Reflective Writing

Reflection

When writing an assignment or putting out work in hopes to better yourself, a goal all students should have, it is impossible not to leave room for “self” and prove your ethos as defined by Nedra Reynolds. Surely teachers aren’t looking for uniform papers or one correct answer. More likely they want to see that you thought critically about the assignment and answered the question as it pertains to you individually. Everyone has different interests and abilities, and giving your unique insight into a question is not only more interesting for others to learn from, but also a more quizzical look into finding what makes you, you.

            Aristotle defines ethos as being able to “manifest the virtues most valued by the culture for which one speaks.” When I look back at the papers that I have written over the course of this semester, I can easily pick out the beliefs and ideals that fueled my writing. In my first ever blog post, I reflected how I grew up and the differences that I see in the environment we are raising kids in today. As Paul Mitchell said in the first blog assignment sheet, “the first unit urges you to understand your own position in the debate on information and communication technologies before we begin addressing bigger issues.” When it comes to technology, I know, at this point in time, what I am looking to get out of it. I have concluded what makes it great and the pitfalls that it may have, and this is how I structured my ethos. I pull insight from personal accounts, changing statistics, and what has happened in the past to represent the virtues that I believe in and that give me credibility through their ethos.

            I try to create myself so that I don’t get caught up in the rigor and routine of everyday life. As a student, much of my time is consumed in the assignments I work on, many of which can be completed without much depth. When writing, I try not to pick typical subjects and reasoning. Maybe this is why outside of school I enjoy being involved in lesser publicized organizations such as the Boyscouts of America, the tennis team, Harry Potter club, National Leaders, and other groups that can break me away from the culture and ethos that I am normally involved in. I tried to reflect my belief that we must keep changing our perspectives in my evaluative argument paper, which challenged the widely accepted Kony 2012 campaign.  In this paper my ethos shows by telling where I stand in the argument and why countless authors such as Nicholas Bariyo of The New York Times and Elizabeth Flock of The Washington Post agree with my reasoning. I shy from pointing fingers and try to let me audience see my “between” ethos, as Rynolds discusses in her article “ethos as Location”, by guiding them to the credible sources such as "Charity Watch" share my goals.

            These assignments mirror where I’ve come from, the places that I’ve been, and how I want to influence the future. As I sit here I can confirm the fact that what I have written has accurately projected my beliefs. That is to say there may have been times, such as now, when my being and therefor writing was stressed, hurried, or a bit off of my main focus, but my goals were clear. I would have liked to see my writing develop into a more professional format with fewer errors, but my understanding of tools such as hypertext, argumentative writing, and use of ethos has never been stronger. For me it all comes down to what I’m passionate about. I’ve never been largely technologically oriented, but its something very pressing for the world we live in. I wish I could have come at this subject with more virtuous involvement, but knowing my writing was strong and enlightening to myself and to my classmates is all the assurance I need to know I wrote with critical purpose for what I believe.