Abstract

The final Self-Assessment is a reflection of how much I learned and grown from the begnning of this class to the end of the class.

Polished Self Assessment 

Kriston Waugh

FIQWS 10108

December 13, 2024

When I first started this semester this was the first class I entered as a College Freshman. When I entered the room I had no idea what Ecopoetics was and I had no idea what was in store for me in this class as the semester progressed. Since Middle School my writing was what I considered one of my strongest abilities in the education system but, when I was in High School I wasn’t challenged with my writing and my writing regressed and wasn’t at the level I would have liked it to be. When I was assigned my first assignment, the Eco Literacy Narrative, my writing was understandably rusty from over the break and wasn’t up to par with what my writing used to be. I had issues like punctuation, citing examples, and overall coming up with ideas while trying to write my assigned 2 pages. 

Although I had trouble from the first couple of weeks in my class I am confident to say my writing has overall improved creatively and logistically. My writing was overall helped by the inclusion of “shitty first drafts” and the amount of freedom it gave me to help brainstorm my ideas. The first drafts allowed me not to be scared to type up a draft and get stuck on an idea I have. I would often create multiple drafts before my Polished essay just so I could feel confident in the work I was turning in. 

Another thing that helped me complete my polished draft was peer reviews. My peer review partners reviewed each other’s work and would often specify to each other about a grammar error or if they needed to add more information to sections that weren’t as clear. The constructive criticism would help me see my essays from a different point of view. I would often take inspiration from their essay structures and include them in my essays. Not only did the Peer reviews help me to take my essay to the next level, it helped me improve my writing overall through all of my writing classes.

One of the assignments that remarkably improved my citation skills was the Position Paper. The structured approach allowed me to take my time with this assignment and allowed me to work on one part specifically at a time. This made me feel like I had a lot less pressure because most essays usually need to be completed in one week. This assignment helped me immensely with my citations from other article sources and allowed me to let each piece of evidence flow smoothly with the rest of the information in the essay. Additionally, the peer review helped me immensely before writing my final draft my partner suggested I add more evidence and cut down on the amount of times I repeated myself. Before the Position Paper, I had trouble citing and finding evidence that could support my claims in other essays I did for this specific class and other classes as well. 

Another class project that benefited my assignment structure and stuck to one specific genre was the Sustainability PSA. For this project,  my group chose fast fashion and how it harms the environment. Each person in the group had a task to do which involved researching, editing, and image finding. As a group, we completed multiple drafts and picked apart what was not needed from the draft or what was missing from the draft of the essay. This project overall helped my team building and helped me stick to a singular topic to make a full essay out of it. Additionally, the topic of fast fashion helped me appreciate the environment more and hope for a more sustainable future with less impact on the environment. 

From beginning to end, this Ecopoetics course has helped improve my writing skills. Although it came with some challenging moments and sometimes I was incredibly frustrated and stuck on thinking of ideas. I learned that even though I am a small voice in a community, I can use that voice to help inform people about the beauty of nature and the harmful impact humans have on nature.