastering the fundamentals was truly essential in writing. Through the Connect exercises and practices, I had a chance to review and improve on my grammar. I believe the hardest part of grammar was to recognize my own mistakes. It was often easy to fix a mistake after somebody pointed it out. However, I understood, in order to take ownership of my writing, I needed to have a good foundation in grammar. I learned that it will be bothersome for readers if there are many grammar errors throughout a piece of writing. The readers will have a hard time to understand my ideas. I wanted to become a successful writer who can communicate well. I learned the importance to proofread my essay several times. Generally, I was aware that I knew the answer for different topics. However, for some topics, I was often am unaware that I knew the answer. I learned that as I was completing the assignments, I should be more confident about my answers. Throughout the quarter, I learned many valuable lessons in writing that are applicable to my undergraduate career and even my future career as an accountant. Communication and writing are essential in life. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to practice these skills with Wong 7
a topic that I enjoy. Writing this reflection essay is one of the great ways for me to practice metacognition, one of the most important lessons that I have learned from this class. I learned to reflect on my own learning in order to actively engage in the class. In addition, through working on and listening to different presentations, I was able to be actively involved in learning. I believe the person who presents the materials is always the first one to learn about it. Also, I learned to have more responsibility during group work. It is important to not only finish my own parts, but also to help group mates when they need help. I believe I was able to sustain interest in and attention to Sherlock Holmes. Until today, I am still amazed by Sherlocks brain. I can practice these skills in other classes as well. As I continue my journey as a writer, these lessons would always accompany and help me through challenges.