Blog Post 4: Reflection on Literacy Narrative

I am currently still adding and eliminating details on my narrative, and it feels like I still have a lot left. But I really don’t mind it because I believe I am doing so in a concise way, in which my ideas flow from one point to another. It might look and feel like a tardy project but I am honestly enjoying the process of learning the different ways I am able to explain and express my ideas. This includes not only new vocabulary but the formation of my ideas in a way that is clear for my reader to understand. My biggest challenge was to be able to deliver a clear and comprehensible format in which anyone reading would understand my message, but more often than not I was finding myself in a web of words that after a while of not looking at, ended up perplexing me.

This was the main thing that I was able to learn from the self and peer-review sessions, which was to look at my work from an outsider’s perspective. Most of the time after these exercises, I found myself asking, “Am I achieving my purpose at this point?” For this, I had to stop writing and leave some time in between in which my thoughts wandered elsewhere. After this, I reviewed my last written points. Most of the time, I had to rewrite, which has probably been the least enjoyable part of it all, but overall, has been helping.

I had a lot of doubt at the beginning of my draft because I thought that there was too much storytelling. I almost felt like I was never going to use the information I gathered from my readings and then refer to their points. Luckily, when I did get to them, my annotated descriptions were of big help. I was able to get straight to the point on why I was using a certain opinion, quote or idea from a reading. I almost didn’t have to go back into rereading big chunks of texts to understand why or find supporting details for the ideas raised.  Which of course, has ended up saving time.

Overall, I am feeling confident in my piece. I thought that to write papers, more than two weeks would be required especially because of the environment. As a college student, it’s not the only class that I have responsibility for. But in a curious way, through the sessions, I have learned to better balance my work, that I can stop at any time, develop a new idea at any point, and the review my work. What makes sense and what doesn’t? How can I rephrase this sentence better?  Since it’s my second time taking this class, I look back at my experience with the past work I was able to do in my previous class and there are definitely strategies that were probably expected of me to know. In this class and specifically for this session, I understand that there’s a process involved, no matter the topic of the paper, I ultimately have to fulfill its requirement. Whether it’s answering questions or developing my own ideas from a given theme, I have been able to realize that besides all the research I can do regarding the topic, there’s also background work that I have to follow in order to really understand my assignment.