Final reflection
The unique set up for ENC 2135 is perfect for freshman students. Project 1 allowed me to reminisce on the recent past and focus on something that I had just left behind. Projects 2 and 3 gave me a chance to research a community that I had just joined, which became really helpful for my involvement in that community.
“What do you miss most about high school?” Without hesitation, I always answer that I miss my track team. There is not a day that goes by in which I don’t think about being at practice with my teammates, who became my friends, who eventually became my little family and support system. When we were assigned Project 1, I knew automatically that I wanted to write about this little community that I had left behind, and I knew what text I was going to use. Our team shirt and its logo represented everything that I believed about track and my team. I am so happy that I was able to pull out my old track shirt and “get in the feels” about everything I had left behind.
After writing about a narrative from my past, writing about something in my near future only seemed just. I went back and forth in my mind about which community to write about, but I eventually chose the UROP program. When this project started, I had just interviewed for my dream research position at the First Words Project at the Autism Institute here in Tallahassee. This sounds pretty official, right? After researching this community I had fortunately been asked to join, I realized it is pretty official. The First Words Project works with the early diagnosis and intervention in young children, usually around 18 months. What first drew me to this research opportunity was my past experience in working with young children with mental disabilities. I worked at a gymnastics facility with a young girl with autism for four years. When working with this girl, I had always thought I was the one teaching her things, until one day I realized that she was teaching me so much about those considered “different.” This girl, someone from one of my past communities, sparked an interest in me that effected my decision in joining a future community.
When researching for Project 2 and eventually Project 3, I came across a lot of information that would prove to be valuable throughout my own research with the First Words Project. I discovered different documents and growth/social communication charts unique to the Autism Institute that I wouldn’t have known existed. Just this past Tuesday I met with the main woman in charge of the First Words Project to figure out what my specific role should be at First Words. When she asked if I knew about the Sorf-22 and eSac, I was proud to say yes, because I discovered them on my own while doing research for Projects 2 and 3. I could tell she was impressed.
This class helped me grow out of an old community and into a new one. It also helped me truly understand what “text” and “genre” are. I had previously thought that a text was just a writing and that a genre was just the type of a book/movie, such as mystery, action, or comedy. I now know that a text can be anything that spreads some sort of message to the world. I also know that genres are flexible and are a way of grouping together information/topics. I will carry this knowledge into my future writing classes and classes in general; it will lead to more creative writing.
Mat has helped me immensely throughout this whole course. The conferences with him always guided me in the right direction and cleared up any confusion that I had. Mat also taught me that papers are so much more than those basic “five-paragraph” essays that I was used to in high school. I learned that I can really take my writing into my own hands and make it my own. During my Project 1 conference, Mat helped me with realizing when to express emotion in my paper and to describe some things in very specific detail. Mat totally helped me guide my Project 2 in the right direction after our conference, as I was going in the wrong direction before. Also, I thank Mat for dealing with my “need” to revise every project when it was unnecessary; he helped me realize that sometimes near perfection is good enough.