Reflection
Reflect on your 4 years here in the Creative Writing Department. What was memorable? What could have been avoided? What would you have liked more of or less of? Reflect honestly on your experience from 9-12th grade.
Put your reflection in the COMMENT section of this post. Each reflection should be at LEAST 500 words in length. So no skimping. Have at it.
Due by Monday, June 12.
Put your reflection in the COMMENT section of this post. Each reflection should be at LEAST 500 words in length. So no skimping. Have at it.
Due by Monday, June 12.
Comments
My first classes in the department were Journalism and The Craft of Writing. I would’ve loved to have gotten to take the film studies course, but alas I also wanted to be pretentious and travel the world, thus forfeiting my opportunity. (This is not a flaw in the department, merely just a statement). From what I remember of Journalism, I enjoyed the hands-on aspect of it: the article writing project, the personal interview, and the photo journalism project. These hands-on projects--preceded by a lesson on the project, and instructions on how to proceed--were always really enjoyable, and I really got a lot out of seeing the other students’ projects. I don’t remember much from C.O.W., but that it was really helpful to learn how to format different types of writing properly. In this class I finally understood meter and various poetry structures and felt challenged to write in those styles.
The course load difference between Writing Across Cultures and Advanced Poetry/Fiction was pretty noticeable. For WXC, I found myself struggling a lot to get 20 pages of work in order to get a good portfolio grade. I enjoyed when Craddock would lead a discussion in class and then suggested that we write a piece on that discussion for our portfolio, but because it was not mandated, I often jotted down ideas and then never got to them until there was a deadline. The Socratic Seminars were also really enjoyable, especially when they were focused on a relevant subject that we could personally relate to. However, the grading of our peers felt like a lot of pressure to speak, and I felt like sometimes I felt pressured to speak not based on interest, but focused on the grade.
Advanced Poetry/Fiction was really helpful in giving me the time and space I felt like I needed to write. It was designated time for me to sit down and write almost whatever I wanted, with structures in place if I felt like I had writer’s block. I felt like we did a good balance of writing and reading, and especially enjoyed when we’d sit together and read/review each other’s work. I think our class size helped these feel a lot more intimate, but we always got a lot out of them and I really enjoyed reading the work of my peers.
One major suggestion I have for the department is to make Senior Coffee House exclusively that. We all know that coffee houses have the tendency to get long winded with the occasional reading of one’s “short” story or play, or the first showing of one’s new rap album, and I think that senior night should only focus on the seniors. They could feel more willing to read longer or more pieces if they knew that the spotlight was only on them. Every other major has an exclusively senior showcase, and I think the Creative Writing department should be no exception.
Switching to CW was one of the best choices I made at SOTA, and I only have good things to say for the department, besides my petty lazy complaints of so much homework. I wish all the best for the department’s future, and hope that the department continues to inspire and produce fantastic and creative writers.
One of my favorite courses from the years was the junior year Film Studies course. This class was one of my favorites because we got to watch some of the classics like Jaws and many others. With that, I feel I became more well rounded on American Culture and in addition, I learned how to effectively critique a film. I still use many of the skills taught in that class when watching films. Its interesting how many things I notice now because I look for them and it is all due to this class.
Another class I thoroughly enjoyed was the final creative writing course offered from craddock, the writing across cultures course. Although we had a rough start with the confusion about the MCC program, we still had a good year. I do wish however that we could have received dual enrollment credits for this course. Nonetheless, this course was very eye opening to me about so many different things. At the beginning we picked topics that we would be interested in learning about and I do believe that this was part of the reason why the course was so effective. I learned so much about various topics from hegemonic groups to media influence to gender roles in Iceland. It was a year jampacked with information but it was so impactful. This year was so engaging and personalized and that's why I loved it.
Overall, throughout all these years I have learned so much about myself as a student, person and writer. I learned to embrace the things I do well and to strengthen the things I could work on. It was cool to look back on my work from freshman year and see how much progress I made. I am proud of my decision to enter school of the arts as a creative writing major. I know I have learned so many essential tools that will help me through my entire life. High school has definitely been one for the books. I am excited for my future and to be a sota alumni.
My years as a creative writing major have been weird but I did enjoy it. Throughout the years i have grown as a writer. Going from a mediocre writer to someone who can write a decent short story. I loved writing but since i became a creative writing major it grew into something more thanks to the different classes we have here. What was memorable in my years of being here in the creative writing department was almost everything. Almost. What I would have liked a lot more if we had spent more time on the film studies in 11th grade since my interest in film is really high. I know that playwriting isn’t going anywhere but I would’ve liked less of that anyway. I barely remember anything from playwriting. Now I did love film studies class we took because I love film so much. I liked the classic movies we watched because I have never heard of them before and several different people did tell me to watch them in the past. I think it helped me become more educated on American films and how they really started.
