Portfolio : Final Exam [Frame 2]

Frame two

----Writing is a skill that can come easy to some people or it may be something that other people need to work at to get better.In the short passage written by an author, it describes the writing experience in a classroom with peers around to influence you verses just writing by yourself and how writing by yourself can be much more difficult. From my personal experience, I would have to agree with the author because getting feed back from people of all different backgrounds of writing would help me improve more as a writer then just sitting home doing it by myself. When writing, being involved with a group peers and how the writing is being taught greatly effects how well of a writer a person becomes.

----In the past, I've had many different writing environments to work in. Some were more beneficial then others but from all my experiences I have gathered that receiving more feedback from my teacher or peers helped me more then just writing an essay at home and then turning it in without anyone else looking at it first. In the passage, it starts off by saying, "[T]he writing process can be greatly improved if students have a group of peers with whom they can share their writing." I agree with the author because in writing 101, we post all of our writing on a blog for anyone to look at and give feedback on. For an example, I posted a draft of Essay 2 and one of my classmates wrote a comment of positive criticism. Positive criticism is good because the person isn't saying your paper is bad, they are picking out the things I need to improve on and what it good in the paper so I can keep it. Having peers in my environment is so much more helpful because sometimes I can't catch the mistakes that I make right away when writing a paper but other people can right away.

-----Another factor that affects my way of writing is how the writing is being taught. In all my years of high school, the way this writing class has been taught has been the most beneficial. In the passage, the author demonstrates that finding someone to talk to about your writing is an excellent way to improve your writing, when they use a quote from Elbow that says, "If you are stuck writing or tying to figure something out, there is nothing better than finding one person, or more, to talk to"(49). I completely agree with this quote because I look to Craig as someone who is more then qualified to help me with my writing. When the quarter first began, we were writing the first day and the next day and the day after that. He got us into the habit of always writing. It applies to the concept of practice makes perfect. The more you practice at something, the better you get at it. So when we wrote everyday, my writing improved everyday.

----In the end, "Group work not only privileges student-centered, democratic practices, but it highlights the interactive nature of creativity. Which means working together in groups for writing is just the beginning of democratic practices. Having supportive peers and being taught the right skills are just building blocks to succeed in greater things in the future that can benefit everyone.