Matthew Herrera
Henry Maxfield
TPW Reflection
December 15, 2016
TPW Reflection
In the beginning of the year, I thought my power came from relationships; but my power started to change. I now realize my power comes from having an outlet. I have always had the answer right in front of me, but I haven’t noticed it since I started to write about my story. I started to think back about my life story, and as I was reflecting, I’ve started to recognize everything.
I have learned a lot from the writing process of The Power Within. One thing is that, putting all your ideas down on paper first, which is called Shitty First Drafts. In the past, I was usually scared to make a mistake on the first draft; now just write anything on your mind. We also have done something similar to this on our writing journals; if you think you’ve finished writing, don't stop writing, write down anything even if it's irrelevant. It was challenging to get used to, but once you have it down, it can be the simplest thing ever.
Another skill I’ve improved on is critiquing. Since I’m in High Tech High, I am comfortable with critique. What we’ve done differently in this project, is that we tried many different kinds of critiquing, on the same product. This added more focus on specific parts of your story and made it better all around.
A challenge for me in this project was becoming emotionally honest with everyone in the class. I usually show my vulnerability to my close ones, but that’s even rare. It was holding me back to write the truth about my life story. Parts would be left out and sound incomplete. As time went on, I knew that I would HAVE to show my emotion honesty. So I just dealt with it, I wrote everything down, everything. When my peers read my story, all of them started to become vulnerable. When everyone took this action, our stories became a lot better and more interesting.
I thought my exhibition reading went amazing. My parents never had an idea of my story, so it was a complete surprise to them. I thought my performance was excellent, my cues were good, and my tone of voice. The last two sentences, I broke down, but as soon as that happened, I heard the support of the audience. I pushed through the last sentences, and I felt extremely proud and relieved. The amazing support from the audience was unexplainable.
Now reflecting back on this project, something that could’ve been improved was being emotionally honest since the beginning. Instead of hiding the complete story, I could’ve wrote own every single aspect. If I took this action, my story could maybe been improved on a larger scale; since I wouldn't be hiding things.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project because it felt like a need to share my life story with everyone, they needed to know. After sharing my story out loud, I now feel a lot more comfortable with all my peers.
Henry Maxfield
TPW Reflection
December 15, 2016
TPW Reflection
In the beginning of the year, I thought my power came from relationships; but my power started to change. I now realize my power comes from having an outlet. I have always had the answer right in front of me, but I haven’t noticed it since I started to write about my story. I started to think back about my life story, and as I was reflecting, I’ve started to recognize everything.
I have learned a lot from the writing process of The Power Within. One thing is that, putting all your ideas down on paper first, which is called Shitty First Drafts. In the past, I was usually scared to make a mistake on the first draft; now just write anything on your mind. We also have done something similar to this on our writing journals; if you think you’ve finished writing, don't stop writing, write down anything even if it's irrelevant. It was challenging to get used to, but once you have it down, it can be the simplest thing ever.
Another skill I’ve improved on is critiquing. Since I’m in High Tech High, I am comfortable with critique. What we’ve done differently in this project, is that we tried many different kinds of critiquing, on the same product. This added more focus on specific parts of your story and made it better all around.
A challenge for me in this project was becoming emotionally honest with everyone in the class. I usually show my vulnerability to my close ones, but that’s even rare. It was holding me back to write the truth about my life story. Parts would be left out and sound incomplete. As time went on, I knew that I would HAVE to show my emotion honesty. So I just dealt with it, I wrote everything down, everything. When my peers read my story, all of them started to become vulnerable. When everyone took this action, our stories became a lot better and more interesting.
I thought my exhibition reading went amazing. My parents never had an idea of my story, so it was a complete surprise to them. I thought my performance was excellent, my cues were good, and my tone of voice. The last two sentences, I broke down, but as soon as that happened, I heard the support of the audience. I pushed through the last sentences, and I felt extremely proud and relieved. The amazing support from the audience was unexplainable.
Now reflecting back on this project, something that could’ve been improved was being emotionally honest since the beginning. Instead of hiding the complete story, I could’ve wrote own every single aspect. If I took this action, my story could maybe been improved on a larger scale; since I wouldn't be hiding things.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project because it felt like a need to share my life story with everyone, they needed to know. After sharing my story out loud, I now feel a lot more comfortable with all my peers.