Conference #1: Group #4

            On July 6^th, 2015, we met in Strozier Library with one common goal: to improve our writing. As Anthony signed up so we could use the room in the back, we discussed our Fourth of July weekends and how shit went down in Georgia. But after a long, tiring weekend, we had to come back to the reality of classes. Thus, we met in Strozier to discuss our segments for the project that is due soon. We began with Blake’s segments where we learned a lot about the flow of essays and how they must work together in order to get a point across. After we commented on Blake’s segments and gave both pros and cons, we moved onto Balli’s segments. After listening to Balli’s segments we realized that reading aloud makes you realize mistakes you didn’t see before when you first began to write it. We also learned that writing about things more personal is easier to relate to and more interesting to peers. We moved onto Tony’s segments where he used real life events that have happened to him and how he took the prompt in a different approach than others. He spoke of certain stories that occurred when he was younger. Tony implemented a more personal and almost satirical way of putting his stories across. This personal and metaphorical way of referring to the topics opened many of our eyes to a different way of writing. The way in which Joe went about critiquing us was very helpful. He focused on the content rather than grammar and punctuation issues. This was especially helpful because it allowed us to focus on our segments. We did not know what to expect going into this process, but by the time we were finishing up it was a refreshing time. The conference benefitted the whole group as well as brought us closer. Overall this experience has taught us that when we come together to peer edit we learn more by hearing what others have to say about our papers. We learn from other people’s papers hearing what they wrote about, and their mistakes. This experience has been beneficial for all of us because it has given us good advice on how to make our papers better. Professor Cirio was extremely helpful in giving all of us good advice. We are looking forward to the next conference, and putting all of this great advice into our papers.