Writer's Profile

During the course of this semester I feel like I've grown as a writer. I can't actually say how much I grew as a writer, but I did grow no matter how big or small. I don't feel like I learned anything specifically that will help me with my writing in the future but I did grow as a writer, simply because of the fact that I did a lot of writing. If you write a lot of different things you are going to grow no matter what, it's just like if someone takes a lot of jump shots playing basketball they are going to get better even if it's just a little bit. I don't think that there was anything that happened in class that either helped or impeded my development as a writer. Right now I still feel like I’m a pretty good writer. My writing process definitely hasn't throughout the course of the semester. I still take the same approach when I'm about to write, by waiting until the last minute to start writing. I think that my thoughts flow better that way, and I probably won't stop doing it this until I'm negatively affected by it. The only goal I ever set as a writer is escaping the class with a B, and my goal hasn't changed throughout the semester. 

The only challenge I had during the semester was writing the Inquiry Paper. The reason I found this specific assignment so challenging was because it was asking for me to write a type of paper that I’ve never had to write before. It was the first time that I had to write an argumentative paper, and I had a problem preventing it from being conversational. The only way I was able to overcome this obstacle was by reading the feedback and learning what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. I believe that this assignment if any fostered my growth as a writer the most, because I was forced to write differently. I’m glad that I had to do the Inquiry paper because I’m pretty sure that I will run into another argumentative paper somewhere down the road.

At the beginning of the semester I expected to be like any other English class I’ve taken in the past. I expected to read some things and write some things. My expectations never changed throughout the semester because we did exactly what I expected us to do. I am happy that I took this class, it was pretty fun and I never felt like I didn't want to go to it. 

Theory of Writing

My feelings about writing haven’t really changed throughout the semester. I didn’t necessarily learn anything this semester that will truly affect my writing going forward. I honestly don’t even think about anything that I learned during class while I’m writing. I think that the best writing comes from people who truly care about writing itself and enjoys doing it, but I think that is still possible to be a good writer if you don’t. I still approach writing the same way now as I did at the beginning of the semester. I still wait until the last minute before I start writing because I feel like my thoughts flow better that way. I think that writing is a form of art and just like any other form of art some people are good at and some people aren’t. I believe that good writing has to be truthful and passionate. I writer should be true to himself when writing. You should write about what you know and believe. I believe that a writer should care about his writing in order to properly connect to his fans. Bad writing is something that isn’t interesting or doesn’t evoke any emotions out of me, and it’s like I’m just reading a bunch of random words put together. I end up having to read it over a couple of times just to understand what was said. If writing is emotionless no one will ever want to read it. When I’m writing I need to consider what it is that I’m trying to tell my audience. I also need to consider what approach I need to take in order to get my audiences’ attention so I will be able to convey my message. I consider myself to be a good writer. I don’t think that I’m a great writer, it’s not like I can write a great paper on a topic that I don’t care but not many can. I don’t think that my writing style ever changes regardless of the situation; I believe that no matter what I write it always will sound like something I would write. I still don’t care too much for writing in general. Writing is still something that I look at with the mindset that I have to do it and not that I want to do it. That’s nothing against this class, I actually enjoyed the class, writing just isn’t something that I’m very passionate about. 

Inquiry Reflection

Inquiry Blog
The Inquiry blog was actually really helpful. When I first heard about it I thought that it would stupid. I think that it's good that we were able to display our writing and that our classmates were able to comment on it. I got ideas about what I could write about by being able to look at other peoples' work. It also let me know if I was doing my assignment right by seeing what my classmates were doing. I think that blogger was pretty easy to use once I got the hang of it. I wish I would've done a better job of commenting on my classmates work because I might of been able to help someone get a better idea of what to write about. Overall I don't think that the blog really impacted my writing, but I was a nice way to display my writing and show my improvement over the course of the semester.


