In this project each student wrote a short piece of writing, all of which were then compiled to make a book titled "The Book of Us." The topics of student pieces ranged from personal reflection, to family experiences, to issues relevant to us. As we brainstormed what to write our teacher provided us with many resources, including a "Real-world Writing Purposes 'Field Guide," "1 topic = 18 topics" worksheet, and mentor text graphic organizer. Our teacher also provided us with time to do five-minute quick-writes, one of mine is shown below. Here is a link to my down draft, and my final draft.
When I first started out I wanted to write about over-sexed, celebrity-worshiping American pop-culture--my five-minute free-write displayed below is an example of that. I decided, however, that my views on such a topic are too personal and I'm not ready to have them published in a book. I wanted to stick with the issue of homophobia in America, but wasn't sure where to go with it. I talked to my teacher, Dr. Patton, about it and he gave me the idea of writing about movie ratings.
During the process I didn't get much feedback on my paper other than the obvious: to use more specific examples. This was a little disappointing, but I got over it and worked harder on my piece to compensate. My piece changed quite a bit between my first and final drafts. I spent a lot of time researching and, comparing the two drafts, one can see that it really payed off. I added examples of how the MPAA's ratings have influenced American culture, as well as other examples to back up each of my claims. I plan to continue writing and creating awareness about such issues in American culture.
While I am happy with how my piece turned out, I still think there are changes I could make. I don't, however, think that I need to or should reflect on the imperfections of a past piece: as Paul Gardner said, "a painting is never finished--it simply stops in interesting places." The same is true of writing pieces. Nothing is ever done, it simply needs to be let go so that one may move on to the next thing.
During the process I didn't get much feedback on my paper other than the obvious: to use more specific examples. This was a little disappointing, but I got over it and worked harder on my piece to compensate. My piece changed quite a bit between my first and final drafts. I spent a lot of time researching and, comparing the two drafts, one can see that it really payed off. I added examples of how the MPAA's ratings have influenced American culture, as well as other examples to back up each of my claims. I plan to continue writing and creating awareness about such issues in American culture.
While I am happy with how my piece turned out, I still think there are changes I could make. I don't, however, think that I need to or should reflect on the imperfections of a past piece: as Paul Gardner said, "a painting is never finished--it simply stops in interesting places." The same is true of writing pieces. Nothing is ever done, it simply needs to be let go so that one may move on to the next thing.