Self-Reflection on Project 1

"Self-reflection, or meta cognition, is essential to writing-researching. It spurs your growth."

What did you do and/or learn that you applaud yourself for or are delighted about for Project 1? What did you not do for Project 1 that you want to up your game on for Projects 2 and 3?

I was surprised by how much I struggled with Project 1. For some reason, it just felt like something about it didn’t “click” with me. I’m happy with how it turned out, though. I put in a lot of time brainstorming, drafting, throwing out drafts, and re-writing my essay and eventually got something that, while I didn’t love, I was happy enough to turn in. I think that going through that process was a good learning experience, especially because essay writing normally comes naturally to me. I feel like I honed my skill at writing like it was a trade and not like it was an art. I also feel like I learned that I want to choose a less nebulous topic for future projects. I think that part of the reason that I struggled to write my essay is because I had, to use a metaphor, a general direction I was moving towards in my writing process but not a specific destination. I changed my project 2/3 proposal last minute for this exact reason. I didn’t quite have a feel for what question I was even asking. I’m much happier with my new research question about student motivation. I feel like I have a general idea about what the question I want to ask is and how I might go about researching it.