I began by writing an argumentative paper that described why I didn't believe our current education system isn't as effective as it has the potential to be. I explained how it doesn't motivate students to learn, and presented changes to the current curriculum that could help with motivation, brought about by integrating personal experiences outside of school into the classroom. This first draft didn't turn out very well.
Bill Goodwin did a great job giving me input on my initial draft, but he was good to note that there were a lot of revisions, both grammatically and structurally, that needed to be made. As I worked on revising this initial draft I realized that it wasn't pushing the point that I wanted it to push. I scrapped it and started over.
The rewrite has formed my final draft of the project. I decided to write an anecdote about an experience of mine (missing dead week and part of finals week last year to climb Mt. Rainier) and conclude the piece by explaining how it, among other experiences, led me to realize that leaving the classroom to do something new and uncomfortable taught me more than I would have learned in school during that time.
In past english classes I have primarily written argumentative essays that focus on research and a strict format. This project has been very refreshing because it gives me the opportunity to think differently than I have before, and talk about something I am passionate about. I think I have learned a lot though the process of working on the unessay, and while reflecting on my experience writing it there is a lot I have learned that I will bring to the next assignments in this class.
Some questions I have for this draft are: 1) Does the format that I am using for this piece work to make something convincing, and if not is it because of the format, or my writing? 2) I am trying to leave the reader with an understanding of my beliefs, and a plea for them to understand them, but I don't want any of my points to be too specific. Am I leaving the reader with too much to think about or too little? 3) Would this be more convincing if it was presented as a slideshow/video?
@Benbom