What reflective or metacognitive writing after reading “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What were you thinking?”  by Sandra L. Giles,  is a process where the writer needs to revise her/his writing with a sense of awareness and a careful manner,  analyzing and questioning her/his thinking on the writing the first draft. This process is more than pleasing the professor but criticizing own work in order to be on track and to communicate the message in a clear manner to the audience. 

My experience with reflecting on my writing was not an easy task to do. I always tend to not see my own errors when I am checking my work. Adding to that I was confused about what I had to do. I also notice that I was avoiding doing that task. Yet, after reading “Shitty First Draft” by Anne Lamott I felt more relaxed knowing that even for professionals writers the process of having the first draft done. But doing the revision helps me to stay focus on what I want to convey. I also identify and did change some words and sentences. I did correct some grammatical errors. 

When I started with the Unit 1 Assignment, I did not know what word to choose, but when I started to read my classmates’ ideas and how creative they were in their posts, I came out with the idea of choosing to write about cooperatives. Having Professor Wheeler’s feedback was really helpful. The process, however, was kind of confused for my trying to follow it. This is the first time that I follow, therefore I was back and forth. Nevertheless, the fact that the word I choose for my discourse communities is something that I am very familiar with it made me move forward in my writing. I also by the first time ever joining the written center, they help me with the citations. I feel more comfortable with my work, yet always open to learning more and receive feedback because this is my first essay for this semester. Having other people’s examples like the ones that Giles used in her paper is a good guide. 

Reflective writing is a process that helps the writer connect their ideas about a topic, by thinking critically about how to portray their purpose in the writing itself. In Sandra L. Giles’s essay, “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?,” metacognitive writing is described as “reflective and self-assessing activities [to] help writers set goals for their writing.” I can testify to this process being effective. Whenever I write, I ask myself what the purpose of my writing is. Sometimes, I just want to jot down ideas and that’s fine, too. As Anne Lamott stated, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start
somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. ”

In the revision process, I’m able to personally answer questions about my writing to myself. Why do I want to include this? Who is my audience? What information does my audience need? What interests the audience more and what techniques should I use?, etc. I believe this has helped my writing because it helps me find elements I am missing and should add or remove.

The current essay assignment has been greatly influenced by reflective writing. I thought heavily about my audience. What terms does my audience understand? What can they relate to? If they can’t relate to the topic, what can I do to interest them in learning something completely different and new? Additionally, I read over my work and knew something was missing. I had the facts, but what was the reader going to take with them? Well, I wanted my readers to understand that, in the scenarios described in my essay, although standing up for your beliefs and principles may imply hardships, it will have been worth it. The rewards are not always immediate, and will be different from person to person. However, I hope that the reader that finishes my essay will finish with a bigger understanding of what it means to have different beliefs, to stand up for them, and that we can all respect each other the more for it. In conclusion, reflective writing is a great way to improve our writing.

Reflective writing or metacognitive writing helps the writer formulate their purpose figure out their relation to your audience, uncover possible problems with your writing process, set goals for revision etc. Using this method can help writers improver their writing by acknowledging what they did wrong before and think how they can improve that in the future.

My experience with reflective writing i really didn’t know what reflective writing was. Before High school whenever i had writings to do i used to do this with my  teachers and friends but during that time i really didn’t think too much about it i just did what the teacher told me. But as i reached high school i slowly started to use this skill without even realizing it. I started to think what my purpose for writing was what message i was trying to convey and think what mistakes i have made in the past and how i can improve on it and make important connections. After a while i started doing this subconsciously and improved on my writing.

My writing process begins with the purpose what am i trying to write about then i brainstorm and think what i want to write what details i might want to use etc. This gives me an idea of where i want to start and find details faster because if i don’t do this i will get confused and will need to restart and plan again. Then i try to answer the basic questions the writing want me to answer after this i find details that i might be able to use and see where to place them. Because if i don’t do this my details will get mixed up and it wont make sense in my writing, after i have done this i write my conclusion and wrap up my writing but i’m not done yet i finally revise my entire writing and think of what i can improve on and try to change that.

Metacognitive/ reflective writing refers to being aware of your thoughts and understanding what helps and hinders learning and how to become a more effective learner. It’s like digging deep into your choices and diving further into why you chose what you did. 

