Reflection Essay
For this class, we were supposed to write a memoire, a report, and a proposal that all focused on one topic.
I personally do not enjoy writing these types of papers, which makes them difficult for me. I knew I would struggle with them even more because of having to focus on one topic throughout three papers. This is because when I read these types of papers they tend to overkill the subject. I also tend to like to have my own writing to be “short, sweet, and to the point.” I chose the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Because this is something that I have dealt with because of my children I thought it would be something I could focus on through three assignments. However, I found by the third paper that I had hit the point where I was tired of writing about the same thing and was ready for something new. I felt that everything was beyond hashed out and that I was trying to fill up blank space. I thought I was doing well to have three papers to turn in.
My struggles really intensified as I put my three papers together for my midterm portfolio. I found myself feeling really frustrated. I felt that my papers by themselves were at least okay, but together they were really giving me problems. I felt like my portfolio was disconnected and like what I wanted to focus on was not coming through at all. While I had comments and peer reviews about each paper individually, they did not address the problem I was having. I was at a complete loss as to how to fix things. I finally decided that I needed to put it down and just take some time away from the writing and that something was better than nothing, so I turned in my writing the way it was.
My final portfolio consists of my memoire and my report. It took several days of just focusing on my portfolio and the teacher’s comments about my midterm portfolio to figure out what to try next for my final
portfolio. I decided to keep my report because it seemed to be my best piece of work. I decided to include my memoire because my proposal seemed to almost come across as a memoire. I felt that if I took the experiences that I talked about in my proposal and incorporated them into my memoire that I might be able to focus that paper more on the topic I wanted my portfolio to be about.
My memoire underwent a major, major change from what I turned in with my mid-term portfolio. My original paper focused on my initial experience with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but it did not seem to come across to the reader that way. I decided to completely change the opening of my memoire so I could immediately focus the reader’s attention on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I felt this would help the reader know what the focus of my portfolio was going to be. Then I decided that rather than using just one experience, to bring in three of my own experiences that were all different but involved this law. I tried to incorporate more explanations about the law and explain how different things that were done actually fit in to the law. I decided to end my memoire with some of my own feelings as well as the questions that had been raised by my experiences. I feel this not only concluded my memoire well but really gives the reader my reasons for why I chose to focus my report on how one particular disability is covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I felt that since the papers are in a portfolio this would help with the flow from one paper to another which was a major issue in my midterm portfolio.
My report also underwent a major change. I came to the conclusion that my report initially had too much information, which is what made the reader think the focus was something other than what I wanted it to be. I decided that I needed to take out a lot of information that was just about ADHD. That information was good, but was not necessary for what I was trying to focus on. I did this to make sure that the focus of my paper came across to the reader as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and how children with ADHD are helped by this law rather than just ADHD.
While I have written about the process I went through while writing, I have not talked about my expectations for this course. I did not have anything in particular I planned on learning from this class. The reason I took it is because it is part of the requirements for getting my associates degree. However as I have been going through the course one thing really sticks out to me as something I learned. That is how to cite sources in MLA formatting. I did not know how to cite sources this way before coming into this course. I have found that I like this way of citing more than APA. I find it easier to understand MLA than APA which is nice because citing sources has always been a bit intimidating to me. I was really pleased when I got full credit for citing sources properly on my midterm portfolio. I am glad I came away from the course feeling like I had really learned something.
I personally do not enjoy writing these types of papers, which makes them difficult for me. I knew I would struggle with them even more because of having to focus on one topic throughout three papers. This is because when I read these types of papers they tend to overkill the subject. I also tend to like to have my own writing to be “short, sweet, and to the point.” I chose the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Because this is something that I have dealt with because of my children I thought it would be something I could focus on through three assignments. However, I found by the third paper that I had hit the point where I was tired of writing about the same thing and was ready for something new. I felt that everything was beyond hashed out and that I was trying to fill up blank space. I thought I was doing well to have three papers to turn in.
My struggles really intensified as I put my three papers together for my midterm portfolio. I found myself feeling really frustrated. I felt that my papers by themselves were at least okay, but together they were really giving me problems. I felt like my portfolio was disconnected and like what I wanted to focus on was not coming through at all. While I had comments and peer reviews about each paper individually, they did not address the problem I was having. I was at a complete loss as to how to fix things. I finally decided that I needed to put it down and just take some time away from the writing and that something was better than nothing, so I turned in my writing the way it was.
My final portfolio consists of my memoire and my report. It took several days of just focusing on my portfolio and the teacher’s comments about my midterm portfolio to figure out what to try next for my final
portfolio. I decided to keep my report because it seemed to be my best piece of work. I decided to include my memoire because my proposal seemed to almost come across as a memoire. I felt that if I took the experiences that I talked about in my proposal and incorporated them into my memoire that I might be able to focus that paper more on the topic I wanted my portfolio to be about.
My memoire underwent a major, major change from what I turned in with my mid-term portfolio. My original paper focused on my initial experience with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but it did not seem to come across to the reader that way. I decided to completely change the opening of my memoire so I could immediately focus the reader’s attention on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I felt this would help the reader know what the focus of my portfolio was going to be. Then I decided that rather than using just one experience, to bring in three of my own experiences that were all different but involved this law. I tried to incorporate more explanations about the law and explain how different things that were done actually fit in to the law. I decided to end my memoire with some of my own feelings as well as the questions that had been raised by my experiences. I feel this not only concluded my memoire well but really gives the reader my reasons for why I chose to focus my report on how one particular disability is covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I felt that since the papers are in a portfolio this would help with the flow from one paper to another which was a major issue in my midterm portfolio.
My report also underwent a major change. I came to the conclusion that my report initially had too much information, which is what made the reader think the focus was something other than what I wanted it to be. I decided that I needed to take out a lot of information that was just about ADHD. That information was good, but was not necessary for what I was trying to focus on. I did this to make sure that the focus of my paper came across to the reader as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and how children with ADHD are helped by this law rather than just ADHD.
While I have written about the process I went through while writing, I have not talked about my expectations for this course. I did not have anything in particular I planned on learning from this class. The reason I took it is because it is part of the requirements for getting my associates degree. However as I have been going through the course one thing really sticks out to me as something I learned. That is how to cite sources in MLA formatting. I did not know how to cite sources this way before coming into this course. I have found that I like this way of citing more than APA. I find it easier to understand MLA than APA which is nice because citing sources has always been a bit intimidating to me. I was really pleased when I got full credit for citing sources properly on my midterm portfolio. I am glad I came away from the course feeling like I had really learned something.