Emily Paige Essick

UWRT 1103
Intawiwat
17 November 2014
Final Reflection
a. During this class, we completed an extended inquiry project that was based off of the
novel, Into the Wild. In my essay for this project, I made the claim, The idea of the
American dream has evolved overtime into what is now an almost ludicrous ambition.
My project is about utopianism and McCandless pursuit of escaping society. In my
statement, I was trying to convey that the idea of the American Dream has turned into
this unrealistic, almost institutionalized idea. I feel like my statement was strong choice
because making such a radical statements will grab the attention of the reader and they
may become more curious.
b. My book report on The Last Lecture was important to me because it gave me an
opportunity to write about something I enjoyed. Writing about the Last Lecture, made me
fall more in love with the book, understand more about the book and the importance of
his speech, as well as it sparked a flame in me to enjoy writing more.
c. The extended inquiry project overall has been a very difficult project for me. I decided to
choose a topic that was a little out there because I utopianism interests me, but at the
same time, it has proven to be a difficult subject to research and integrate with Into the
Wild.

d. In this class I have learned how to make connections between what we read and society
or our personal lives. For example in Brandts article, the section about our social,
economic, or cultural backgrounds and how that affects our literacy really stood out to
me. In my own life I can see where I had many opportunities that helped me develop my
literacy, which I explained in my Sponsors of Literacy essay.

e. With each project I believe I began to think more and more outside of the box. In the
beginning I stayed very traditional by writing in an essay style but throughout the forum
posts and projects, I started to expand my way of thinking and trying new things. As far
as the process, I became a more organized writer and I learned how to think about my
writing more by planning.

f. One idea that I discovered through this process was the importance of a shitty first draft
and how useful that first draft can be, which is why I wrote 2 or 3 drafts before writing
my final paper for each of these projects. I realized that it is important to get all of your
ideas out and organized before sorting through them and creating a piece of work. I also
discovered that I am capable of being creative. I never thought of myself as a creative
person, and I know I am still not very creative, but I feel like this class has challenged me
to go further and think beyond the normal, which was refreshing.
PARTICIPATION:
Over the years of being a North Carolina State HOSA Officer, I have had to meet lots of new
people and give many speeches, but I was good at it because I understood everything about
HOSA and had time to practice and rehearse and train. On the first day of class, you asked why
we were here. I said because I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone, which I have done

slowly. During my time in this class, I feel like I have learned a lot. I have tried to think outside
of the box and become more creative and I have worked on becoming a better writer. I am not
very outspoken but I pay attention and work hard. I took the roll as team leader for my group and
I tried to keep my group on track throughout the semester. Despite my lack of verbal
participation, I feel that I have produced great work, learned a lot, and have achieved my goal of
stepping out of my comfort zone, even though I know I am not done working on that.