Marissa Fedor

Writing History 

How has writing been a part of your life?

• Writing has played a role in my life because of the freedom of expression. Writing has allowed me to express my thoughts and creative freedom. I have had a journal since the beginning of my freshman year of college to portray my emotions. Writing has allowed me to reduce stress and serve as an escape and emotional release. Writing has allowed me to keep my thoughts organized, improve my writing, set and achieve goals and relieve stress. 

What is your earliest memory of writing?

• My earliest memory of writing is in kindergarten, my mom is a teacher and worked with me every night before bed. We used to read books and write about our day or random prompts she would come up with. My mom pushed and encouraged the importance of reading and writing on me from a young age which led to a foundation of engaging information and a love for learning. 

What have been some positive writing experiences that you have had?

• A positive writing experience I have had is in high school. We did a program called poetry of load. We had to write our own poems and read them to the class. I haven’t worked with a lot of different genres until participating in this program. This leads to a positive experience because of exposure to different types of writing. Poetry allows for self awareness, expands world views, leads to creative things and combines different characteristics such as conveying different means, feelings, sounds and symbols. 

What have been some negative writing experiences that you have had?

• A negative writing experience I have experienced was in high school. We were writing about a personal experience and we had to write within a certain amount of pages. I personally did not like having to meet a certain number of pages because when I get all my thoughts down and I have not reached a certain number of pages it leads to repetition and destroys the flow of my ideas. 

What do you like to write?

• I enjoy writing when I have a prompt but freedom of expression in a prompt. I think it is important to enjoy what you’re writing and want to continue writing. Writing long essays is something I do not enjoy. I often find myself going off topic or using repetition to complete the task, however when it is a shorter assignment where I can just write without restriction I find myself having more passion with the subject and wanting to write more.

What do you dislike about writing?

• I dislike writing when it comes to a prompt that I dislike. When I do not enjoy what I am writing about or am not engaged in the topic it leads to me not wanting to write and not not meeting the requirements such as word count. 

What are some goals that you have for yourself as a writer this semester?

• Write everyday 
• Write in different genres 
• Read more often 
• Ask for peer reviews 
• Try different prompts 
• Take risks 

Quick Writes 

Quick Write 1

Who was the most important person in your life and why?

    When asked the question who is the most important person in my life many people come to my mind. Many family members and friends have entered my life and made an impact in positive and negative ways however my mom has and will always be there for me. 

She taught me her morals, how to cook and how to swim. She showed me how to raise my head high at the end of the wrose days. I learned how you can’t be scared if you never tried.

She is just a woman who doesn’t wear a cape, works a 9-5 job and needs her sleep. She loves her coffee bright in the morning, to noon to watch baseball. She helps heal all emotions from physical to emotional. My mom is the most important person in my life. 

Quick Write 2

Use words button, window, cat

    When we moved towns we moved into this abandoned old house. It had old wallpaper, huge fireplaces, more than one staircase, windows that reached the sky and many doors that needed weird keys to be opened. My dad passed away a couple of months ago and my mom wanted a fresh start so we moved across the country, goodbye to a huge city filled with lights and welcome to the middle of nowhere Ohio. Since we had no friends my brother and I searched the house this summer for all the keys to open the doors. One door allowed us to grant wishes so we wished for our cat named bell. One door allowed us to travel anywhere so we went to get ice cream. One door allowed us to turn our old shirts button into one hundred dollars. The keys allowed us to gain the powers of each room but the more we discovered the more we got scared.

Quick Write 3 

Look at this Image and what comes to mind

    When I look at this image overall I see a man made waterfall if we ferry boat crossing at the bottom of the lake. Before the waterfall drops I see the bright blue sky under it lying the clouds and before the drop you see the trees, plants and man made bar. At the bottom of the drop the water slows down making it very peaceful containing a ferry that looks like people are traveling on. This image reminds me of taking the ferry out of Port Jeff, Long Island, New York. This ferry avoids the traffic of the city that leads to bridgeport connecticut. My best friend who I met my first year of college lives an hour west of Bridgeport connecticut. Last summer I took the ferry to see her. Although we did not pass many waterfalls, the view was amazing. The Long Island sound pasted many Islands inside the sound and led to many memories. I have taken the ferry a few times to go to the University of New England as well. 

Quick Write 4

Essay Question- Social Media:Good or Bad?

    Social Media has taken our generation by storm. Many platforms have been created allowing us to expand our communication with each other. However social media is leading to a decrease in many social skills. One example is research on social and emotion that occurs to children using these devices. Research has shown that children are spending more time on ipads compared to playing outside. Children are losing the sense of a learning based play and will now cry and scream to go on the Ipad. This is not positive enforced behavior with children acting out to gain the Ipad. When the pandemic was in effect many parents did not know what to do with their child allowing for them to drain a lot of their energy on the ipad. Some effects shown are lower brain development and social situations are decreasing allowing children to not build social skills. When going into classrooms last year for recess many students would bring out their Ipad and sit in a group and fight over who got to play first, compared to my childhood where students would go out and play on the playground together. Social media can be seen to connect us however it divides us when we are together.