I really liked the class we took this year because I think it’s good that we get to learn about other cultures and even pick countries that we wanted to do research on. I also liked some of the movies we watched at the beginning of the year. They were interesting. One thing that I also should think happen is that the senior coffee house should only be seniors since it’s their last. Also because it gets tiring after someone reading a so called short story after a little bit. That’s the only thing that I think that should be absolutely changed. Other than that I really enjoyed my years here at the creative writing department a lot even though it probably did not seem like it. And I enjoyed how the department has made me change as a writer and I do hope that the department does well with everything after all of the seniors leave and that we do get more creative writing majors.
One of my favorite classes is Film Studies. The course made my interests in film/animation high and gave me an interest in watching older films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s ( although I’m a bit confused in certain parts. I felt that the course should’ve been a full year rather than a semester so we would have more time to know fully about some of the famous directors that shaped the film industry while weaving in some playwriting.
I enjoyed Writing Across Cultures because of how engaging it is such as class discussions and all of the projects we did. However, I felt that some of the course topics was a bit rushed. I’m not too upset about it since many things were happening at the time such as senior trips and things for graduation. As always the movies chosen were very interesting and I really liked some of the books we read this year such as The Stranger and Mad House. I’m still pretty mad about the Dual Credit situation by the way.
I think there should be more events planned for the creative writing majors besides the coffee house because I feel like that Creative Writing Majors are under represented in SOTA . I suggest maybe a school festival for all of the majors to represent themselves. I would also like to suggest that we could also do another book sale or maybe selling stuff such as personalized journals or something like that. It’s a stretch I know.
I love and will miss everyone but this isn’t really goodbye; it’s see you later.
My experience in the Creative Writing Department has overall been extremely positive, and I’m so happy I was able to make it a part of my high school experience. As a double major, the things I felt were lacking in my writing education were for the most part being covered in the other class, so the things I would’ve enjoyed more of don’t necessarily reflect the creative writing experience as a whole.
The class I found to be the most enjoyable was absolutely Film Studies. It was interesting to learn about such a different form of writing and creation, in contrast to the standard prose and fiction. I especially liked that we learned about the whole history of film and the techniques specific to the medium. I feel much more confident writing screenplays now that I understand the basics of the entire movie process. Even outside of the department, I found that after the class I connected much better with movies, and even decided to take a film scoring class so I could understand the compositional and soundtrack aspects of film in addition to the script and visuals.
The ninth grade classes are a little fuzzy in my memory, because it was so long ago and because I started halfway into the first marking period. However, I think that they did provide a decent foundation for my writing, and when early teenage angst is controlled for, my writing did improve a lot within that year. I got the needlessly depressing poems out of the way then, which ended up being embarrassing, but did ultimately drive me toward better subjects and writing styles later on in high school. I might have done better with more specific prompts, more akin to those used in Advanced Poetry. It would give students a starting point on which to base real poetry, and it would be both fun and educational to reuse those same prompts three years later. Craft of Writing was also useful, and I especially liked exploring the different options in prose and fiction. I was challenged to use new formats and meters, and for the first time wrote prose outside standard fiction and poetry within a traditional structure.
Especially this year, but in previous years as well, I’ve found the program to be more of an English class at times than a creative writing course. Obviously specific deadlines and assignments need to be set, especially in high school, but I would’ve liked more freedom in terms of what went into my portfolio. I also felt that a high percentage of our time was spent working on and presenting projects, and I think cutting that back a little could be beneficial.
One of my favorite parts about the program in general is the amount of literature we’re able to read. Especially with the advent of Common Core, it’s been invaluable to me to be able to read and discuss literary works that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It hasn’t always been easy to read with the amount of workload I had from other classes, but I prioritized it whenever possible. (By prioritized I mean that I’d procrastinate on less enjoyable assignments by reading, and still feel good about myself for getting work done.)
Although I know I made the right choice personally to be a double major, I would definitely have liked to take the other classes that I didn’t have time in my schedule for. Creative Writing has prepared me more for college than any other course I’ve taken, and for the most part I’ve enjoyed it immensely.
If I’m being completely honest the first two years of Creative Writing seem more like a blur to me than anything else. I have more vague memories of the ideas and the projects that we worked on in that time, but I think that those years were so vague in my mind because they acted as a foundation. They worked to build up a set of skills that I would begin to use over and over again not only in the Department but also in my future classes, and college application process. I have memories of working hard on media projects as well during that time on iMovie, and I still miss those opportunities to this day, but the fact that we no longer have Mac’s is of no fault to the department, although I found a great deal of value in those classes nonetheless.
