WhitneyHamlett

UWRT1101
Ms.Ingram
15July2015

Whitney C. Hamlett UWRT 1101-102 Midterm

A.

When I look back to my first blog post from this class, I noticed that I
asked a lot of questions. Two weeks ago I was a curious UTOP student that
had a negative outlook on writing. I looked at writing negatively because of
my writing experience in high school. In high school all I did was write
essays about the World Wars. However, now when I think about the writing
I did before High School I had a positive outlook on writing.

I just noticed that writing is more than just writing essays. Writing
can be typing a reflection about your day, tweeting, making a comment, and
so much more. The question I posed two weeks ago in my 1st blog that I
can answer now is question #6. I asked, "will there be more interaction with
the teacher or will be there be more student interaction"? I can definitely say

that there is more student interaction. Almost everyday there are peer
reviews and group discussions.

What I like the most about my UWRT class are the peer review
sessions. It is very helpful to see how your peers view your writing instead
of knowing your teacher's perspective of your writing all the time. When Ms.
Ingram said that the class would be doing a lot of peer reviewing, I was
upset because I felt that my peers wouldn't know a lot about writing. I asked
myself, "What if they asked me to correct something that was already
correct"? That was my main concern. I haven't come across that problem.
Moreover, now that I have half of a semester under my belt, I would tell the
brand new freshman to come in with a positive outlook. Do not come in with
an idea of what you think the class will be like.

B.

Throughout this course, I have been working on the 10 key concepts.

The 10 key concepts are:

critical thinking

independent inquiry & curiosity

responsibility for your own learning

getting out of your comfort zone


the writing process & revision

providing & receiving feedback

making connections

intellectual growth & maturity

multi-modality of print & digital texts

rhetorical awareness

The concepts I feel I am doing the best with the are intellectual growth
& maturity, responsibility for your own learning, and getting out of my
comfort zone. The concepts that are most challenging to me are
multi-modality of print & digital texts and the writing process & revision.

Intellectual Growth & Maturity

I think I am doing good with my intellectual growth and maturity

because I have changed my mindset on writing. When It came to school, I
did not care about writing. I thought it was a waste of time. I thought it was
crazy to write about things that did not relate to me. Within the two and a
half weeks Ive matured as a writer. College has allowed me to write freely.
This freshman college writing class allows everyone to have intellectual
growth and maturity because everyone just came from high school and

there was always transactional writing used in high school. When the class
realized that they can write what they want, we all became better writers.

Responsibility for your own learning

The title of that concept says it all! I am responsible for my own
learning. I am doing the best at this concept because it is my job to do my
work and put my all into my writing. If I kept my negative outlook on
writing, I wouldnt be able to grow as a writer. Nevertheless, if I kept that
negative outlook, I wouldnt be able to take anything away from this
wonderful class.

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

This concept is very important to me because If I dont get out of my
comfort zone, I will miss out on a lot of opportunities. I came out of my
comfort zone by writing my literacy narrative about my fathers death and
participating more in class. When you get out of your comfort zone you also
improve your intellectual growth and maturity. Getting out of your comfort
zone is something every writer should consider.

Multi-Modality of Print & Digital Texts

This concept is very challenging for me because I am not very good
with spatial and gestural mode. I think I am a good writer but my paragraph

organization is not that good. Gestural mode is challenging for me because

It is difficult for me to add life to my writing. A question that I have for
gestural mode is how do you add life to something that is so serious to you?

Writing Process & Revision

This concept is challenging for me because I really dont have a writing
process. Most of the time, my first drafts as one of my peers said are dry.
Once I have an idea of what I want to write about, I will just start writing.
When I do that, I tend to leave out important details. Therefore, it causes
my writing to be dry. After my first draft, my writing becomes better
because of the peer review sessions that we do in class. During the peer
review sessions, I see what others are writing about and I know what I need
to add and take away from my paper.

C.

The type of literacy I used in my literacy narrative was a mixture of

musical and functional literacy. I define musical literacy as having knowledge
about all aspects of music. If someone asks you a question about music, you
should know the answer if it is pertaining to your field of music. I define

functional literacy as the literacy needed to function on a day to day basis.

What I learned from musical literacy is that I am actually literate in music.
When youve been doing something that you love for the longest time, you
dont stop to take in what youre actually doing. I know that I sing, play four
instruments, and can read and write music. However, I didnt stop to think
that I was literate in music. Furthermore, when I was writing my literacy
narrative about music, I didnt realize that my literacy in music allows me to
function on a day to day basis. While I was writing my literacy narrative, I
learned something about the relationship between language and power. I
think the relationship between language and power is the message and how
you feel. We can use language to exhibit power towards things we love,
hate, and other emotions. We can use language to communicate with others
and language alone is powerful. In my literacy narrative, I think music held
the power. I think music held that power because in my literacy narrative, I
mentioned that I am dependent on music and music keeps me sane. That
power presented itself because music is universal. Within music there is
language. No matter what song youre listening to, it will convey a message.
D.

I mentioned in section A, I came in with a mindset on what class would

be like. I thought it would be like high school but with more work and
people. I was wrong. I noticed that college is not like high school. The work

is different, the students mindsets are different, and the teachers dont care
if you want to learn or not. My academic goals for the second half of the goal
are to become a better writer, participate more in class, and be more
productive. My plans for achieving my goals are to diligently work on
everything I can with the time I am allotted, get out of my comfort zone,
and strive to be the best. The resources that I might utilize that I havent
yet is the writing resource center. Two people from the writing resource
center come to UTOP study hall at least once a week to help people with
their writing.