Introduction:
The Power Within project was about writing a personal narrative, guided by the question: Where does your power come from? We wrote these personal narratives with the help of So Say We All professionals.
Drafting & Critique:
It was very hard to start deciding between two of my stories. It was very hard to chose one because they were very similar and very important to me. In the end, ended up writing about a story that was the most recent one. It was very hard to even start writing it because I didn't know how to even get started and because I didn't want people to judge me and my family for my story. One day when I was about to get started, right when I wrote the first sentence, I started tearing up. The next day, I went outside and started writing for the whole two hours, I didn't stop until I reached four pages. Of course, the first draft was horrible because I just wrote what was on my mind.
The first few days after writing it, I didn't go back to read it at all. Next thing I know, is that it's critique time and I have to read it to 3 of my peers. When I was reading it, I didn't feel nervous, maybe it was because I knew I could trust the people in my table. As I was reading it, I realized that it wasn't that bad, I just needed to add more detail and fix a few grammar errors. My second draft was now five pages instead of four because I divided the one big paragraph I had into several paragraphs. I also fixed the grammar errors I had. Then, I knew I needed more help, so I made an appointment with Betsy, a very helpful writer. She helped me fix some detail in my story and the structure overall. When I was done, I ended up with about eight pages. For my third and final draft, I had everything completed, it was all up to my standards. The final step was to finish scripting it. For last day, I ended up getting rid of three paragraphs. I ended it the way I wanted to, not in the way that would please others, but me.
I honestly didn't really like the idea of other people reading and critiquing my work, and I still don't. I feel very insecure about my writing, and even more this time because it was a very difficult topic for me to write about. The first time I got critique from my partners, all they said was that it was practically ready, but I thought otherwise. I needed more feedback. Then, Mrs. Hood-Esparza read it, and I knew I was going to get good feedback, and I did.
The last critique groups were good. I really liked how it was mostly focused on the way we read it and how we got help on what we needed to work on. I also thought it was really helpful how the handout we got was really focused on specific parts that we might need help on, for example: strongest part, weakest, hook, resolution, emotionally honest, conflict, etc. This helped me to get very good and clear feedback.
The first few days after writing it, I didn't go back to read it at all. Next thing I know, is that it's critique time and I have to read it to 3 of my peers. When I was reading it, I didn't feel nervous, maybe it was because I knew I could trust the people in my table. As I was reading it, I realized that it wasn't that bad, I just needed to add more detail and fix a few grammar errors. My second draft was now five pages instead of four because I divided the one big paragraph I had into several paragraphs. I also fixed the grammar errors I had. Then, I knew I needed more help, so I made an appointment with Betsy, a very helpful writer. She helped me fix some detail in my story and the structure overall. When I was done, I ended up with about eight pages. For my third and final draft, I had everything completed, it was all up to my standards. The final step was to finish scripting it. For last day, I ended up getting rid of three paragraphs. I ended it the way I wanted to, not in the way that would please others, but me.
I honestly didn't really like the idea of other people reading and critiquing my work, and I still don't. I feel very insecure about my writing, and even more this time because it was a very difficult topic for me to write about. The first time I got critique from my partners, all they said was that it was practically ready, but I thought otherwise. I needed more feedback. Then, Mrs. Hood-Esparza read it, and I knew I was going to get good feedback, and I did.
The last critique groups were good. I really liked how it was mostly focused on the way we read it and how we got help on what we needed to work on. I also thought it was really helpful how the handout we got was really focused on specific parts that we might need help on, for example: strongest part, weakest, hook, resolution, emotionally honest, conflict, etc. This helped me to get very good and clear feedback.
Script and Pictures:
This is my third, and final draft. In order for me to make my presentation good, I needed to script it. BOLD slow reading, Underlined meant to read it while looking at the audience, Bold and italic meant reading it even slower, and italics meant emphasis on the word or phrase. Since I had already practiced reading my story a few times, I knew how I wanted to read it out loud, so it was very easy for me to script it. At first, I only scripted the first two pages because I felt like it was going to confuse me, but it didn't confuse me once I read it out loud. Once I had an even better idea of how I wanted to read it, I finished scripting the whole thing. It was a very quick and easy process.
This is the slideshow I created for it to be used in the background as I read my story. Almost everyone used about one family picture, then the rest pictures of Google. I decided not to only use one of my family, but use all seven pictures of my family. I did this because I wanted to show everyone the kind of family we are.
Audio Files:
tpw_voice_memo_2.m4a | |
File Size: | 5712 kb |
File Type: | m4a |
tpw_voice_memo_1.m4a | |
File Size: | 6679 kb |
File Type: | m4a |
tpw_voice_memo_3.m4a | |
File Size: | 5280 kb |
File Type: | m4a |