The most direction I received during this project was the feedback I received. For our 75% check mark, I was past the checkpoint, but had to work on some things. "An excellent start and meets the 75% threshold, Jackson." "Be sure to double-check that you have all the in-text citations that are needed/required, including photos." (C. Arnold, Feedback for Submission Link | ≥75% complete First Draft | WP3). This feedback gave me confidence, yet showed me a couple of things that I needed to work on, primarily in-text citations. I went back and added some of the needed criteria—mainly the citations for the text, interview, and other things—but missed some photo in-text citations.

Wednesday Writing was definitely an interesting part of the semester. At the start, I hated it. I believed it was another one of the free writes at the start of class, like in previous grades. I treated it that way too, not really thinking about the prompts, and just getting some sentences down to play some games on my computer. But as the semester rolled on, I realized that they usually corresponded to the projects we were working on later in class. It helped you get a jump start on the work you were gonna do later, or add substance to the projects like the ones we did about Adam Grant's TED Talk. The work we did dramatically helped me later in the class while working on the projects. They helped piece some points together, and they added needed points of view from the prompts.

I really liked how this project let me be very creative as well. There wasn't a lot of direction besides the stuff that we need to have on our project. It let me decide how i wanted to put my information on the project, and be able to be in control of just about everything that I was supposed to put down.

WP3 meant the most to me, because of the time that I got to spend with my mom. She is definitely one of my role models, and seeing the work through her eyes firsthand definitely gave me the perspective into the job I was looking for. She has been a real estate agent for over 20 years, she knows the ins and outs of the business and gave me a great view on what a realtor has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It definitely gave me some insight into exactly what I want to do for my profession, and how I'll spend my time.

At the start of the year, I was like any stereotypical boy, I didn't like writing or get the point of longer and more drawn-out projects. I just flat out did not enjoy my time writing. My writing process would be as follows:

1. Think about what I want to write about for ~20 minutes.

2. Finally decide on a topic and overthink every single thing that I did finally have the courage to write on the paper.

3. Give up, and go off on tangents, repeating myself multiple times in the process.

But this class changed how I write. I need to just get the ideas from my head and onto the paper. Not overthink every little thing that I decide to put down. I started to just be able to write for a long time and get different ideas out. I would take a break, and come back and recognize what I wanted to keep or stay.
I really liked how this project let me be very creative as well. There wasn’t a lot of direction besides the stuff that we needed to have on our project. It let me decide how I wanted to put my information on the project and be able to be in control of just about everything that I was supposed to put down.

I feel like as a writer and a person, I can articulate my point better because of this class. The open discussion that we had during class had an impact on each project I would do. I would take from other people’s ideas and use them to form my own based off of their ideas. I am surprised that in this class we were able to have our own opinions, and could argue or debate them with other people within the classroom. We were also able to get feedback from many different points of view, including our classmates and professor. This feedback helped me come across more clearly inside my writing. In the future, I will definitely get feedback from my current peers before turning something in. They come in with a fresh mind and are able to help point out some of the mistakes that need to be fixed.

Project 4 was a lot of fun. Our group decided to do a project on WP2, and the impact our communities had on us. I was absent the day that we decided team roles and was thrust into the position of group project leader. I was a little nervous about this when I saw that I was the leader, but I was able to thrive inside of my role. I was on top of my group, making sure that we had the necessary items done and on our newspaper. I was able to excel at the tasks we needed to get done because of the group that I had next to me. After we figured out what the newspaper needed on it, we had a couple more absences from our group, but I was able to knock out a good 50% of the project with one teammate. This made me be able to be more of a leader later in the project—someone that my group was able to ask questions to. I liked being the one who was counted on by the team to keep the team in check. The sense of responsibility made me get my work done faster to be at the disposal of my group mates. This project strengthened my leadership and ability to work with other people immensely, to the point I am excited to implement this more in my classes.

It was easy to throw out an idea, and my group was honest enough to be able to say if it was a good or a bad idea. This is what I think is the most important dynamic inside of a group project. I hate when people string along bad ideas, It's okay to say something's bad, and why it is so. But in this group we were able to quickly figure out how we wanted the project to look, with our outline at the start detailing what each page will have on it. From then on, we were able to knock out the pages, one by one. Since the feedback that we received from our group was truthful, and helpful. We were able to come up with a coherent plan a lot faster than other groups. Helping us get done days before our deadline. Everyone had their own responsibilities, and they were able to fulfill them to the best of their ability. We also received feedback from our professor, during our 40%, and 60% check in days. Both days we were much farther then we needed to be due to our groups honest dynamic.

I really resonated with "Anne Lamott, Shitty First Drafts", because of how it was structured for me to relate to her. The clarity that she used like "For me and most of the other writers I know, is not rapturous." (Anne Lamott) really makes me feel better when I do not know where to even get started. If the best do it, it's ok for you to do it. It made me feel a lot better about being stuck when working on a writing assignment, and I just try to get something down, by her advisement, "Start by getting something -- anything -- down on paper." (Anne Lamott). This really helps you get the ball rolling, no matter how bad your grammar and spelling is, your able to just start. I believe once you start, you want to write, the more you do write, the more articulate you become in turn. I plan to use this throughout my career, when I am procrastinating something that is hard. I will just start it, get the ball rolling, let the rest fall into place.

I really appreciated the teaching and experience on how to ask professional questions. It doesn't come up often day to day, and it's an overlooked skill that is needed for advancement in todays workforce. I felt that in my interview, when I was able to experiment with it, I got much better throughout the recording. I felt more comfortable asking follow up questions, and knew what to ask to figure out the most information from a question. I am going to use this throughout my daily life to get to know people better, I found myself to not automatically ask these questions unless I am interested. I want to use this to advance my position within a company, how you communicate with the other people around you, and the way that you present yourself can make a big difference in the meetings where decisions are being made.

I was very surprised with how well I could write once I figured out my writing process. I use to think that writing was a waste of time, and that I should do it the way that I have been since the first time I turned in my essay. Through this class I gained the ability to articulate myself a lot more clearly, and I have a lot more confidence in the work that I do and turn in. I was very surprised at how well that I could really write, and I'm glad that I was able to take this approach to figure out my writing process.