Here we are, on the final learning reflection from this course ever. Is it weird to feel emotional? Probably, but that’s me, I always get emotional. I can’t even go to the movie theatre too early or else I cry during the Scotia Bank commercials. TRUE STORY! Anyway, that is not the reason why I’m writing. I’m writing because it’s time to release my final writing piece of this course and my final reflection. I’m also writing because, you know, it’s part of my grade!
First, let’s talk about this final assessment. We had to choose a profession in writing to give a presentation on. I chose lyricist. If you don’t know what a lyricist is, it’s a person who writes the words to a song without composing the music. After I made my presentation, my assignment was to write lyrics as a lyricist would. This is where the fun began.
For our final project, we were teamed up with a partner who would give feedback on our drafts. My best friend, Miya, who’s also in this course, asked me immediately if I wanted to do this with her. Of course, I said yes.
When I video conferenced with Ms. O, I had a schedule to finish my work. I did not follow this schedule! I did with the presentation, which was the easy part, but I was stumped on the song. I decided, after a while of trying to create something new, to go through my notes and find old songs I had written. I was at Miya’s, and we were working on our homework together, when I read her some songs I wrote last summer. I stumbled upon one with the heading “Rough,” because that’s what it was, a really rough piece of work, and read it to her. She told me I should use that one, and that she really liked it. At first I was hesitant. I really didn’t and don’t feel that it’s my best work, but I needed something. So I edited it a bit, then made my first draft.
After revisions, it came to be what it is now. Unfortunately, you don’t have the luxury of knowing the melody for it that exists in my head, which may make it flow a bit weird for you. Maybe one day I’ll sell it to Ariana Grande. Would be interesting to see what she does with it.
I feel I have grown as a writer so much since the beginning of this course. My whole mindset has changed – there is so much I didn’t know! The biggest thing I learned was to not end quotations in conversation bits with periods unless that was the end of the sentence (no “she/he/they said” after the speech). I still don’t know why I’ve never learned that. I really like one of our big lessons that we’ve used throughout this whole course, which is showing rather than telling. I think of it a lot. It is something I still need to improve on for sure. In my future works, I know I will remember it and try my best to follow it!
I’ve become a better writer now. I feel much more open-minded. This course had me out of my comfort zone, and it feels so great to look back on now! I will definitely miss this course so much. I’ll miss the cool prompts, the awesome people I connected with, reading works of others and seeing just how creative people can be, and of course, the FEEDBACK! One of the biggest parts this class. I don’t know what I’ll do now that I don’t have these people to help me with my writing!! On the bright side, they all live fairly close, and I’ve met a few of them at least once. Leave it to me to email everybody in three months asking them to look over a new poem I wrote. I wonder if they really would.
And of course, I will miss you, Ms. O! I really did enjoy your class and the ways you interacted with us. You showed me many new platforms, including googledocs, which I will most definitely use again in the future, set us up for some super interesting pieces, and always offered help. Thank you for the advice on my pieces and all of the support you gave to us all! I will always remember you as someone who helped shaped me into the writer I hope to become. I really believe the biggest part of learning something is who you are learning from, and you did not disappoint. Even though this course was online, all of us involved got to know each other nicely. Our time was short and sweet, much like lots of the writing that went on!
Speaking of short and sweet, I’m sure we’re well passed that now with this reflection. So here I go, a butterfly fresh out of the cocoon, ready to publish more on this blog! Now that I’ve become familiar with the way a blog works and have finished this course, I will be using this site as my own personal blog. I think that is one of the coolest things I’ve gained this semester. Actually, it probably is the coolest, because I’m really not having fun in my functions class. I look forward to this new chapter as I, with a frown, say a BITTERSWEET GOODBYE to summative assessments and learning reflections, and hello to something new and unknown. Until the next post, I hope to see you there.
Jurney