Where I Come From--Reflection

1.                    Compare the ways in which the final version of your poem is more effective (or, perhaps, less effective) than your earlier draft. Make sure to consider purpose, audience, argument, evidence, and language conventions.

The final version of my poem is more effective than my earlier draft because it uses more of the "show not tell" strategy. I included more sensory details that appeals to multiple senses rather than simply visual. For example, "the inhaling of the crisp clean air" along with the various smells that I described from the restaurants. That entire section of the restaurants was added in the final draft to. I think that including the restaurants improved my poem because the diversity of the restaurants symbolized the diversity of my town, and it also gave the readers insight into the types of semi-unique stores that are in my town.

2.                    Explain how your poem uses more than words to achieve your purposes. Consider line breaks, stanzas, shape of the poem, layout on your printed copy, layout on your Wordpress blog, design, headers, images, fonts, color and other graphic elements.

My poem uses more than words to achieve my purpose by organizing the design for the most effective way to convey my poem to the reader. I spaced the lines between the questions and then the paragraphs describing my town in order to clarify that there were two seperate voices. When describing Northwestern's place in Evanston, I put the last word of the stanza "more" on the next line alone in order to emphasis it and to show that there could be more things continuing the list.  I included the picture of the lighthouse and the City of Evanston on my blog, because that is our logo that I proudly wore as a lifeguard for two summers.

3.                    Describe the processes you have used effectively in composing the final draft that you believe are worth repeating when you do another project. Consider planning, studying examples of poetry, the Blank Verse Collaboration exercise, collaboration with peers, feedback from the instructor, using the CommLab, revision techniques, editing techniques, and the timing of your drafts.

Processes I have used effectively in this project in order to compose my final draft are brainstorming, reading example poems, editing, peer editing, listening to the edits on my classmates' poems, and instructor feedback. All of these stages were critical in making my piece how it is today. The brainstorming and editing on my own was my own independent thinking I used to come up with my poem. I think that reading example poems and listening to the edits on my classmates' poems gave me ideas on how to create my poem/alter it based on the other poems I saw, helping me indirectly. I think that the instructor feedback and peer editing were ways that my poem could be directly criticized constructively. Together these strategies were very helpful in finishing my final piece!