I have always reflected on my writing pieces, it has helped me understand my writing strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think a piece is complete without the reflection part that in hindsight can help in future projects. I feel that is what makes you a better writer in the process. As Anne Lamott puts it in “Shitty First Drafts”, “let go and write those “shitty first drafts” that lead to clarity and sometimes brilliance in our second and third drafts.”. Multiple drafts have always helped me reflect on my writing as every draft I write I get closer to perfecting my work. I start to understand my weaknesses and strengths by looking back at the drafts. Though, sometimes it feels as if even the final paper needs revision but I understand that is for the next writing piece to show I have improved.

My writing process starts with putting questions for each of my paragraphs. This has really helped me in writing the Unit 1 Essay. For example, My Body 1 paragraph I would write something like “ Why is this word important to you and your community?”. Then I would follow that up in the paragraph. This helps me stay on track with what message I am trying to get across, instead of being all over the place. I also like to make clear what my perspectives are and connect my experiences with what I know. 

Metacognitive writing is writing in which the writer is aware of their wording and aware of the processes they are taking to write the work. They take steps to ensure everything they state is relevant and the importance is conveyed.  The writer reviews reflect and self-analyzes their work. Sandra L. Giles explained in “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?”, that it’s critical how the writer’s intentions towards the audience and how we must reflect on our work to ensure that we are conveying the message we want to say. As a result, we drastically improve our work and develop our skills further.

In my experience as a writer, I could not fully understand what reflective writing was. The writing was a confusing abstract for me and the closest experience I can remember was when doing a research paper(few good pieces I could produce as a writer)  I had to make connections to how my research is significant and how it is important for readers to be aware. This helped me ensure that a strong message is sent to the reader so they understand the importance of my work. I couldn’t understand what I was doing and I wasn’t meeting the criteria early on in the writing kept demotivating me to improve. I just couldn’t understand but in time I started to realize and reflect on my work and it helped open new doors to what I can accomplish as a writer.

My writing process used to be just making one draft and improving it. Now my process is dumping all information I want to include and information I have in my head first on the first draft. The draft is not a full draft but multiple concept drafts in one.  Then I take the materials and connect them, and remove some material to maintain relevance. Then I rewrite the essay to develop a serious draft.  This is similar to Anne Lamott who wrote the “Shitty First Drafts”. I wish I read this article years ago and I could have been a better writer and more confident in my skills.  This writing method I took practice a year ago and I hope to make better writing pieces and add more skills into my “life toolbox”.

Reflective writing or metacognitive writing means being able to revise and examine any activity that asks you to think deeply about the choices you’ve made in your writing. This helps us think about our intentions and the purpose of why we use a certain strategy in our writing. By reflective writing, we can create long-term goals in which we want to work on her writing skills but also, acknowledging what we’ve learned from the activity that we’re reflecting on. It can also help us with our academic skills and it can seek a better method for us to use in our future writings. I use reflective writing as a source of analysis when I finish an essay. Every time I have an assignment due I lean towards my thought process of writing the essay and try to understand the gaps that I’m missing to boost my writing. I revise my essay and try to see the connections that I’ve made and any errors to correct. I do believe that reflective writing has helped me improve on the skills I choose to use while writing. My writing process is to first understand what the assignment is asking me to do and then start brainstorming for ideas of what I’m going to write. Sometimes I lean onto my journal which I keep any mistakes that I’ve done on my past assignments and try to not repeat the same mistakes. I then try to focus on answering any questions that the assignment asks instead of going out of the box writing something irrelevant. Sometimes I can get a little unfocused but I realize that it helps me show a little bit of my personality into the writing. If the assignment requires any research, I go ahead and read any information to add to my essays. This current assignment, helps me bring a little bit of my personality into the writing because were talking about the discourse community that we belong to and it’s something that I’m passionate about. I try staying in order which is what they teach you in first grade when you first learn how to write an essay. I go by starting with the introduction, body paragraphs, and then ending with the conclusion. For this particular assignment, I had a brainstorm more than usual about the word I chose which was faith, and my past experiences that associate with faith. Overall, reflective writing has changed the way I view my writing.