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Danae Holness
Mrs. Raymond
UWRT 1103
29 July 2015
Reflection Letter
Over the past five weeks I have learned so much meaningful information that I will take
with me throughout the rest of my college and professional career. I like to describe this class as
an overall reflection on my younger years because it made me remember some of the best times
of my childhood learning experiences. Mrs. Raymonds interactive teaching methods helped me
learn how to properly cite work and express my thoughts in detail. I learned how to use dialogue
when writing, which allowed me to better connect readers with personal experiences. I learned
how to draw the attention of the reader by providing vivid details and descriptions as to what was
going on and to describe people, places and surroundings. I grew as a writer because Mrs.
Raymond extracted the extreme structural form of writing that Id been taught all throughout
high school, and allowed me to develop my own way of narrating. This was very beneficial to
me because I felt as though I could write more and tell more of my story. However, I still had
some hard times in the class.
Over the semester I struggled with the Ancestry project because I am not originally from
America, therefore it was harder to trace my ancestry. My parents did not know that much
information about either of their families besides names, and any interesting records that might
be in my family would require me to actually travel to Jamaica. It was difficult to complete a
project when I had no information for what so ever. I was constantly comparing the family tree

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of others students to my family tree, because theirs was not only filled with names, but they were
able to find so many interesting facts such as military records, businesses owned, and other
artifacts. Another struggle that I faced while completing the class, was finding time to complete
the assignments. The UTOP program is filled with so many activities, that when I actually
wanted to sit down and do some work on my own time, I would have to do something with the
group. At one point I became very stressed out because the assignments were assigned on top of
each other. So, just when I thought I had a break, I would have to turn around and complete
something else. Id like to think that Ive moved at a fast pace all my life, however this was a
truly challenging experience for me. Slowly but surely, I was able to overcome these difficulties
and I feel as though these challenges have helped to prepare me for the fall semester.
Though I do feel prepared for the fall semester, I still have some questions pertaining to
writing. I still do not fully understand how to cite certain documents such as pictures and videos.
Even though we went over it in class, I got confused because some people were putting just the
link to where they got the pictures or videos from. Another question I had, was how to
incorporate factual citations into something you wrote from a personal standpoint. I wrote the
story of how my parents came to America from their point of view. I had interviewed them the
weekend before the project was due because I wanted to be sure to get their exact account of the
story. However, I was surprised when I saw the comment saying that I needed more sources. I
dont completely understand how to use facts when directly telling someone elses story.
For the most part I am satisfied with the choices I made while completing this class. My
literacy narrative and ancestry project led me to the perfect choice on my semester long project.
The literacy narrative brought back some great memories on how I learned as a child and how
my immigrant parents influenced and enforced education throughout my life. The ancestry

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project allowed me to look into the roots of my family more, and though I didnt find much
interesting information, I was still able to trace my whole familys success of coming to America.
These two projects led to my decision to speak on immigration for my semester long project.
Because the projects all flowed together perfectly for me, I never had any second thoughts on
what I should do for my final project. I felt as though speaking about immigration and telling my
parents story was a great way to pay homage to my parents for everything that theyve done for
me.
Overall I feel as though I presented decent work. I can honestly say that all the work Id
done for was the class was done to the best of my ability. In my opinion, the best work that I had
turned in was the essay portion of my family tree project. Though I received my lowest grade on
it, I feel like I did a great job portraying my parents story from their exact perspective. I am
proud of the way I represent them and I know they are very happy that I told their story. One of
the assignments that I enjoyed the most was the artist project because I had the opportunity to tell
people about my favorite rapper, and I already knew most of the information that I wanted to
include in the digital presentation.
The collective of assignments that I had to complete for this course deeply impacted the
way I read, write and compose. The books we read were simple but meaningful, which is
something I will keep in mind for future writing assignments. These reads helped me learn that
less is more, and that you do not have to go all out to get your point across. I always planned out
my work before writing, but this class helped me to understand why teachers enforced that so
much as I was growing up. I know that if I continue to plan what I write ahead of time for future
assignments, I will be able to stay organized. Directly pertaining to the development of my
literacy, I have learned how to make my writings more personal by adding dialog, details, and

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description in order to establish relatability with the reader. My literacy narrative continues to
evolve as I learn more ways to express myself through writing.