Dear Reader,

Over the course of the fall semester of 2015 I completed a bunch of free-writes and other
Writing Notebook work ranging in subject from how my day was going to assignments that were
given in class. I do not think that free writing without a subject in mind is worth the time, but I
did find it very effective when I was in the early stages of completing a project. When I would
free-write without a subject in mind, I would tend to lose structure and sometimes find myself
doodling. Great examples, however, as to when I found free-writing useful are the SelfAuthorship essays because I elaborated on my three character strengths and the PERMA model.
Free writing also helped me to get ideas out for my Literacy Narrative essay. I didnt find
clustering to be helpful at all really when beginning these essays because it left me with a bunch
of ideas that I struggled to later organize. The Writing Notebook work that helped me with my
Extended Inquiry Project was discussing the purpose and reasons as to why we chose our topic. I
grew as a learner by learning effective strategies to get my ideas out of my head and into the
world.
In the process of each of our assignments, students in the class formed groups and gave
each other peer critiques and reviews. I found that the peer critiques were useless and frustrating
because I wouldnt trust that the feedback I was getting came from someone with a qualifying
background so to tell me what was right or wrong about what I produced. I did think that peer
feedback was useful, though, because it gave me a sense as to whether or not the messages I
intended for the reader to get were actually getting across. For example, the three step responses

that we completed during the process of the Literacy Narrative essay helped me finalize the
paper because it was clear as to what my classmates got from my writing. Taking into account
the interpretations of my classmates helped me develop as a learner and as a person because it
opened my eyes as to what some people respond to and how they do so.
The most important work in the class was the first Self Authorship essay because I was
forced to really dig deep down and pull out truths from within myself that I otherwise would
have gone on living and ignoring. In the first Self Authorship Essay, I was able to make a
connection about my dad that helped me to better appreciate him.
My strength in writing that has remained consistent throughout the semester is the
strength of voice. My biggest weakness in my writing lies in the flow from one idea to the next.
Also, when referring to the future, Ive shown a habit of listing rather than depicting. These were
the biggest issues with my second Self Authorship essay and even required me to rewrite the
final draft. The flow in which I write will be something that Ill need to continue working on in
the future.
I feel as though the progress as a thinker, question, and writer in this class has advanced,
but only just so slightly. The most significant challenge that I faced came from the Extended
Inquiry Project Research and Essay. This project has been different from other research projects
that Ive done because, in the past, I compiled a list of sources and annotated each one so that I
could back an argument I was presenting. The idea of a delayed thesis was very new to me, but I
learned that not all essays are meant to defend one side of a debate.
I enjoyed the Literacy Narrative essay because I got to have a little fun going back in
time and talking about how I learned to read and write. I thought the essay was easy because it

was about something that I didnt mind talking about and relevant to the course. I would only
change the fact that formatting wasnt taken into account for this assignment because it was
harder to transition into the MLA format given that not all the assignments were held to the same
standard. The first Self Authorship essay was much easier to write than the first because it was
easier to write about what Ive already proven myself to be than what I might be in the future. I
would change how we used the PERMA model for the second Self Authorship essay because all
of the letters in the acronym were too close and confusing to differentiate between. I was
surprised by how much I learned about myself during the process of writing the Self Authorship
essays. The Extended Inquiry Project Research and Essay were difficult because Id never done
research that way and written about the research as if a theoretical conversation was happening.
The Genre Project was probably the easiest of them all because I used information that had
already been gathered and used my creativity to tie it all into a short little cartoon. I thought the
Genre project to be the most fun of all the assignments we did in class and it may be the
assignment Im most proud to have done in the class. I wasnt really surprised by any of the
assignments because none of them were completely new as far as critically thinking was
involved. I found that I was more creative than I thought and will certainly keep in mind my top
three character strengths which I learned from the class moving forward.

Sincerely,
Paul Coady