Upon entering this class, I believed that reflections and comments from my peers were redundant and unnecessary. Throughout the course, I have learned that without reflection and reassessment from my peers and professor’s comments, my writing will never progress. Comments from other people’s perspectives open you to a whole new viewpoint that is different from your own. In order to grow as a writer, one must takes comments and critiques as a form of advice, not deprecation. I used to disregard these comments. I liked what I wrote, why should I change it? However, as I gradually learned to accept these comments and apply them to my writing after reflection, I felt that I grew as a writer.

I feel that a big turning point in my writing occurred after our narrative essay reflection. Receiving comments from my partner, Tyler, greatly affected my course of writing for the better.  “I just felt like [the end] was rushed and could have been expanded to continue that story-like flow that was consistent from the beginning to the middle of the narrative. I also feel like Alyssa mentioned her hair a lot.  If she meant to emphasize that her damaged hair was the worst of the consequences she had to deal with, then of course it is fine. However, I was just a little confused as it felt like the hair part was kind of just thrown in there.” This comment in particular inspired me to shift the focus of my narrative to a singular topic- my hair. Initially, I talked about changing both my outfits and hair to assimilate into my predominantly Caucasian middle school. Being that the narrative was supposed to be on the shorter side, there was certainly an imbalance between the two topics and my hair took the latter. The ending was rushed and the topic of my hair was underdeveloped and seemed “kind of just thrown in there”. While writing my first draft, I believed that both topics were significant and that I had to talk about both in order to develop my narrative. As a result of trying to do too much, both topics fell short and my narrative as a whole came off as confusing and took away from the point I was attempting to make. Once I got over my slight stubbornness and reflected upon my work, I realised that Tyler’s comment was absolutely valid. “As I read over my own narrative after Tyler’s peer review, I completely understood what he meant when he said that he felt confused about why I had thrown the story of my hair in there when I was talking about changing my outfits in the beginning of the essay. It shifted focus and by the end of reading the essay, you completely forgot that I changed my outfits as well because my hair became the main focus towards the end.” Tyler’s comment in addition to my own reflection and application of this towards my writing significantly improved my narrative. The focus was now kept on a singular topic and the reader was better able to focus on my narrative as a result.

The next assignment that greatly impacted my theory of writing was the critical lens final draft and the comments that my professor left. “I find that exploration of the ‘perfectionist” to be really compelling. Much more so, to be honest, than the Captain America example. Also, I think that using both Captain America and the perfectionist article really splits the focus”. Once again, I had fallen into the same trap of splitting focus. I took these suggestions, applied them to my writing and once again felt so much better about the work that I had produced. ““Constructing Normalcy”, “Pitfalls of Perfection”, and the perfectionist mentality reveal the theme of the unattainable “ideal norm” and its harmful effects on society” made for a much more concise and effective argument than my prior claim using Captain America as the manifestation as the “ideal human”. These comments and reflection only benefited my critical lens essay..

Overall, comments from my peers and the application of them upon reflection of my own work has made me a significantly stronger writer. I once believed that comments and reflection were redundant. However, I now see how they can completely change the course of your writing for the better. There is no growth without reflection. There can be no reflection if there is no one to critique your work and advise on how you can improve.