Reflective Essay Final

1. Blogging: How has blogging as a writing medium changed the way you write, think, or think about writing? 
2. Statistics: If you check out your blog's "Stats" page to follow your readership, what information do you learn about your audience? What posts have gotten the most/least views—and what does that suggest to you? 
3. Inspiration: Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write?

     Blogging was an entirely new experience for me this year.  Although I've had Sutherland's class before as a freshmen, this class took an unexpected yet interesting turn on exposing us to important current issues and improving our own literacy.  In the brief reunion I've had with Sutherland's teaching habits, I feel as though I haven't dramatically improved yet as a writer in the course of one semester through blogging.  This might be because of a lack of criticism on my blog posts to actually improve my writing contrary to the feedback I'm used to receiving from past teachers.  Though I understand reading and thoughtfully critiquing hundreds of posts can be a daunting task for one teacher.  Differentials between blogging and other learning methods could have been reasons as to why I feel as though I could potentially excel more.  Blogging is definitely something different to the norms of progression/learning in an English class.  Be it as it may, I've had the pleasure of using blogging as a medium for my writing first semester.  Blogging has been a fresh new way of expressing ideas aimed at a collective community of my peers.  In the process, it has introduced me to new ways of writing and like-minded people I can connect with.  I've already noticed a steady improvement in certain aspects of my writing from blogging and have taken the initiative to take new steps in how I can convey ideas more concisely.


1.  I think the very first post I made towards the beginning of the school year, Nothing To Lose, really speaks out as to who I was as a writer and initially how I felt about the blogging process upon returning to school.  At the time when I was pondering what I wanted to post, I came across this video I had seen before and thought of it as my own introduction and depiction of my interest of getting to know people including new and familiar faces:

"After watching this video, I realized just how critical it is to break the ice and reach out to someone that you can talk to.  Even the most minuscule of conversations can be considered a treasured experience or window into that person's life.  I hope maybe in some way this video will inspire all you seniors to try and make an engaging conservation with someone you don't know."

  Of course I took my own advice and I actually became comfortable conversing with a couple of people I didn't normally talk to before.  They were people who shared curiosity about our world.  Occasionally, we dabbled our way into complex conversations during group discussions in our class. Since our posts would be viewable by anyone, in particular people of our class, I wanted to make a good impression based on my writing and provide interesting content relative to what other students were posting about.  You could say I was a bit self-conscious since the very beginning of posting, but to no extent would I let that interfere with expressing thoughts that I don't normally share with friends.  I also noticed I developed a tendency to assume my reader (Yes, you!) is my classmate as I did just earlier when I said "our class".  Unfortunately, whoever isn't in Mr. Sutherland's class will probably have no idea why I'm blogging or even who this Sutherland person is!  I developed this mentality that my main audience would just be my classmates, but this couldn't be farther from the truth.


2.  According to my Blogger statistics, I've accumulated 210 views overall so far and what I found most surprising is that a number of my viewers come from users worldwide--some in far off countries like, Latvia, Australia, Greece, Poland, U.K, Germany, and Indonesia, which is a very provocative idea. My most visited post was a two part movie review I did on the movie Drive, while my least visited was a rant I did concerning terrorism, The Real Terrorists, which was published close to the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  Well, hopefully, the views don't imply people these days are more concerned about movie opinions than what I felt was an introspective to how America can be seen as a terrorist to other countries.  Jokingly aside, when I did write the first part to The Real Terrorists, I felt as if I was obligated to convey feelings about America based on what I've learned about American History and its mistakes.  My writing seemed brooding and contained pent-up feelings I felt about the country I was living in. In contrast, the movie review I did on Drive was very casual, maybe a bit humorous.  I was delighted to ridicule a movie that I disliked and paid to see on the silver screen.  All in all, I'm just glad someone took the time to actually read from my perspective.  Who knows, maybe my views are mostly people just passing by my blog than actually reading my posts.  Either way, I appreciate the thought that some people took the time to see it.  I think knowing that you have an audience or simply being aware that your thoughts are being noticed is enough incentive to continue writing be it someone you know or a complete stranger. 




3.  Throughout all my years as a student, I've never had the opportunity to have access to such a large amount of my peers' writing and thoughts nor be able to respond with my own ideas directly without having to deal with face to face interaction.  Through writing responses, I found myself being able to process my own thoughts consistently and express them without falter as I would in person.  Blogging also became a major opportunity for me to see what people my around my age were writing, thinking, and talking about on a weekly basis.  I derived most of my topics based on what my classmates were blogging about including class discussions.  I'd say what inspires me to write is writing about something I've mulled about, but never had the chance to talk about.  Topics that are meaningful to me that's worth writing and the possibility that I can engage in deep conversations with others that feel the same way  is enough reason to continue writing.  Seeking recognition for your thoughts has also been an inspiring factor.  I was especially delighted, when my own English teacher decided to use a piece of my own writing as an example.  Most inspiring, however, continues to be my classmates themselves.  


Blogging and being aware that my content could be read, alone has made me more self-conscious about writing fluency, clarity, and word choice.  I often find myself reading posts twice over only to realize I made a grammatical error after publishing and then frantically fixing it.  Quite frankly, I was also surprised and impressed at how well some of the students in my class can articulately express themselves, a trait which I envy.  I've actually gone through lengths to expand my vocabulary in order to keep up with a few of my classmates by keeping track of unfamiliar words I come across and reading more books whenever I have free time. I've become more welcoming to other ideas from reading my classmates' output and hearing what people have to say on certain issues as well.  Thus, I take a great deal of consideration of what I write from them.  


Blogging this past semester, I've realized just how much potentially I could grow in my writing. That through practice, dedication, and more importantly my own desire to become a stronger writer and intellectual is essential to my continued academic growth.  I'm very much grateful to have been able to utilize a modern way of expressing ideas.  Although because of Mr. Sutherland's leaving I may not blog as much, I can assure that I plan on continuing to strive in literacy with the knowledge he left us. 


I'm going to miss Mr. Sutherland along with his presence in the classroom.  I can recall his enthusiasm and enjoyment for teaching my freshmen and the beginning of senior year in which I still consider him by far one of the most vibrant teachers to have impacted my learning experience at AHS.  To me, he introduced and re-thought the common methods of learning in the classroom, opened new ways of thinking, and reminded us that there important questions we should be asking ourselves concerning the complex world we live in.  Although its fills me with melancholy to see him off, I hope he finds a welcoming wherever he decides to teach in the future.