When I first found out that we had to read aloud, I was not too excited. I've always been a shy person, but when it comes to writing, I don't like reading aloud because I get worried about how awful my draft is. Recently, I started reading aloud as I wrote so that I could hear how my thoughts were coming out and catch awkward phrasing and such of my sentences. But reading to other people is something so different. Peers could find your style weird, or constantly pick on your ideas, or not even pay attention at all. I did, however, decide to go into this with a more open mind.
After seeing the comments, I knew that most of my work would be on editing, but not much was said about my actual ideas. I was just happy that I wasn't proven right on my peers being too critical through comments. I went second during my conference. I didn't rush through the reading or stutter a million times like I thought. It did take a while to read but at the end, I was proud to have let them hear what I had to say. The feedback was what I expected- watch your little mistakes, don't get too long, do some rearranging. I liked this experience though. There's a difference between one seeing their mistakes and having someone say yes this is a mistake and here is how to fix it. And it wasn't like it was just suggestions on how to make the paper better. I received some positive notes which made me more confident about this project. I wouldn't mind doing this again. I really like this form of editing and besides these blogs, how we do this is something that makes this class different and special.
Im glad in the end that we weren't too intimidating for you to read in front of. Reading outloud to people is, like you said, a lot different that reading to yourself. Just as you read to yourself to catch awkward phrasing and such, its good to read aloud to others so that they can do the same. Good job and I hope we weren't to critical!
ReplyDelete