Hello, and welcome back to my blog! Sadly, this is the very last entry I will make for this site, but I hope you all have enjoyed reading my content and seeing my progress as an academic writer, multimedia author, and above all, simply as an individual. For today's topic, we will be looking at 2 of my most transformative moments in the course as well as two problems I have faced. Let's get started!

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The first transformative moment I have had in the course is the way in which I think about writing. Up until now, I have never truly understood the process: before, I used to always take it with a grain of salt, simply revising just for the grade. But now, after constant revisions of not only my RA Essay, but also my RIP Project, I now genuinely understand the purpose behind the writing process. Unfortunately, it is very long and demanding, but this is one of the reasons why it is so practical--so transforming: it is supposed to make you stop and think about your writing, make you reflect on your every decision as a writer, for after all, you are the rhetor of your work, creating it out of your very own rhetorical situation for a specific audience. I can see why this process in totality may be "off-putting" for students, since we are always on a time constraint with tests, jobs, family matters, grades, etc. But because this course disciplined us into taking our time with writing, it has caused me to metacognitively reflect on my writing abilities. All of the components of the writing process combined-- that is, writing, peer reviewing, and revising-- has allowed me to understand that participating this very tedious process is in an effort to develop my voice as a writer. Because this course has also taken the pressure off of grades with the grade contract, it has allowed me to take risks in my writing style to further develop my voice. Without this process, I would have never reached the point of writing that I am at today: I would not be as concise, as humorous, or as thoughtful-- essentially, I would have never been, well, me.

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Another transformative moment I have had in the course is the way in which I think about our society in regards to immigrants and their American Dream Tax. Before this course, I did not pay much attention to this topic as I do now, but after these ten weeks, this course has opened my eyes to the pressing matters found in America today: immigration and the American Dream is prominent in our society, and has been prominent for decades, as seen with our course readings like Friere's "Banking Concept of Education" and Anzaluda's "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Never have I ever considered how connected this topic is to all aspects of society. Not only is it relevant in the academic world, but it is relevant in public discourse, like Minhaj's very own comedy show, and in our political state today, as indicated by Trump's immigration policies. If it were not for this course and the type of assignmnts we had to do-- the metacognitive analysis of not only text, but audio and visuals, the RA essay, and even the RIP project-- I would never have seen the interconnectedness of our American reality. Because of this course, I now have a new filter for seeing the world, no longer taking it as face value, but analyzing every aspect to examine underlying meanings and implications.

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Despite these transformative learning moments, one off the problems I had with this course is time management. As I noted before, this course is very demanding of our time as students, and even with my efforts in trying to allocate enough time for all of my classes, I have not perfected this skill. At some parts of the quarter, especially in the beginning, I found myself consistently racing against the clock to finish assignments before the due date, and most of the time, I was able to send in my work right in the nick of time. However, there were a couple instances where I had late assignments. And usually, this is not a part of my character--sending in late assignments that is. Thus, I felt compelled to apologize to Professor Delany-Ullman whenever I unintentionally sent in an assignment past its due date. Her response to this was to never apologize and "everyone has their late moments." Upon hearing this, I realized that it was okay to have a few slip-ups, and fortunately with the way the grade contract is outlined, it demonstrates that these slip-ups are expected, that as individuals living substantially busy lives, we are expected to have make some mistakes. Thus, this problem of mine consequently also became a fundamental learning moment that I still must apply to my everyday life.

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Another problem I had in the course was regarding collaboration issues, or more specifically, insecurity issues that arose from collaborative efforts. As I wrote in one of my past blogs, the Best Finds project engendered in me the fear that I may be "too controlling" or "too bossy" in group projects. Because of this fear, I was afraid to speak my concerns to the group, and I ended up being silent about the topic. Reflecting on this problem in my blog, I discovered that I was determined to be more vocal about my concerns in the next group collaboration, and evidently, I was. Fortunately, I had a wonderful group for the RIP Project, and voicing my concerns of being too authoritative to these individuals was essentially no problem at all, for I was assured that I was not the authoritarian I feared I was. But even though the outcome was wonderful in this circumstance, I know that future collaborative efforts may bring out this fear in me again, and knowing this, I hope to take my experiences from the past two group projects and apply it to future group efforts-- that is, I hope to stay vocal, respectfully of course, and be able to communicate my concerns effectively to any group I may have to work in.

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Reflecting on these problems I had, it is evident that they are not just solely problems, but learning moments that I must take seriously. And now knowing that my time management and insecurities were the most prominent problems for me in this course, I am aware that I must apply what I learned from these instances to help me plan accordingly for future circumstances. For instance, I may need to work on creating a new method of keeping an agenda, or I might have to rearrange the sequence in which I complete assignments for classes such that I thoroughly prioritize the ones that matter most and not just the ones I "feel like doing" in the moment. Regarding my insecurities in group efforts, I know I must work on becoming more comfortable with the way in which I voice my concerns, such that I do not offend anyone, yet am able to voice my thoughts completely.

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On that reflective note, I am sad to say that for this blog, I cannot sign off with "until next time." But I will still attempt to end this entry on a lighthearted note. I hope I have entertained you all with my content, and thank you for the taking time out of your day to look at my website.

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See you in 39C,

Joanne Tran

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