Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

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[edit] Unit One Reflection Letter

Eng112 Sec 71, 4/1/07

Dear Tom,

Get ready for a bad time, because your apparent laziness in your work is going to manifest itself very harshly in these words, and hopefully that will motivate you to really start changing your writing style so that the next reflection letter is an actual reflection of what changed, not what to change.

So to start, you have start making much more of an effort to write well. Steph sees through it, even if she doesn’t say it, and your classmates can tell whether you tried to hide it or not. It’s never been typical of you to not make an effort on things, and I don’t understand why this is so much different. It is certainly an important concept that you have to learn (that is, learning how to write), as it will manifest itself many times into your majors (music education papers, for instance). Effort is very important; the idea of getting better at writing can only start at this basic element. Without it, as your papers and grades reflect, your work indeed has no deep sense of meaning and purpose, and it exists solely out of extrinsic motivation to get work in on time. Which (aside from being terrible, lazy, and sloppy), is another thing that you were always so good at, but now is failing you.

Simply put, you need to get your work done on time. There is no other option. Not being on time is the same as failing, and if those few times were brought to life in my overall grade over the past week and a half or so I would be flunking out of school. Your “revelation” from the latest unit one rewrite must start taking shape, and as it has started with the formation of this letter, you must continue with it and never, ever let go. You have to stop allowing yourself to be “that guy”, or the person who doesn’t care. Don’t fit in with the mold, take a bolder step, take the road less traveled. This is who you want to and are capable of becoming- but the only way to get there is through effort and punctuality.

What you have learned through this class thus far is that a typical high school-formed paper doesn’t cut it with the teacher, students, or yourself. College Writing is named college writing for a reason: to start writing like a college student. You need to remove yourself from your past laziness, and really dig into the topics that are open for debate in this classroom. Learn how to write, learn how to understand, learn how to learn. You have to not take writing for granted, and instead treat it as a gift that must be wrapped perfectly- the better the wrapping, the better the present inside. So, learn how to fold and cut and paste and tie, and make each present the most beautiful that you are currently capable of. I have learned that there is no limit to this either; there is no such thing as a perfect paper, and so certainly never a reason to give up on a topic. Get your gears into motion and crank out the phenomenal thoughts that churn in your brain but are too lazy to scoop out. Use your reasonably well-gifted mind to change something, both for yourself and for others. Bring new ideas into perspective and analyze them. Get down and dirty with the words you choose. You have to know that this topic for the reflection paper is terrible, that this revelation has come too late and instead these words should reflect how you have managed to change these things already, not that you plan on doing them sometime, somewhere. Take grasp of the fact that you are not doing well and need to change. Understand that and do something about it.

On another note, I believe that Steph should be made aware of your opinion that the so-called title “Unit One Reflection Letter” should be either renamed “Reflection Letter One” or should wait until the Unit One paper is indeed done and completed. Otherwise, it seems to take away the point. I mentioned your newfound concept of identity in these words, but that could change each rewrite; if I had done this before the latest rewrite the letter would have taken an entirely different form (perhaps for the better, perhaps not). In any case, let her know that.

She should also know that with the start of this paper, the you of the last semester, especially the last week and a half, is no more; that you will be much different, in a better way, and that you apologize for the stupidity and carelessness and troubles you may have caused due to these problems.

In conclusion, learn the lesson before next time that you cannot accept laziness, lateness, or effortlessness. You must strive to be the best you can be, or the point of a college career, of becoming a writer, or indeed becoming a musician is defeated. You can do better. So do it.

With love,

Thomas Wilson

[edit] Wow

This is a great letter, Tom. (Don't go easy on yourself or anything, k?)  ;-)

How have you done? We had quite a series of (mis)communications about these letters, not just with the inappropriate title (I agree with your critique), also with the format. You bypassed paper the first time around yet I was hesitant to put the first round of feedback up on the wiki. At any rate, you show yourself perfectly capable, as you say, of being the who that you want to be. I’m eager for your Final. Hey – aren’t you doing something with the Reflection Letters on the Wiki? I have not yet searched for your particular contribution is to the redesign. (I asked TheFlyingScotsman to set up a quicklink on the homepage for the Final Reflection Letters, btw. This will need to be integrated with whatever you do with the rest.)