Reflective writing is when you critically think about your own writing and thoughts. I think reflective writing is such a huge asset to have when it comes to writing because it really does help you write better. I took my first English class in 8 years last semester. All I remember from my high school English courses was that I was a terrible writer. I passed all my English courses with the bare minimum grade. But I believe that had to do with the component that was spoken about in Sandra Giles “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?” article. I do not recall ever being told to reflect on what I had done. I would just write whatever thoughts came to mind and put them down on paper without a second thought. My professor last semester helped break me out of that cycle by having me really think about what it was I was writing. I think a lot of that had to come with my maturity through the years and being able to take constructive criticism without feeling like I failed. This also plays a part in “Shitty First Drafts”. I read that article last semester and let me tell you the wonders it has done for me. I am much more confident in getting my thoughts down on paper, failing miserably but having the ability to go back and critique my work and seeing the areas that I need to work on. My first draft on our current essay was complete shit. But I used that moment to just get thoughts down and steer myself in a general direction. Grammar was terrible, punctuation was terrible but those are all things that can be worked out. I had general sense of where I wanted to take the article and was able to fix everything that was wrong afterwards. I honestly was not proud at all of my first draft. But that’s the point I think. Use those moments to help guide yourself and reflect on everything that you could have done differently. So many times I sit here and I re-read what I wrote and think to myself “what the hell was I was thinking when I wrote this?”, then scrap it for a new idea. Rinse and repeat this and you’ll have yourself a fine essay.
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Hello Anthony,
I understand when you express your last semester experience and your previous ones in high school. I feel the same way. In my case, I finished high school years ago in my country. When I started college I have an idea because I took classes in CUNY Start Program. Last semester I read the “Shifty First Draft” and this time make me remember that t even for professional writers the process of beginning to write is not easy at all. I am not a good writer and I need to work hard on grammar and punctuation, but I want to take advantage of the sources available for us as students. For this essay, I visited the Writer Center and they are very helpful, in case that you might be interested as well.
Good luck with your work!
Hi Anthony + Zenayda, I love this conversation. For starters, Anthony, your first essay draft was definitely not absolute shit, I promise you. You are a pretty skilled writer already, so don’t knock yourself down! I would agree, there is a certain maturity that comes with being able to effectively take constructive criticisms and turn them into learning experiences. Hopefully, we can foster the development of some of that maturity in this classroom space.
Zenayda, thank you for mentioning the Writing Center. This is a great moment to remind everyone that you have access to both me and the Writing Center if you ever want to discuss writing strategies. Great work, both of you!