Growing up, reading and writing were never my strong suit as I enjoyed math and science more. Despite my parents being massive bookworms and could go reading for hours at a time, it never really appealed to me and seemed more like a chore. Instead, I rather play video games or watch a show than spend any time reading or writing, which resulted in my overall weak base with literature.

This certainly reflected when it came to my school work, as for years, I would have trouble with my grammar and tense use. I would switch between informal and formal writing, and nothing ever would be consistent. I would do my reading and writing assignments the night before, which usually resulted in sloppy writing that was just enough to get by. For years this worked, but I had to face the harsh reality once I got to high school. This is where my writing took a turn, and I started to invest more time in it. Through studying for the SAT and taking on more challenging writing classes, my writing improved slowly but surely throughout the 4 years. However, I lacked a lot and was not polished in many areas.

However, my interest in writing did grow as a result. I started to enjoy the writing process more, spending more time planning my essay out rather than putting something together very last minute. Now I would receive the assignment and plan it ahead of time. While it didn't work out all the time, I started making more effort for my writing. I would put in serious time revising and editing my essay and trying to make it the best I could.

Going into Writing 39B, I was nervous about what the workload would be like. As I took all honor writing classes in high school, not knowing the expected level of writing on the next level was scary. Still, I was also eager to learn and improve upon my skills.

Week 0-2

Throughout the first two weeks, I felt like any other English class. We had learned the basics of what we were talking about before diving deeper into the bigger overarching assignment or essay.

We learned more and more about what Dark Fairytales were and what really defined them during this period. Throughout the first two weeks, It helped me develop a better understanding of genre conventions and elements within dark fairytales. I also learned about the historical context and how that affected the story. With all of that, it gave me the resources to think to about what topic I wanted to talk about and how I would write about it.

Our readings and canvas posts helped build confidence in myself that I was able to talk and write about this topic. While at the end of the 2 weeks, I wasn't 100% confident it was good enough for me to start writing my Genre Analysis paper.

With the introduction of the Genre Analysis / GA paper, it felt like a lot at first. The introduction of an essay this early into the class was overwhelming to me. However, this gave me a new understanding of the writing/drafting process as I had to learn to adapt to a new pace. In addition, given that these were very low states assignments it relieved a lot of pressure from me as I didn’t have to worry about writing the “perfect” draft, and having them graded based on completion comforted me as well.

Week 3-4:

Throughout these two weeks, I started to better understand what the GA was and what I wanted to do for my essay. Continuing with our in-class readings, I gained more sources for my essay. Specifically, the themes and motifs readings would play a big part in my GA when it came to finding other sources to support my argument.

The peer-review also gave me a lot of confidence moving into the final submission of the essay the following week. Through the peer review, it really helped me develop my revising skills within my writing. In addition, it gave me a different perspective on how I should go about my drafting process and adjustments I can make within my writing process. It was really nice to get feedback from my classmates to see how I was doing and see what areas I needed to work on and which were already pretty well developed. Also, helping my classmates helped develop my own thinking and open myself to different perspectives that I initially didn't see.

Week 5-6

During week 5, I started to finalize my essay and get ready for the submission of my final draft. The viewing of Pan's Labyrinth presented me with how the genre of a dark fairy tale can be shown in the form of a movie. This allowed me to see the rhetorical strategies used in the film to convey horror, which would help prepare me for the IP in later weeks.

Week 6 was a big turning point for me as I realized many of my shortcomings after seeing the feedback I got from Professor Ludisaca. The conference I would have with her helped me understand her comments and what I had to change about my essay. It was definitely a little stressful trying to incorporate all the different feedback I got and integrating it into my essay within that one week. However, I learned how to really concentrate on the ideas I want to express and get rid of any off-topic information. In addition, as I had trouble with the word count, I had to cut out many things and felt like the essay might've lost some of its strength as a result. However, with the GA being done, I was still very confident in what I wrote and was looking forward to the IP.

Week 7-8

Week 7 was probably one of the more laid-back weeks in a while, as we spent the majority of that week exploring what kind of project I would do for the IP. I enjoyed reading movie reviews, podcasts, and other multimodal projects. While I didn't know what film I wanted to review or analyze, this really opened my eyes to what I could do. It gave me a new perspective on how I should work with content other than writing and ways I can analyze multimodal content. This began the shift in my thinking from more traditional writing I analyzing movies and getting deeper meanings from them

Week 8 proved stressful as I still didn't know what text I wanted to analyze. I spent a reasonable amount of time surfing the web, trying to find something that would pique my interest when researching and writing a review. I ended up using Maleficent as the movie I would review and was a little intimidated by how I would analyze the film. However, the scene analysis activity gave me confidence in moving forward with my IP. It allowed me to break things down and see my thinking more clearly. After that activity, I felt more confident with my approach to my IP and the way I was going to structure my IP

Week 9-10

Week 9 continued with my work on my IP and further enhanced my writing. While still a little stressful trying to figure out what I wanted to write about, the ePortfolio only added to my stress.

I had a hard time switching to a more casual tone than our more formal writing done in the GA, as my first draft for my IP sounded a lot more formal. So when it came to revisions, I tried to write like I was having a conversation with friends, which proved to be a big help.

I would work on my writing process but in a different way this time in the form of analyzing movies. Changing this perspective in my thinking from using text to the way the movie was shot or analyzing scenes and the ways I can incorporate that into my writing was a skill I learned and developed during this time.

Week 10 was probably the most stressful week with finals coming up and many projects and assignments being due. This also applied to writing. Most of week 10 I spent working on my IP and portfolio. I really had to manage my time wisely and make sure that whatever I was writing was concise and got my ideas on paper without straying away from my main points.

This week was mainly a culmination of all the skills I’ve learned up to this point and really applying them to my final pieces of writing for this class. From understanding genre and the conventions associated with them to deeper analysis into stories and applying what the bigger message may be. Using my newly developed skills of analyzing films and incorporating all of them into my writing.

Conclusion:

Overall, I felt like I grew a lot as a writer through these 10 weeks. While I’m not 100% clean and polished, many of the skills I learned such as breaking things up into smaller pieces and really taking my time with my writing will be something I use moving forward into the future. Even if I won’t have assignments due, making these mental notes into my head will is now something I consider important in my writing process.

The GA taught me a lot when it came to the analysis of texts as that was something I’ve struggled with. Also because fairy tales weren’t something I was familiar with it forced me to see different perspectives on the tale and really allowed me to conduct a deeper analysis of the tale. The IP did something similar but in the form of a film. Taking this new perspective on analysis deepened my skills along with me better understanding a different form of media. Seeing the progression I made from the begging of the quarter to now I have to say that my whole entire writing process changed along with my mindset with writing. It’s allowed me to produce higher quality writing with less redundancy and deeper more meaningful analysis.