I used to hate writing.

The first day of my senior year in highschool, as I sat down in my

assigned seat in expository reading and writing (a class designed by California State Universities
to prepare students for college level writing), I was welcomed with the rest of the class by our
new teacher: Good morning, class. My names on the board: Ms. Rodgers. Now, I know you all
dont want to be here, and trust me, neither do I, but put on a fake smile and deal with it. These
words stuck with me and, not to my surprise, set the tone for how the whole year would go with
this bitch. Everything we did in class was under strict guidelines that essentially made our work
bland and boring. For the majority of the year we focused on mastering this dreadful thing called
a precis, which in short was a summary analysis of an articles content and purpose in four
sentences, that actually possessed a right and wrong answer. Multiple times I received Ds and
brought them back to her, without making any changes, to justify the content of my precis. She
would carelessly nod, then change my grade from a D to a B+ and carry on with her day, not
thinking anything wrong of the frivolous approach she took to doing her job. This made the
subject meaningless to me. From the first month on, I never wanted to take another writing class
again.

Taking Writing 2 changed my life. Before this year, my plan was to focus on math and
steer clear of anything english-based because I thought It had no relation to what I wanted to do
in life. I thought I would graduate with a degree in financial mathematics and statistics and go on
to make a lot of money and live a happy life. However, after learning the value of writing and all
it has to offer through taking this course, I can conclude that my initial perception was absolutely
wrong. By having an intellectual and engaging teacher who actually gave a shit about the class
and his students, coupled with a well put-together course, I not only became a more effective

reader and writer who can apply my learning to life and the real world, but improved myself,
becoming a more well-rounded person.
I was a bit confused on the first day of Writing 2 class. I walked in expecting to be
welcomed by a groomed man wearing a suit and tie. Instead, I sat down in a seat and was greeted
by a man with a beard wearing a bun, aviator glasses, and birkenstocks who kind of reminded me
of myself - shaggy and laid-back (Good thing I refrained from asking where the teacher was
because it ended up being him). That class, we analysed country songs and looked at text
messages to learn about genres and conventions. This was a completely different-style class than
I had ever been a part of, but I liked it because it eventually taught me that writing takes many
shapes and forms, and theres no single right answer or way of doing something when it comes to
portraying thoughts and ideas.
After the first day of class, we began to go more into detail about genres and conventions
and where theyre prevalent in our lives. In our first project builder(pb1a) for Writing Project
One(WP1), we were posed with the question what makes a genre a genre? in order to get us to
think about how these conventions and rhetorical features, that we were asked to identify, relate
to genre. So, I decided to analyse the rhetorical features and conventions of fast food
advertisements and was able to conclude that there were many rhetorical features and
conventions that were consistent throughout each piece. From doing so, I learned that these
consistent aspects throughout a series of pieces is what makes them their own genre. In the
second project builder(pb1b) for WP1, we were asked to analyse genre generators, identify their
conventions, and discuss how thinking about whats going on in these generators can help us
learn more about genre. On my week three Thlog post reflecting on pb1b, I recalled, I thought
identifying all of the conventions of the three different genres for pb1b was a bit more

challenging, but I liked it because it made me better at analyzing genre. I also learned that while
analyzing genre, we can look for patterns both structural and with content. When Zack went over
the genres for pb1b, it really helped me understand how these things relate to understanding
conventions on a deeper level because he made it clear to me that there are all kinds of ways to
look at conventions. We can derive meaning, content, format, intentions etc.. Doing this project
builder really helped me understand how identifying conventions can deepen understanding on
multiple levels.
Following the two project builders, WP1 allowed me to put my knowledge to the test and
incorporate what I had learned so far in a single project that gave me freedom to choose what I
wanted to write about. I chose three different magazines from the genre sports magazine covers
and analyzed their conventions, rhetorical features, audience, intentions, and purpose with the
knowledge I had obtained from both project builders and activities we did in class. Because the
activities we did in class were engaging, and directly related to the content in WP1, I felt like I
understood the material well, applied it to something I was interested in, and evidently got an 8.5
on my first writing project. My paper lacked textual evidence and the use of course readings,
which lowered my score, but my analysis was thorough and exemplified my understanding of
genres and conventions.
After WP1, the second quarter of Writing 2 presented me with challenges that were very
difficult and made this portion of the course my least favorite, but benefitted me greatly in the
long run. The first project builder was a revisitation of pb1b, comparing the computer science
report genre generator to a scholarly piece, meant to re-emphasize the fact that identifying
conventions can reveal a lot about genre as well as similarities between genres. It also asked us
to discuss the most important aspects of the scholarly piece, which served as a transition into

