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Will Misenheimer

Professor Arnold

UWRT-1101-073

25 October 2015

Mid-Term Reflection Letter

Dear Professor Arnold,

I have been very satisfied with my progression throughout the course of this University Writing

class. I have been very encouraged with the new, higher levels of maturity that I feel I have displayed in

my most recent works. Upon arriving to UNC Charlotte, I held a mindset that writing was a formulated

statement, but I had no idea how to appropriately organize that argument; the only method I had really

been taught was the prescriptive, basic 5-paragraph format. The Literacy Narrative and Found Genres

assignments have truly benefitted me by enhancing the level of confidence with which I have in my

writer’s identity and style.

The Literacy Narrative assignment, seemed to come very naturally for me. This is most likely due

to the personal nature of the assignment and that students are writing about their own, respective interests.

This assignment allowed me to discuss baseball, an activity very close to my heart that I have participated

in for the entirety of my life, which allowed me to embrace my writer’s identity. Even about 6 weeks after

composing the narrative, I can vividly remember the confidence with which I wrote and the positive

feedback I would give to myself. To me, this system of my mind critiquing my thoughts is vital. Without

self-analysis, the thoughts that I translate onto paper may seem to be drawn out and lacking a main idea.

My confidence was increased greatly with the self-provided reassurance that the story I was telling

accurately delivered the main idea with the audience. My mission for the Literacy Narrative was to

effectively communicate my story as a baseball player to the audience in such a manner that the reader

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would feasibly comprehend the story without any prior baseball knowledge and take something

meaningful from the story. It was my hope that my collection of anecdotes would have a positive and

sentimental impact on the reader, regardless of the audience’s previous exposure to a baseball

atmosphere. The altered-book component of this project also challenged my abilities to creatively

communicate a topic that I am literate in. While I felt that the altered-book was slightly less thorough, I

believe that I effectively provided my testimony as a baseball player to the audience. Nonetheless, I felt

that the tasks I challenged myself with during the Literacy Narrative certainly improved my writer’s

identity in terms that I may deliver a meaningful story to all members of the audience, regardless of the

viewer’s background knowledge on the subject.

The Found Genres assignment benefitted me by testing my creative abilities as a writer as well as

giving me the experience needed to devise a thorough job resume. Prior to this assignment, I had neither

composed a job resume, nor really written a “creative” writing assignment that I was truly interested in

creating. I am thankful that I was given the option of which genre I would create because a closed-ended

prompt with a restricted genre also hinders the writer from achieving maximum performance and

delivering the point that he or she may feel needs to be communicated. While the experience I gained in

building an efficient job resume will certainly benefit me as I begin my journey in the work force, I

believe that the cognitive workout to be a more creative thinker will pay off with much greater rewards.

Thus, the benefits of the Found Genres assignment may be much greater than simply increasing writing or

resume-building skills; it helped me to better myself at delivering a main idea in a more concise, yet

creative way.

The progress that I have made thus far in University Writing is very encouraging and satisfying.

The Literacy Narrative and Found Genres assignments have benefitted me in many ways, from

developing a confidence in my writer’s identity to becoming a more creative thinker. However, there are

a few ways in which I hope to become a better writer throughout the remainder of this course. While I felt

very confident in my ability to discuss a subject that I was already literate in, I am unsure of my ability to

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achieve a state of literacy in a foreign subject and then form an effective story from it. I am hoping that

the upcoming Ethnography will give me the confidence and experience needed to mold a more complete

writer’s identity. I am eager to begin the Ethnography and test my cognitive abilities in new ways.

Sincerely,

Will Misenheimer

25 October 2015