Hannah Sharpless Professor Gretchen Pratt English 1101

Midterm Reflection Dear Mrs. Pratt, There are several different methods to my writing, varying depending on the purpose of my writing. When I write formally I pay close attention to grammar and sentence structure. I like to sit in a quiet place that I can focus well in to ensure that my writing is to its fullest potential. This quiet place is usually my room because I am not too easily distracted here. I rarely ever write for pleasure outside of texts and tweets. I do not enjoy writing in my leisurely time so I often steer clear of it. I do text all throughout the day and change the way I write those texts depending on who the text is being sent to. I tweet every so often depending on if I think my followers would be interested in that particular statement. My tweets are very laid back and are written in the way I would normally speak around my friends. The conditions under which I write formally help me to concentrate better, get the job done quicker, and put forth a better effort. While I was writing my inquiry project proposal an idea came to me. I decided to incorporate my granddaddy into my project as an example to help further elaborate my topic. My topic for the inquiry project is how technology has affected the way we view handwriting.

My idea was to use a comparison of the feelings I encountered when reading my granddaddys letters, versus watching a video of him in the past after he passed away. I think the physical act of writing helped me to come up with this idea by having the thoughts continuously flowing in my mind. While I write I am forced me to utilize my brain, and things that might not have normally come to mind seem to flow together while writing. A piece of writing from this semester that I am most proud of was a letter to my best friend from sixth grade for her birthday. We hadnt gotten together in a long amount of time and dont talk as often as we would like because she attends school in New York and I am here. I decided it would be a really nice surprise to send her this letter and a picture of us for her birthday. A part of this note read Happy happy birthday Mary! I love and miss you dearly and hope that your first birthday spent in New York is amazing! Ive actually had my idea for the inquiry project for quite some time now. My English 1101 teacher told me a question I presented in a paper I wrote to her would be a good idea for this upcoming project. I wrote about the affect technology has had on the way people view and value handwriting and how tattoos are a preservation of handwriting as an art. I was happy I had this idea in my mind previously because I am usually indecisive and take a long time to gather my thoughts and ideas. At the very beginning of the inquiry project I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out how to word my idea into a fixed question. I originally worded the question as How has technology affected the way we view and practice handwriting? My question has now evolved into How has technology shaped the way we view handwriting? The way this inquiry project has developed tells me that research is ever changing and

continuous. Ideas flow on top of each other and do not stop at one specific point. There is always further development to everything we research. One important question that other voices of the research conversation I entered pose for me is will technology be the death of handwriting? We see that over time technology deepens the impact over handwriting. Will handwriting continue to lessen amongst each generation as technology develops? One idea I have for the exploratory essay is to include video interviews of people I ask my question to. I plan on asking people how they use handwriting in their daily lives and exactly how much they value it. If I ask this to people born in different generations and include it in my essay I think it will add extra interest and substance to my essay. I also plan to include the video of my granddaddy I watched that extended my idea for this project. I think the discoveries I make in my project will help me to be more aware of the effects of technology on handwriting. I will pay more close attention to exactly how much more writing I am doing over a technological instrument over basic handwriting. This project will open my eyes to the younger generation and note the differences in how they learn to write and practice writing in school. I think my readers will have a stronger outlook on how much handwriting has been eliminated from their lives due to technology, especially in the academic setting. I think I have done I good job participating in class by contributing to the class discussions as well as small groups. I complete all assignments which help me to stay involved in the overall theme of the class and value what we are learning. One thing I strongly need to

work on is arriving to class promptly to avoid absences, which has been a habit Ive constantly struggled with. Have teachers and professors nationwide noticed the increasing affect technology has on handwriting? What factors determine the way we choose to write? Why is it not seen as appropriate to speak in the same dialect to every group of people you encounter? Why did we learn to write in cursive if we only practiced it in the school setting for one year? What was so significant about cursive that we wanted to hold onto? Will my children write using the same general techniques I learned while growing up? Why are we encouraged to do such extensive research throughout our academic careers?