Looking back at my junior year, I have a lot of good memories. Playwriting was a class that I initially disliked because of the abundance of specific formatting and my general dislike of creating dialogue. The class did eventually grow on me though as we begun to read more and ore plays in class, which I always enjoyed because it allowed for me to practice my rudimentary acting skills. This combined with the Playwriting Project which let me spend a lot more time coming up with ideas that I actually found interesting really warmed me up to the class. In regards to Film Studies, I can not remember a point in that class where I wasn’t enjoying myself. I have always loved films and I enjoyed learning about the history of the technology, becoming more acquainted with old yet impactful films, and the variety of ways in which a film can be analyzed. My only real regret, if it could even be called that is that we did not have the computers to really facilitate a better understanding of how to edit and compose our own movies in class, but again that wasn’t the fault of the Department.
I am also reminded of Breadloaf almost once a week and will be forever thankful for the opportunity that both Mr. Craddock and Ms.Gamzon opened for me and Olivia. The Young Writers Conference there was one of the best few days of my entire life and I will forever be grateful for the memories that I made there, and I would never have known about it or done it unless my teachers thought that I would benefit from it and made me aware of it. I would have to write an entirely different reflection to talk about that event alone, but all I can say is that I am truly grateful for the opportunity.
-Cameron Bennett
(Part 1 of Reflection Since it was too big)
If I had to make any suggestions I don’t know if there was anything specific that I could really pinpoint. There were absolutely some projects and assignments that I disliked but I was almost always able to see the value in whatever we were doing. Sometimes I just didn’t enjoy the material or simply didn’t want to do it. I think that there could possibly be some benefit in reforming the Coffee Houses to make them a little smoother. At times they do go on for a little too long and it could benefit from having a limit for the number of readers who are not apart of the class for that respective “showcase”(Freshmen and Seniors). I am sure there are better solutions but that is one idea.
-Cameron Bennett
(Part 2)
My creative writing has been shaped by tremendous support from both you and Ms.Gamzon. You guys have made my high school experience the best it could possibly be and I just want to make sure you know I greatly appreciate everything you have done for me. I really truly miss you guys and I will make sure I comeback and visit as often as possible.
In 9th I wasn't too sure if I had what it took to make it through the rest of years as a creative writing major. Between all of the writing and reading assignments on top of my english course work, I felt that I was losing the passion I had for writing. I thought that I was being over worked in the literature aspect of school and it would completely turn me away from being a writing major for my remaining time in school. This feeling is probably the most memorable feeling have from my high school experience. I dreaded all of the reading I needed to do to "improve" my writing style and skills. I didn't want to have to continuously read different genres of books or write different genres of stories. I knew well what I liked to write and what I liked to read and I wanted to stick to that. I would love for there to be more trip opportunities for the writing department during my time here. I understand that I didn't attend every trip offered to us, but I didn't attend a good amount of them. I wished there was more attention given to our department. I believe that we are overlooked compared to the Drama and Dance department. I don't think the school really respects this department as much as it does the others. If Creative Writing was giving more attention it would only improve the impact that this department has on the students tat are apart of it. I feel that this department alone has greatly prepared me for future.
I honestly would of loved to have less reading throughout my four years. It almost felt like I got a new book to read every other week. I did enjoy reading some of the books that I managed to get around, but some of them didn't spark my interest at all. I'm pretty sure there's probably nothing you can do to change this because those boring books play a huge role in the overall achievement of the department, but truth be told I didn't read half of them. I think workshopping should be added more into the courses at earlier years. We really didn't start officially workshopping each other works in a single group until this year. I think that if that was incorporated more in my 9th and 10th grade year I would be a much better writer. It allows you see the creative styles and mindsets that your classmates have. It even lead me to story ideas and gave me the motivation to develop my writing craft. It felt almost like a competition, I wanted to get the good reactions out of my peers and that drove me to work harder on my writing. Workshopping is one of the best memories I have from my four years in the department. It helped me shake some of the fear I had about sharing my work with other people and helped me get a better understand on the type of writer that I am.
Overall, the Creative Writing department was pivotal in shaping me into the person I am today. It's run by two of the most amazing teachers and personalities that SOTA has. I'm glad that I choice to come to SOTA as a writing major and I wouldn't change anything about my experience here. I believe that this department is the best department at SOTA and it produces wonderful and creative people. I will miss coming to the computer lab every morning, even if I was a little late. I will never forget you guys!