Studying_Observation_and_Analysis

Writing an Autoethnography gave me a chance to learn how I write my essay without getting distracted. I also learned that while writing essays or any other writing assignments, I usually procrastinate and put it off until the last minute. As I writer, I realized that writing should not be forced upon and instead it should be encouraged. While doing this assignment, I learned that I am a good writer but I just have to avoid distractions and write what my heart desires. Mainly, the purpose of this assignment is to have students spend one hour on writing and then evaluating themselves in the end on how they spend this one hour, whether they are focusing or feeling distracted. I believe this writing assignment can make students learn a lot more about them because after evaluating, we can judge ourselves on what made us to focus and what kept us distracted. Observation: At 2:14 p.m. on February 02, 2010, I was sitting in my living room with my laptop to spend one hour on writing an essay and then evaluating myself in the end. Before I started to write, I closed all of my tabs that were already open such as Yahoo mail and Facebook. I also logged out of my instant messenger so that people cannot message me. Then, I opened Microsoft word and began to write my essay. At first, I had no topic in my mind and I just stared at the blank screen and thought about on what topic I should write my essay. Its 2:17 p.m. and I am writing my introduction paragraph while taking a sip of hot tea. Suddenly, I hear rain and I find myself staring out the window. I begin to ponder about other things not related to the essay but I have to keep control of myself and not get distracted. As I was finishing up my paragraph, I heard the phone ringing and my mom picks it up. It’s her friend calling her and they are talking about their upcoming weekend plans. In order to avoid any further distraction, I try not to listen to her phone conversation and I quickly take my laptop to my room. As I glanced at the clock, I realized that its 2:34 p.m. and it’s still a long time until the hour is finished. Currently, I am writing the second paragraph and while thinking about else to write, I look out the window to see if it stopped raining yet. While writing the essay, I began to feel hungry so I went to the kitchen and brought a bag of cookies and a can of Pepsi to my room. I realized that I should probably relax my mind and listen to some music so I can have more ideas for my essay. So, I opened iTunes and I put my playlist on shuffle. “Overdose” by Ryan Leslie began to play and I was singing along to the lyrics. Then, I opened the Microsoft word tab and finished the second paragraph. Its 2:47 p.m. and I am in the middle of my third paragraph. I feel like I am running out of ideas and I just cannot think on what else to write. I believe I had writer’s block for a moment because I felt like my mind went completely blank. I am looking at the clock every few seconds hoping the time would end soon but it’s only 3:05 p.m. I am finished with my fourth paragraph and currently working on my conclusion paragraph. I found this paragraph easy to finish because I basically just had to rephrase my introduction paragraph. Finally at 3:11 p.m. I was done writing the essay and I just couldn’t wait to evaluate myself and see how I did throughout writing the essay. Analysis/Reflection: After observing myself on how I write the essay for one hour, I was extremely surprised that I actually focused on writing without many distractions. Usually when I write any assignment, it takes me longer to finish it because I can never just sit for an hour and write continuously. Before evaluating myself, I was intrigued on how I would respond to this writing experiment. I was feeling that I got distracted a lot in the middle because I was feeling hungry, I wanted to listen to music, I was staring out the window instead of writing. I felt like I was trying to avoid writing but I tried to not get distracted. The one thing that disturbed me was the time limit. I always felt like I could not write within the time provided and I usually take more time than needed but for this essay, I somehow completed it within an hour. Conclusion: Throughout doing this assignment, I was hoping to learn about myself and how I react while writing any assignment. I wanted to learn whether I could stay focused or get distracted into doing other things such as checking mail, spending time on Facebook, chatting with friends, eating, or going to the bathroom. By doing this assignment, I learned that I could be a focused writer. I did got a little distracted because I was listening to some music, eating food and staring out into the space. Basically, it was because I did not have many ideas on writing my essays and I could not decide on what topic I should write the essay. Although, I do believe that I learned something different by doing this assignment because I have realized that if I stay focused on my writing I could finish it on time instead of taking more time than provided. By doing this assignment, I have learned that I could be a good writer but I just have to stay focused and not get distracted.