Transforming Into a New Person

Week ten has finally come to an end, and sadly, this will officially be my last blog. The process of creating my portfolio through a website has been challenging yet joyful. I am so glad to be part of the Writing 39B course during my Winter quarter, as I learned a wide range of new skills that I can use at some point in my future.

Creating this website has taught me the importance of providing valuable information on a site that is also visually pleasing. I learned that an aesthetically pleasing website would attract a broad audience. During class discussion, I also became aware of what a "targeted" audience truly is and how to attract the public with our writings while using a variety of genre conventions. I always assumed those rhetorical strategies and genre conventions were only shown in works of literature, but these devices are used all over the world to spread awareness. These conventions are used in music, television, and even billboard signs.

I remembered participating in a group activity during class, where each group was assigned a specific task. My group and I were assigned to find the targeted audience in Artis Henderson's memoir, Unremarried Widow. We thought that the book targeted military wives, but we stood corrected. We realized that the memoir focused in a much general area, women, not a specified category of women, but all women. When writing my RA essay, I focused on military wives and how stereotypically labeled they are, as a way to connect to the historical and cultural context of the memoir. Knowing my addressed audience helped me stay focused and organized throughout my entire essay, which also helped me satisfy the requirements of the rubric and get a good grade on my paper.

An excerpt of an in-class group activity demonstrating the importance of an audience.

Learning about the importance of genre conventions during discussion has also helped me shape my writing skills, primarily when being assigned readings such as Kerry Dirk's "Navigating Genres." This article made me aware of the significance of genre conventions when writing. Understanding what genre conventions are, allows us to analyze different pieces of works, which helped me improve my writing and permitted me to be a part of an academic discourse community.

An excerpt of my annotations from Kerry Dirk's "Navigating Genres" article.

Genre conventions assist writers in interacting with the audience to help them understand the purpose of the text. Without developing this bond with the audience, there is no emotion or clarity, and the piece of writing would lose its meaning. As a student who is debating about majoring in Journalism or English, I value learning the importance of such devices.

My biggest obstacle in Writing 39B has to be my neverending procrastination. When there was a huge task, I often put it on the end of my To-do lists and find it difficult to start. Starting the assignment was the hard part, but after starting, I could manage to do the task until I finish. However, I am the queen of procrastination. When doing an assignment, I would take constant breaks and go on Twitter to look at memes or at what is trending. These breaks then turned into hours, leaving me nervous as I feared that I would not have enough time to finish the task before the deadline.

However, I have been learning to limit my procrastination by managing my time and finding a motive. My motive was and still is to get excellent grades in all of my humanities-related courses. I managed to do so by doing my absolute best in every assignment. I tried to get feedback from friends when working on an essay so I could gradually find ways of improving. My family is not so supportive of my change in majors and career paths, but I am hoping by seeing how happy I am taking these classes and by demonstrating my progression will allow them to have a change in heart. This motive has inspired me to keep trying in all my courses and has helped me manage my time by creating to-do lists and writing everything in my planner. Even if procrastinating, I still manage to get my tasks done.

Presenting was also tricky for me. I am a very timid person, so when presenting to my class, my anxiety levels would rise drastically. I always got in my head with negative thoughts about how my peers are always better at public speaking than I'll ever be, leaving me like a nervous wreck when my turn is up. However, I would attempt to ignore my thoughts. I would go in front of the classroom and finish the presentation, so I can stop worrying about the task. Despite my thoughts or emotions, I present, no matter what. One day I am positive that I will learn to not care about what others may be thinking of me because at the end of the day, as long as I give it my all, then that is what truly matters.

A demonstration of my growth.