Quick Write 5

If you can put anything in a frame what would it be? Where would you put it? Why did you pick that certain thing to frame? 

    If I was able to frame anything it would be my grandparents’ beach house. The house holds so many memories and allows me to hear and share stories with my family. Many trips were taken down to the beach house and the house holds all my grandfather’s stories who is not with us anymore. The house allows my family to come together, create memories and share past memories. It may come across as just a house but deeply it is in the roots of my childhood memories and present memories. I would frame this picture of the house in my dorm room because I may be far away from home but I know my family is with me and supports me. I picked the beach house because of all the reminiscence it holds within it. 

Quick Write 6

Would you recommend this book?

    I would recommend this book to a fourth or fifth grade class working on building critical thinking skills. This book allows students to have to think about what the outcomes of this book are and the hidden meanings behind it. It has strong character development where the characters each play a role in the story and identifying the different traits they have and how they are an asset to the team would be a great lesson for this age group. I think this book would have a lot of very engaging lessons that can be built off of it and the students will enjoy the lessons through the book. I would recommend that the teacher should read this book aloud to the class to engage them. The book due to it includes hard vocabulary and it is a long book for this age level.

Reflection on quick writes:

Why did you choose these quick writes?

• I chose to pick quick writes 4 and 3 because it was both topics where writing came easy to me. In quick write 4 I enjoyed it because of the topic. As a future educator I believe technology is a great resource that can be used in the classroom that can help benefit each student in different ways.It allowed me to share my point of view though details and support evidence.I also liked Quick write 3 because the prompt was something I have never done before and I enjoyed trying something new as well as using the image to guide my writing and the creative ideas that came from the picture. 

What do these quick writes say about you as a writer?

• These quick writes describe me as a writer because I like to have it a topic to write about. I am not the most creative person and I find it harder to create ideas compared to writing something that has already happened or a topic I enjoy. I prefer to have information to work with rather than brainstorm my own creative ideas. 

Small Moments 

First Draft-

Life was simple down by the riverhead. The traffic only picked up on sunday nights, the breeze was always cold and refreshing and our white sand beachings stayed the same. Growing up I lived in Queens, NY, in the city that nevers sleeps. My parents and I lived in the upper apartment above my grandparents. When I was young my grandparents bought a house in the Hamptons. Which is 2 hours away from the city. We went there all the time. My parents worked a lot so I was always with my grandparents. Many memories were created in the beach house. From collecting shells to fishing on the boat, the memories created in that house will always hold dear to my heart. One memory that stands out is when my family thought he was missing when he was sleeping. 

Revision

• What feedback was most helpful?

The feedback I received which was most helpful was adding more details. After hearing this I decided my topic was a bit broad and I have to simplify it to one topic to add more details about it.

• How did your piece change though the revision process?

My piece changed because the topic got narrowed down into one memory that stands out to me from Hampton’s house. It was very cool to see the change from my work due to normal detail stuff however during this process I had to save my old work and when revising I was able to see all the changes I had made and what a difference they made. 

• How might you change this piece even more if you had time?

If I had more time to change this piece I would break the story up from the beginning of the day to give more context and details to lead into the plot of the story. 

Final Copy 

    At the end of Long Island sits a small town called riverhead. In this town it contains very few people and places. A simple town where the bay ends layed a small white cottage. The house was two stories with hedges around the property, big bright windows with little sail boats on ledges and contained my large Italian family always screaming on the weekends. My mom yells “ If he isn’t here for dinner he can starve for the night, I don’t care” in her New Yorker voice that could wake up the whole city. Growing up in Queens, New York was a drastic change compared to a tiny town where everyone knew each other. My grandfather screams back “ Anthony will be here soon, claim down.” Anthony is my younger brother who had the job to run to our local grocery store to grab a loaf of bread. He biked over an hour ago when it should have only been 30 minutes all together. The family was fuming in hunger, My mom had 2 brothers, wifes and kids of their own with addition to my grandparents all in this compacted beach shack. The house was two hours away from the city and now past dinner time. The window slammed close from the wind and all eyes were on the door while we were drooling over the smell of pasta and shrimp. The rain starts to pour down and still no Anthony to be seen. My uncle Matt stands up and wonders where Anthony could be. The family runs into each room slamming closing the windows until we run into Anthony’s room and see a lump in his bed. There Anthony is sleeping with a loaf of bread next to him.

