Final Reflection: Experiencing a Practice

Receiving & Giving Feedback

Receiving feedback. I have had really productive and enjoyable workshop experiences from
my undergraduate classes, as well as groups that formed from some of those creative writing
courses. When WRA 853 started, I brought my enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication to
writing. Also, I was skeptical about how our WRA 853 group would mesh as a whole. The intext comments, paragraph responses, and authors note approach for feedback was useful for me
because I knew what I wanted to focus on and benefited from many of my classmates'
suggestions! I had some wonderful in-text comments that furthered my writing and helped me
see specific areas where I could improve details. For instance, Elise gave suggestions and
questions within the text. She states, this might be a place to unpack a little more - add some
sources that discuss how the classroom enforces her own self-colonization if you will (within
When You Hear Me project). This helped me identify places where I could add sources to
develop my manuscript. In addition, Erin suggested in-text to move some content into a footnote;
she writes, I would make this paragraph a footnote - it takes your argument off in a different
direction, but is still important to include. Lastly, Kristi offers a question in response to my
authors note within the text. She states, depending on the type of sources you had that you
want to add perhaps some within the methods section? I appreciate these in-text comments
because I could see specific locations to adjust within the text.
The paragraphs at the end were helpful for answering the questions that I posed in my
authors note. For instance, Stephanie responded clearly and directly to a concern I posed in my
author note. In response to my question, Since Im writing about multilingualism, but am not a
multilingual speaker I have some reservations about how that might come across. Therefore, is

there anywhere that I come across not culturally aware or sensitive or ignorant? Stephanie says,
I was going to mention that you seem very neutral in allowing her to articulate her feelings
without interjecting heavy assumptions. Your assumptions generally revolved around emergent
themes, but thats something that -- if youre worried about it -- could be cross-checked with
your subject (a common practice, anyway). Furthermore, Hannah followed a generous writerly
feedback practice that offers positive feedback and then suggestions in her final paragraph note
for my first project. She writes, You do a lovely job of weaving theory and relationality and
personal narrative in a way that I really admire First, one small technical thing: Im not sure if
it was just my computer but I wasnt able to play the soundbites, and I found it really
disappointing because I felt I was missing out. This made me think of accessibility. Im not very
familiar with the Sway platform, but would there be any way to transcribe those interviews and
link them or some such thing so that one can still get the full story without sound? I increased
my motivation to continue working on my manuscripts when I received positive feedback
alongside critiques.
Giving feedback. As for my giving feedback, I offered in-text and paragraph
suggestions, as well as began with positive feedback. For instance, in her Tule Spring Method
Rewrite piece, I suggested that Stephanie specify which major documents, articles, and
presentations - and why those? My in-text comment was in response to Stephanies question in
her authors note about Are there places I should add more detail? Secondly, I started with a
positive remark for McKinleys first project for critique and then answered his questions in his
authors note as best as I could. I wrote, I liked the arguments you made throughout the piece.
The boldness of your beginning statement made me curious to keep reading One idea I had for
a restructuring would be to move your story and the multiple places where you say I argue

together and toward the front. Then from there you can tie in the other stories as support for why
you are arguing these perspectives. I found myself frustrated because I found that I would spend
a significant amount of time responding to classmates and investing in their work, then I would
not receive any feedback from certain classmates or feedback that was not constructive or related
to my questions.
My Own Writing
This class helped my writing tremendously. I felt like I finally accomplished a writing
goal, which was to build a steady relationship with it. Before this class, I never practiced writing
every single day in a conscientious way. Writing everyday I learned that my process requires first
producing a rough draft. While writing the rough draft, I have to turn off my editor brain and
concentrate on getting content on the page. I found this to be a freeing component to my practice
because I did not have pressure to create quality material, but instead write for a set amount of
time or pages - generally I wrote two pages a day for 30 minutes to an hour each day. This
practice became most useful when working on my thesis. After producing a rough draft, then I
practiced revisions. I had not thought about revising quite as extensively before because I was
used to producing first drafts that I believed to be more suitable and less in need for revision even though they did probably need extensive revision. Therefore, since I gave myself the
freedom to produce a shitty first draft, now I learned that my revision first began with the
organization. My untangling memoir was the first place I practiced revising the organization
because I moved it from Sway to Weebly. The sections stayed the same, but I created more of a
roadmap in the beginning of the story to lead the reader through the content that came later on.
Secondly, I was working on revising when I submitted my Unlocking Adult Learners pilot
study for critique. After receiving feedback from the journal reviewers at The Peer Review

Journal, my classmates, and Malea, I revised the manuscript to have more direct headings, more
theoretical support, a terminology section, and a stronger take-away section. I found that reading
other works - such as other thesis manuscripts and writing center literature - helped me view how
I wanted to craft my work to include similar concepts (such as a terminology section and a
section that describes the chapters of my thesis) and the type of direct and narrative usage I could
use for various genres. Overall, during this class I began to feel more like a writer because I was
building a daily relationship with my process, thoughts, challenges, feelings, likes, dislikes, and
stories that I wanted to share with others.
Accountability Practice
As I noted in my writing during the class, I feel that my accountability was what made
me feel the most like a writer. When I first created my accountability plan, I marked out nearly
every minute of the workday lumped into one hour periods. Mondays and every other Friday, I
did not have classes or work. Therefore, I created a schedule that had me writing, reading, and
researching on and off throughout the whole day. This over planning helped me narrow down a
more productive accountability method.
Writing for 30 minutes to an hour every weekday and sometimes on the weekends was
the most productive way for me to work. I would time myself while working and often listened
to music as well. Furthermore, I found myself being more focused and engaged with my work
when I would jot down my excitement or concerns before, and / or after, beginning my practice
for the day. In addition, as I sat and typed, I would concentrate on my breathing - and from time
to time stretch or move my legs - to connect with my document as a living entity, even though it
only sort of is. This practice made me feel more connected to a holistic approach of producing
material and made working enjoyable.