Process Memo

Daniel Lewis

Professor Rinke

October 10, 2012

WRT 150

Process Memo

            This entire project was very unique and definitely different for me. It really made me think about the things that I was going to write about instead of jumping right into my paper. While doing my timeline I had to really think about where I wanted to start. It was difficult at first but once I figured out how sports related to my success academically it became easier. I had a pretty good memory of how I began playing sports so it was a little easier for me to remember how I began reading.

            Before I began this assignment I never really knew how much sports impacted me academically. I knew my family played a big role in my academics but I did not realize that they used sports to push me to be the best I could be in the classroom also. It amazed me that I had never stopped to think and analyze this process. I looked back at every little thing that I learned and saw how it related to sports. I guess this is part of maturing. By realizing this I see why I am still so addicted to sports today. There are so many aspects from sports that you can apply in the classroom. It still amazes me to this day.

            This is how I chose my theme of sports. Once I thought about how much sports influenced me academically I wanted to write about it. It made me want to share the journey of this process so most of this kind of flowed naturally. This also helped me stay within the same theme. The experience of creating a timeline told me that everything happens for a reason. It makes me want to look at all of the other aspects of my life to see what actually influenced them. I want to make sure that I am not missing anything. The timeline was really an eye opener for me because I thought I knew everything about myself but now I know I must analyze myself also.

            I thought the narrative would be very difficult but once I got into it, it became easier. Getting my area of focus was pretty easy because sports jumped out at me while I was brainstorming. This made it easy for me for to focus on sports throughout my essay. They helped my get an understanding of what I wanted to say before I actually typed it into my paper.

            When I began to write my paper I organized it chronologically. I felt that this would be the best way give the readers a feel of where I was coming from and how I got here. It was somewhat difficult to organize at first but eventually I figured it out. I used the timeline to really help me through the process. Once I knew for sure that I wanted to follow the timeline it really helped the flow of my paper.

            The entire time I was writing the paper I was thinking about turning it into an animoto slideshow. I knew I would have to do it so I made sure that I included many of the points that I wanted to hit in the essay. I made sure that if I knew what I wanted the title of a slide to be, I found a way to include it inside the essay. It did not affect the flow of my paper and it still was easy for me to write.

            My peer review partner was really great. I had sentences within the essay that I knew I wanted to use for my animoto. When she picked the sentences that she thought were good for the animoto, most of them matched with mine. I was happy that she saw things the same way I saw them. It definitely was difficult limiting my characters for the animoto slides. It was very challenging because I had my mind set on the things that I wanted to say and it didn’t sound the same when I had to eliminate some of the characters. I felt like I couldn’t really say what I wanted to say in my animoto in the beginning. Once I figured out how to re-word some of the slides it became easier.

            The pictures within my animoto were used visual aid. They were used to help give the audience a better understanding of what I was actually talking about. They could now put names with faces so they could get a better visual picture of what things were like. Pictures helped them see me in an athletic mindset and in an academic mindset.

            I chose my images because they were pictures of me and my family. Like I said earlier it helped put names with faces and gave the audience a better visualization of the point I was trying to get across. They were very personal because I wanted the audience to feel like they were actually observing my life.

            I chose “Gimme a Second” by Lecrae as my song because it brings the positive feel that I was looking for to my paper. In the song it is talking about overcoming obstacles and obtaining your goals no matter what obstacles are thrown at you. I felt like this is the message that I was trying to get across to the audience so this complemented the animoto in a great way. Now that I’ve had the chance to reflect I would include more information about where I am from and how most of the kids either play sports or get involved in the streets into my animoto. I should have talked more about my city and how it made me stronger and got me where I am today.

            Overall this essay was really fun. It helped me realize something new about myself that I had never really sat and thought about. It was also a good way to express myself and to let someone else know my story. I really enjoyed doing this project because it was about me and that made it easier to find things to speak about. Overall this was a really fun assignment and a great experience.