KONO 1

James Kono
Zack De Piero
310
12-1-14
Metacognitive Reflection Paper
For starters, reflection is a critical part of any learning process. Metacognition is,
the awareness and understanding of ones own thought processes, according to the
Oxford American dictionary. This is a reflection of my own thought process through the
quarter and the lessons learned in the ten weeks. Reflection is important, because its
taking a look back through the weeks and analyzing what Ive really gained from this
course. Understanding what was learned and how it is applicable to the rest of my
education here at Antioch University is also as important. It is similar to the quote, you
have to know where youve been to know where youre going. There were three lessons
that were most prominent to improving my skills as a writer and as a student; the writing
processes, the weekly writing tips, and overall, personality is greatly involved in writing.
In the beginning of the quarter, we were encouraged to use our computers for our
journal responses, notes, and activities. This was really helpful. I have the notes and the
weekly writing process tips and weekly writing tipsfrom every weekon my laptop. It
makes this metacognitive reflection paper much easier to write. During Week 1, I wrote
this first paper in one sitting with no revision and submitted it via Sakai. The following
day, the 2nd week of class, we spent time discussing our individual writing processes and
what possible approaches we could have utilized for the Exploratory Paper. Some of
my colleagues used a collaborative process having conversations with other people. A
suggested writing process that sounded, at the time, stupid, was having a conversation

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with yourself to generate ideas, questions, or arguments. Like I was really gonna sit in my
room and talk to myself to write a paper? Ordinarily, I sit down at my desk and take a
look at the prompt, then immediately begin writing, but as the quarter progressed and the
assignments built upon each other I realized my usual process wasnt efficient. I noticed
when I wrote my Artifact Analysis. Sporadic writing was a better process. I could work
on the piece of writing in shorter intervals, conversing with myself, and have the chance
to revisit it. I was giving myself the option to strengthen or change my writing. Each time
I sat down and reread my work it improved. Discovering this new, much-needed process
allowed me to paint my thoughts, sentences, and paragraphs, into a clearer picture. All in
all, this process has been applied to much more than just writing. Im able to clearly
envision my goals for the future and set the process to which Ill arrive at the end goals.
Throughout the quarter, this course was extremely well planned and scheduled.
Each week led into the next, which made the writing assignments and the readings
relevant to our end goal. We built upon our own writing portfolio week by week. Most
weeks, we wrote in different genres for different purposes. One of the most useful and
most needed lesson was the e-mail to our social justice organization representative. Prior
to writing the e-mail, the reading for the week was tremendously supportive. There are
endless types of e-mails and purposes for e-mails, but this assignment was specific
because we were requesting something from the organization. This request changes the
tone and style of the e-mail. We all needed to learn the polite, appropriate, and respectful
way to ask. Not only were we requesting documents, but also the time of the
representative to conduct an interview. Both of which Id never asked or conducted.
Assuming in the future, whether its courses taken in education, my career, or

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networking, this lesson will bleed through to any situation. It was immensely beneficial.
Other writing tips and lessons such as the hyphens vs. dashes, the Oxford comma, the
Who vs. Whom, were highly valuable. They were helpful in improving my writing and
confidence I have as a writer.
In the end, I have learned a great deal about writing. I have gained a greater
confidence in my own writing. Upon completing the research paper, I have an
enlightened perspective on my own writing. I argued in the research paper that in every
aspect of writing, writing itself is personal and reflective of the writer. The personality of
the writer shines through in the process, the style, and even down to the choice of words.
With this lesson, my writing has taken on a personal characteristic, style, and tone. I am
more comfortable conveying my thoughts and showing my personality in my writing,
which makes it more authentic and genuine. This found confidence allows me to enjoy
writing and the process it requires.
Lastly, Im very appreciative of level of passion the instructors at Antioch
University have. Its this kind of enthusiasm that it makes it possible to instill passion in
the student-body. I never had a care or love for writing, but after taking this course and
persevering through the ten weeks I consequently do. Looking back, I have never had to
write so much for a class and Im not sure that I will ever have to, but this was a grand
experience and will cherish the short time spent. I know I have accomplished a lot in this
class and gained even more, I now know how much more is to come and how much more
there is to learn. Like I said before, I know where Ive been, so now I know where Im
going.