Cover Letter:
Learning to Review and be Reviewed.......
Learning to Review and be Reviewed.......
Dear Instructor Z,
In UWP 1Y, I learned one of the most valuable lessons that I have ever learned in any class. I learned about the power of revision. Before this class, I seldom ever revised anything, since I believed that revision of the content of a text was not really necessary. I thought of it as a thing to be loathed! In fact, I despised it to such an extent, that during peer editing exercises in high school, I would just sit there and comment on people’s grammar and punctuation rather than bother to read their essays! I would even get emotional and defensive if someone wrote a critical comment on my work. However, as this class progressed and I began to learn different revision methods and how to peer edit other people’s work, my views changed drastically. I now feel better equipped to assess my own work, as well as others’ in a more objective manner.
Learning different revision methods was one of the best ways to heal my dislike for revision. After reading Deither’s revision article in Learning Journal Seven, I suddenly understood that revision was a very logical and actually pretty useful thing. In this article, the author gave clear guidelines as to how to revise. They stated that we must first summarize the paragraphs we wrote and number and label different aspects of the writing. I actually had a good time doing all this! I then used this revision method while I was doing my Wikipedia article. For the first time, I looked at the teacher’s and the students' review comments appreciatively rather than angrily. I was pleased to have received feedback. Using the review method I learned and reading the comments carefully, I constructed my Wikipedia article. Rather than feeling bored to revise, I put an immense amount of effort into it. I tried to make the page look exactly like a Wikipedia article! I re-formated everything, added pictures, and even linked all of the citations like in a real Wikipedia article. Revision turned out to be a very fulfilling and wonderful thing to me because of this class.
In revising the podcast project, I received four people’s feedback. Four people telling things that I could improve on. Before, that would have frustrated and annoyed me greatly! I would have ignored all the comments to be honest. But instead of all the drama, I remembered the video that we had watched earlier in the year about peer review. As I mentioned before, I myself was not much of a good peer reviewer. I would just correct all the small stuff and tell people that they did great! I remembered that the video had set very specific and effective guidelines for conducting peer review. I was glad that the people who had reviewed my project were following these guidelines for constructive criticism rather than do what I did and just pretend to read the paper! I was so grateful that people actually took the time to read my paper and I made sure to consider everyone’s advice carefully.
UWP 1Y has equipped me with a skill that I will use for life. I am truly surprised that the great dislike for revision that I have harbored all these years is almost nonexistent now. The two projects that I have presented in this portfolio are very significant to me. They are the first and certainly not the last projects that I truly enjoyed revising.
Sincerely,
Sharani Ramesh