Writing Genres   

Poetry

    Leaves change colors in the Fall

The weather requires a light jacket and snow may fall

trees look bare but the grass is colored 

Apples in season and bonfires to be discover 

Leaves change colors in the Fall

Narrative (See above)

Informational

There are 365 days in the year, 12 months, and four seasons. Autumn, otherwise known as Fall, is known to be the most beautiful time of the year. In the Fall, nature reveals its true beauty. The trees lose their leaves as Winter gets closer and it gets cold and dry. Trees begin to lose their leaves as they shed them in preparation of Winter. This is a beautiful process and only lasts a couple of months. Trees go into hibernation because they cannot survive the cold winter. When everything is frozen and the sun releases less UV rays the trees will die if they don’t hibernate and put their lifespan on pause. 

Persuasive 

Arguably one of the most beautiful times of the year, Fall. This time of year is from the first of September until the last day of November. Just before the world turns white and cold, the trees begin to hibernate and shed their leaves. This process is natural beauty as the leaves begin to change from green to orange, red, and all sorts of colors. The temperature is just right, not too hot, not too cold and still perfect for being outside compared to the other seasons. 

Reflection on Genres 

• My reflection on writing different genres determines the purpose of our writing and how styles of writing can affect differences in plot, tone, organization and patterns. Genres influence different aspects in a story which some come easier and some are challenging to write in the short time period. Something I found easy was the informational section. This writing came easy because it was a topic I knew about. This was just writing straightforward information, I only had to present informative details. I did not have to try to convince people to think differently or give details to explain things into further matter. I just have to present information to increase the reader’s understanding of the information given. Something I struggled with more is poetry. Poetry is a beautiful aspect of literature because it consists of illustrating details in a unique way which is very rhythmic and typically has great flow. Poetry also has no guidelines and rules to follow allowing for an unlimited amount of creativity. Although poetry has its own unique beauty, I personally find it difficult to incorporate the information in a poetic manner. It is also something that I am not as interested in, I would rather write a story of fiction or nonfiction and write about something that I am familiar with. 

Writing Reflect 

What piece makes you the most proud and why?

    I enjoyed writing the informational aspect of this project. I like this because I get to illustrate information in a very straightforward way. I am very proud of this because I believe I captured and explained my message in a clear way while still explaining in detail the most beautiful season.

Where did you achieve your goals?

    I believe I did achieve my goals for this assignment. As I explained my goals at the beginning of this assignment being, what I enjoyed writing, what my strengths and weaknesses are, and more specifically, write in different genres, read more often, as peers for their review and feedback, try a variety of prompts, and take risks. I did not complete each goal, however, I nearly did. I effectively accomplished each goal besides writing everyday. Though I am required to write each day while completing assignments, I did not write for pleasure or write stories and be creative every day. Some days I have been too busy or not in the right mindset to sit down and allow my creativity to flow in writing. However, each week I have written in my agenda or in the notes on my phone stories or dreams I had that I wanted to capture in words. I also enjoy drawing and do that each week, which is something I consider to be writing in the form of shapes and images rather than in words, which can be argued to be a variation of writing. I achieved each of my goals throughout the completion of assignments and within a de-stressing process I do each night before bed. I write in my journal as a way of dealing with my stress and anxiety. This is a very relaxing activity that I do everynight. Sometimes I will ask my friends or roommates to read things I have written in my journal or I will read what I have written as Myself and some friends enjoy hearing these things. 

Where did you see yourself struggle?

    One area I struggled with is the poetry section. I have always struggled to illustrate my thoughts and information in a poetic way. I can come up with ideas and have a good story or message but then struggle to write it in a flowing way that rhymes and is straight to the point. 

What does your writing reveal about you as a writer?

    After writing a great deal of work, I have come to the realization that I have some great ideas and can be creative. However, sometimes I run into difficulties when it comes time to write my thoughts in a structured or like poetry, an unstructured unique writing style. I have also realized that writing is a very effective way of dealing with stress and anxiety as it calms me and makes me tired for bed. 

What does your writing make you think about you as a teacher of writing?

    When I look at my writing and who I am as a writer it makes me think of how I will incorporate writing into my future classroom. I hope to capture writing as a fun and calming way of completing assignments through critical thinking and creativity. I also hope to share my passion for writing with my future students and pass on to them my mindset with writing. I hope to teach my students that writing is not something to consider dreadful but to consider it as a time to take a step back and focus on one thing while embracing the time and effort put into each work of literature. 

What risks did you take?

    One risk I took was writing about the same topic within different genres. I wanted each one to be different and stand out in a unique way from each other as well as having a common theme. A risk I saw was the difference in the genres compared to the ones that I am stronger in compared to the ones that I struggle with more like poetry. Each one was being proprated about Fall but they each highlighted a different aspect of Fall and portrayed different information about Fall. I think the risk of being able to write about the same topic with the different genres was out of my element but I liked how all the different genres came together in the end.