Welcome to my Portfolio for Writing 39b Winter 2022
I would be lying if I said that this quarter was easy for me. I would also be lying if I said that this was my first time taking this class. Originally I planned to pass this class in the summer of 2021 and take 39C during the fall quarter. Sadly that is not how things turned out; when my dad’s cancer got bad, I did not take it well physically and mentally. It did not help that English is not my strongest subject, so sadly, I did not do good over the summer, and I had to retake it this quarter. I knew that I would struggle with this class due to these past experiences, But that was an understatement, I had to work for every grade I got.
I am well aware that this is an English writing class, but it felt like I was learning another language throughout this quarter. I had to watch many different tutorials on gener analysis to understand how to write one correctly. I did not know if we were analyzing what we’ve learned about genre's in class and comparing it to inside the book or if we had to analyze the story itself and how the author’s choices affected the overall story's genre. I also struggled with formatting the essay in the required way for this class. Since using the 5 paragraph essay method was not the technique we were looking for. I was a little disappointed with the grade I received because I gave it my all, and I still barely got a decent grade. I was even more disappointed when I received no feedback from the essay, just the grade. Now that I think back on it, maybe if I had asked for feedback directly, I would have received it, but at the same time, I still was not mentally out of the woods. During this time, I still had to support my family in any way I could to help my father fight his cancer, so my mind was constantly on overload. In addition, I was overwhelmed by how often the class schedule would change, and I would have to rework my entire schedule around to accommodate that my professor never posted peer reviews on the date they were due.
Overall I know I am not the best writer, especially compared to other students. However, I felt that storytelling skills were at a proficient level, so after the first assignment, I was stoked to find out that our next project was more creativity-based. I wanted to show how immersive two narrators can be within a story. This was to show off the different effects fictional stories have on people. I honestly had a lot of fun during this project, and it gave me a chance to fully explain my thoughts on the different topics we studied in class. Unfortunately, I cried when I found out the news about my prompt because the original prompt that I completed my project on was changed two days before it was due. I can only pray that this will not be a significant dock on my assignment since my idea was approved in past assignments.
This class has challenged me in many ways, but my fear of failing this class again caused me to pick a lot of new skills for writing. It felt like I was alone in this class, which meant that I would have to pick up the skills to learn what was required. I found many good academic videos and articles that explained speculative fiction and how using immersion in your story could cause your reader to be immersed in it. I also learned a lot from re-reading Ursula Leguin’s works, especially From Elfland to Poughkeepsiebecause she explained a lot of the things we were trying to learn in the story. I honestly do not know the other student’s experience with this class, so I can not speak for them. Still, overall, this class was the most challenging class I have ever had, not because there was a lot of workload or even a lot of stuff I had to study, but because I had to do it all on my own. With that said, I am a little great full for this fact because it tested my knowledge in using other outlets to learn how to write/analyze specific rhetorics. It taught me that a teacher could not care about what happens to mental health when a deadline or task is suddenly changed. This class taught me that I could learn if I truly try to because even though I have no idea what my professor thinks of my writing, I was probably in one of the lowest times of my life mentally. Even with the feeling of no support in this class, I know that I have improved in my writing through my structuring, genres, and confidence in myself as a writer.