Guess who’s writing this reflection crazy late. Things got hectic! It’s week 6, so the academic is starting to become rigorous and all that.
Though this wasn’t my first choice Writing 5, I’m really enjoying it so far! I signed up with a friend and it’s definitely motivating me to get to class earlier and participate, if only to out-participate him. Professor Godley is great and effective. She did kind of rip my paper apart, but all of her criticism was really constructive and it’s clear she really cares about helping you do well. I think this class serves as a great foundation to learning college writing, though its core purpose is moot because I’m taking it in my winter term when I already have three classes of college under my belt. I’m curious to go back and read some of my fall term writing after I’ve finished both Writing 5 and Seminar, and see where I’ve improved and what I can work on.
Class discussions are definitely a little awkward to get into, but Professor Godley comes up with really great questions to get people talking. I try to talk 3 or 4 times a class, since she tracks participation closely. There’s pretty much reading for every class, and if there’s not reading that means there’s an essay draft due. One thing I think I could work on is that I’m still getting used to receiving peer feedback during workshops, since in high school people just haphazardly left half-empty comments on my writing. One thing I think is going pretty well is the workflow, which moves quickly but not too much so. I just received my first essay back and though I’m a little behind on the second essay (I’m currently working on a second draft for tomorrow’s workshop), I think Professor Godley is really accommodating and not intimidating to ask for help at all. In terms of grades, I’ve only received one so far so I can’t really speak on whether she’s an easy or difficult grader. She definitely knows when you’re putting effort in and recognizes that to grade accordingly. My tips for doing well in a Writing 5 like this are to participate a lot, just write out your drafts no matter how badly you think you’re doing, and to take this class with a friend so that you can complain about waking up early together. It makes a lot of difference.
Essay 1 score: 96/100