Here are the Course Learning Objectives: Over the semester, you will

1. acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility 
2. enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment
3. negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation 
4. develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
5. engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond
6. formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing
7. practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects
8. strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources) 

Semester Reflection

Writing has never been an easy subject for me. This class was no different, some would argue it was even more challenging as it required us to collaborate and be patient with others than ourselves. I had never experienced a class that had asked me to work with others on the subject of writing, and in the career that I’m working towards this was everything I could ask for.

The resume and cover letter assignment was truly the best assignment that helped clarify my confusion when writing a resume. I also was able to improve it when receiving feedback from my peers and the professor which made it more cohesive and stronger. Not only that but this assignment helped me personally as well, I usually find some ice-breaking assignments for certain classes pointless but this helped to get to know my peers as well as knowing how to improve my writing.

I had a lot of thoughts when I got the rhetorical analysis paper. But I was looking for an issue that people could identify with—having to live up to social expectations of beauty. I chose the provocative image from the PETA advertisement. As a result, it allowed me to face certain struggles in my writing. This was the ideal image to write about, and I was reassured by my classmates’ responses in class, with them feeling like the image had touched them in a certain way. This also inspired the title that I came up with, “When You Become the Whale”. But I did run into some problems with this paper since I had never before based my work on an image. Along with making sure I wasn’t expressing my opinion or talking about my issues with the subject. I was able to assess some of the course learning objectives that I met for this semester via this assignment. The first learning objective for the course was difficult, but I was glad to have completed it because I was able to receive a 100% with just one draft. Although I had already completed objective three in a previous semester, this task deepened my understanding of rhetorical analysis. The final objective I was able to complete for this assignment was number six, which had been a worry of mine the entire time but helped me come up with a solid article. It was difficult at first, but ultimately gratifying.

The literature review marked the start of some really difficult writing projects. This task wasn’t easy as it required a lot of diverse sources, many of which were peer-reviewed and could not be located on any random online website. With effort and time, it was possible to complete several learning objectives. The same cannot be stated for objective number four, though, as I didn’t know how effectively my groupmates worked. But it also had its advantages since I wasn’t sure what to write about when I started this project, but one of my members suggested writing about the effects of nutrition. As a result of this project, I learned from this assignment that collaborating with people has both benefits and drawbacks.

The second-to-last assignment of the semester was the most difficult of them all. However, I was better prepared since I better understood each of my group mates. Luckily, this task fell during spring break, which allowed us to pace ourselves. But once we were faced with the challenge of looking for images in the book, we couldn’t finish it in time for the peer review. Our book entails continuously eating well; it exaggerates a lot, but it is very entertaining, as we included some pictures in the end that most of us who went to public schools can relate to.

Since I have a strong connection to kids and wanted them to like the book we created, this assignment was quite enjoyable for me. Even so, it was difficult to make the photographs stand out the way we wanted them to since we lacked the necessary resources. This project addressed all of the course learning objectives. The need to collaborate with others, ensure the accuracy of our material, and have the freedom to review and edit our work made the whole process worthwhile.

The last assignment was presentations. Even just presenting itself is difficult. When presenting in front of others, this presents a new challenge. I offered to be the first speaker so that I could introduce my colleagues’ points. Even though it was scary to depend on others, I was pleased with the outcome. Even so, I was thrilled to see how my peers responded to the pictures we had selected and the turn our story had taken.

To conclude, this semester was truly eye-opening to see how my writing has improved. As well as seeing all the course learning objectives I have completed. Working with others wasn’t all I had hoped for but it truly made me value my patience to deal with it. I am hopeful that I will continue to grow in the ways where I struggle with the course learning objectives.