Inquiry Project
The inquiry project was definitely difficult, it was by far the hardest assignment we had to do all semester. I don't think that I have ever written an argumentative paper before. I had a problem with preventing my paper from sounding too conversational. I actually ended up enjoying this assignment despite the difficulty of it because I really started to get interested in my topic. I didn't enjoy righting the first draft because I didn't really know what I was doing and I think my writing reflected that. It got a lot easier after receiving the feedback on it because I knew what I was doing right and what I needed to change. I think I ended up writing a pretty good argumentative paper in the end. I believe that this helped me become a better writer because it was so challenging, and even though I enjoyed the challenge I wouldn't be upset if I never had to write another paper like this.

Personal Creed

 My name is George Mitchell and I believe that I’m a pretty honest person, so I’m going to be honest and tell everyone the things that I believe in. I would like to warn everyone that this may sound a bit selfish but that’s just me being honest.

I believe that the most important thing in life is to make sure that you put your happiness first. If you can’t make yourself happy, it gets really hard to make anyone else happy. I believe in always putting myself first.

I also believe that it’s important to take care of yourself, physically and trying to stay in shape. 

I think that people should have fun with what they’re doing and that they shouldn’t stay in miserable situations.

I believe in staying positive and not letting things that you can’t control get you depressed.

I believe that laughter is an important part of living a healthy life.

I believe in being honest as much as possible, because it’s a lot easier for me to remember the truth than keeping up with a bunch of different lies.

I believe that respecting yourself and others is very important.

I think that everyone should try their best to think before they speak. You never know how the things that you say without thinking can affect someone.

I believe in being confident but not overly confident. There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance.

I also think that you shouldn’t think too highly of yourself and put others down, or look down on people like you’re better than them.

I believe that playing sports, or being a part of some kind of team, at some point in your life is very important. You can learn a lot of lessons from being a part of a team that can’t be learned anywhere else.

I believe in God, and I believe that people shouldn’t judge others or try to push their religion onto others.

 I believe that if you want something to happen you should do something to make it happen yourself and not just pray for it.

Last and most importantly, I believe that the Miami Dolphins and Hurricanes will both win championships within the next five years.

Discussions of Reflection

I think that she is right when she says that with the intent to be self reflective would help someone in becoming an honest writer. When someone constantly writes and self reflects they learn what is that they need to do in order to become an effective writer. I also like when she says that "writing changes; writing is fluid; writing is a bitch; writing is an art." The reason why I like that statement so much is because it's true. Though there are things that you can do the same way while writing, writing itself never stays the same and is always changing. To me self reflection means looking at yourself with objectivity with the intention of seeing what needs to be changed in order to better yourself. Self reflection can help you find the truth about yourself  in more ways than just writing.

Response to TIB Peer Review

I'm feeling pretty good about my rough draft. I think that by putting in a lot of different things in my rough draft it made the peer review better. By not really going into a lot of details with anything it let me know what parts people would be interested in and want to read more about.  During the peer revision process I learned that my essay was a bit repetitive, and that I should add a specific example of when a loss really affected me. I have an idea of what direction I want to go in know. I think I've done a good job of getting my beliefs across even without going into details. I plan on cutting out some of my repetitive sentences, and putting in a story that will connect to the reader and pull their interest towards my essay.

Response to The Last Lecture

I think that the way he communicated his message was great. He was very engaging and he kept his audience interested in what he was saying. The fact that he let everyone know that he was sick at the beginning of the lecture added to the importance of the lecture. It gave the audience even more incentive to listen to what he was saying. Even though he didn't want people to pity him it's impossible for people not to feel sorry for him. So by stating that he is dying he immediately appealed to his audience's emotions. There are two reasons why I think he chose a lecture format as his platform  to send out his final message. The first is that he is a professor and that's what he does. If you are sending out your final message you want to be in your comfort zone. If he was a writer I'm pretty sure he would've wrote a book to do it. The second reason is that a lecture is more personal and it allows people to see who he really is. He is able to really connect with his audience this way.