learning about moves, presented in pb2b, for me. This helped me get a feel for identifying the
most significant parts of a piece, which later became known to us as moves. In pb2b, we found 5
different moves, discussed in they say, I say, in the course readings as well as 5 moves that we
named on our own and discussed why the author may have used them and how they are
effective. This helped me become familiar with moves and showed me how they can exist in
different forms as well as function differently. However, it was very difficult for me to find these
moves in the readings because I was still new to identifying them. As I found more and got more
practice, they became easier to see, and identifying them eventually became second-nature. It
changed the way I read in a positive way, making me more aware of authors moves and why
they are used in certain contexts. It also made me aware of my own moves as a writer. In thlog 5
I discussed, When I read, I'm able to look for moves that not only affect the rhetoric of the
piece, but more-so give me an idea of what the authors intentions are and what kind of audience
the piece is directed toward... From a writing perspective, learning how author's use moves is
extremely beneficial because I can apply the good moves to the way I write and learn from the
ones that I think are not so effective. By gaining more experience with moves and observing
them or using them myself, they seem to become easier to identify and I end up using them
without even thinking. This exemplifies how I benefitted from struggling through pb2b. Even
though it was unenjoyable and difficult, it benefited me as a reader and a writer.
After pb2b, I felt like I had a thorough understanding of moves and how they are used,
but didnt do a great job of supporting my explanations of them in WP2. Even though I was able
to identify the moves used in the pieces I chose as well as the context they were used in, I lacked
specifics, direct textual evidence, and course reading references. These were necessary to fully
support my arguments, which resulted in a lower score than I would have liked - 7.5.

WP3 is where I incorporated everything I had learned throughout the quarter into one
piece. I had earned a lower grade than I would have liked on WP2, so I was determined to come
back stronger than ever and nail this project. WP3 was all about genre translation and mapping
out the moves taken in order to transform a genre effectively. It sounded very creative from the
start, so I was actually excited to do it. The project builders for this writing project served mostly
to become familiar with translating ideas and genres. I had a general idea that I wanted to
translate a publication on nutritional awareness that reaches adults and kids in an educational
way, but was much too broad in my explanation in PB3a. Zack told me I needed to be more
specific in the audience and genre I was translating, so I decided to translate my original
publication on nutritional awareness into a childrens book for ages 3-8 and an every-day health
article for ages 18+ and be as specific as possible with evidence and course reading-support in
my analysis. By critically thinking about my genre translation and eventually doing it, I began to
understand genre more thoroughly too. In my week 7 thog I commented, Week 7, I learned a lot
more about translating genres and how they are applicable to the real world. I feel that the
process of the WP3 really helped me dial that in.
In addition to understanding genre more thoroughly, I used Zacks comments from my
WP2 to make my follow up analysis for WP3 as effective as possible. This made my project well
rounded and explained my thought process thoroughly. I referenced the course readings,
provided textual evidence, and followed with specific analysis in order to give the reader the
clearest understanding possible of my work. In the end I earned a 9.5, which I believe highlights
my improvement over the year. I based my success off of failure by using all of Zacks comments
from previous writing projects to make this one badass. I was interested, motivated, and
determined which contributed to my overall success.

Over the course of this quarter, the things Ive learned about writing will go onto benefit
me inside and outside the classroom. Academically speaking, Ive become a much more effective
writer (my goal from the beginning of the year). I now know how to properly execute an
argument in a way that allows my thoughts and ideas to flow, and support it by incorporating
outside sources and direct evidence. I can also cognitively use moves in my writing to strengthen
it, and identify moves in other peoples writing to find purpose and intentions. Also, I learned a
ton about grammar and how to properly execute brackets, hyphens, dashes, quotes, and citations.
These are all things that will help me succeed in my academic career. Aside from academic
applications, the knowledge I have aquired from this course will help me in my life
tremendously. To start, learning the correct applications of tone and language through
understanding conventions will help me in my daily interactions as well as professional settings.
It will make me appear more professional and credible when speaking or writing to bosses,
teachers, and advisors, as well as help me fit in different social settings(especially because I want
to do something with business). Next, learning about moves allows me to apply the analytical
frame of thought in my every-day life. I can look for moves in advertisements in order to derive
hidden intentions and avoid being mislead. I can also look for moves when conversing with
people or listening to someone speak for the same purpose. In addition, I can apply this
analytical frame of identifying moves in the physical world in order to gain a better
understanding of my surroundings. Architects, as well as all artist, use moves in the features they
include, so identifying moves can tell me more about what theyre trying to portray. All of these
applications tie into the central idea of becoming more aware of my surroundings which will
give me an advantage as a citizen in our society. After taking Writing 2, I now see the value in
writing and how it will apply to my life in the future. The things I learned this quarter were very

cool, and I definitely plan on taking more, even unrequired, writing courses in the future that will
apply to my profession.