Final Reflective Essay

When I first learned that I needed to take a newswriting course, I was a bit confused because I was unfamiliar with newswriting, and it seemed like such a niche thing for me to learn. However, after applying myself in this course and gaining a complete understanding of each assignment, I have found that I gained skills that I did not expect to find value in until after I took this course. Throughout this essay, I will be highlighting five of the most valuable skills that I have learned in this class: interviewing, news writing, editing, grammar and social awareness.

When I was younger, I always struggled to talk to strangers and get myself out there. When I got older, I did improve on this skill a bit. Yet, it was still tough to have entire conversations about important topics with random people. When I first found out that I would have to interview strangers for this class, I was surprised because I was never accustomed to going up to random people and getting a story out of them. I was worried that I would completely mess up my interviews for the local event story and would do poorly on the assignment. While my first interview was not to the tier of a professional reporter, I was still very proud of myself for being able to go up to strangers and ask them about their businesses. After going to that farmer’s market and interviewing the many businesses there, I immediately felt more comfortable in this class. This was because I felt a new level of confidence from being able to interview people, and after that, I knew that I would be able to keep up in this class. This new skill I learned from this course will surely aid me, not just in my future courses but in my life as well.

While I understand that newswriting is the name of this course and is a vast skill, I have found that I have gained practical expertise in writing articles now. A skill that I did not know I would even understand. When I took the time to read the reading materials from each module, I found that those materials aided me tremendously in being able to write in a style that I have never written anywhere close to. When I began writing the story for my local event, I was worried because this was a completely new style to me, and I did not know what to expect. But when I finally finished writing my story and had it up on my blog, I felt like a true news writer; I was so excited that I even sent my link out to my family and friends so they could see what I learned to do. Before taking this class, I was unsure of it because my concentration was not actually Journalism, and I believed it would be a waste of my time. However, after taking this course and learning the concepts and skills of news writing and storytelling, I now have gained a higher level of storytelling skills and a stronger discipline in writing in appropriate formats and making my writing flow eloquently based on the different newswriting styles.

Even though I have been editing stories and essays for a long time, I have never been too meticulous in doing so. Usually, I would just pop my writing into Grammarly and accept any offered changes. But after adapting myself to the meticulous standards of the AP Stylebook, I found that my ability to slow down and really analyze my work has improved my writing substantially. When I did my first couple of assignments for this course and saw how strict the mechanics grade was, I knew that I would have to start putting more effort into my editing. That was when I realized how inaccurate Grammarly was. Comparing the suggested changes of Grammarly to the AP Stylebook made me realize that an algorithm can not see flaws as a human eye can. This skill that I have learned throughout my assignments will undoubtedly apply to anything I write in the future, and that is why it is one of my most valued skills that I have learned in this course.

I have always excelled at grammar and English mechanics in general. My ACT score for English was a 34, which made me think that I had nothing left to learn. However, after doing the AP Stylebook practices and seeing how many different rules there are to writing, I realized that I still had much to learn. When I took my first AP Stylebook quiz, I did not even look at the AP Stylebook because I assumed that I could figure it out on my own and just wing it. I, of course, ended up doing very poorly on my first practice, but it certainly humbled me and made me appreciate the usefulness of the AP Stylebook. This skill has greatly aided me in my life as a whole and reminded me that I can always learn something new.

I purposely saved this skill for last because writing this paper and writing my story assignments made me realize that I gained a skill that I had no clue I would ever gain from a class; social awareness. It didn’t hit me until after I interviewed my source for my profile story, but the world is full of so many people that live such different lives from me. After interviewing the hard-working business owners at the farmers market, learning about the newswriting process from a real reporter, and hearing how strong some people must be to overcome their own challenges, I have reached a new realization that I am very grateful for this course for teaching me. I have learned that the people in my life and those around me have so many stories to tell and are just waiting for someone like me to share them, whether it be through newswriting or not. Hearing about the struggles and the successes of the people in my community has given me a new appreciation for those who I might not have noticed before. This skill I learned has genuinely given me a new outlook on my community.

Going back to what I said before, I thought that this course had nothing of importance to teach me. Now I see that after being able to write about all these skills with zero hesitation, I realize that I have also gained a much deeper understanding of writing and storytelling. I’ve gotten to interview people, interpret stories, gain writing skills, and open my mind to new ideas and skills. I am very fortunate that I took this course, and I want to say thank you for a great summer semester of teaching. I look forward to using what I have learned in this class to bring my ideas and dreams to life.