What I Know and What I've Learned

Learning Outcome 6: Uptake and Antecedent Knowledge

For my projects, I had at least some antecedent knowledge about each genre. Coming into this course I also had a lot of "unconscious" antecedent knowledge and skills: how to write sentences and form paragraphs, grammar rules, capitalization rules, how to read, how to comprehend, how to use Google, how to take notes, etc. This antecedent knowledge has helped me in this class, but it has also hindered me. When trying to "uptake" new information about different genres, I would instinctively use the writing techniques that I learned in high school. I had learn how to break this habit for this course in order to create genre specific content.

Through this course I have learned how to switch writing "modes" in order to fit whatever genre I need to. I've learned to identify my antecedent knowledge and any preexisting biases, set aside what I don't need, and uptake new information to accurately write in my target genre.

Learning about CHAT and activity systems has helped me in my writing. Whenever I tackle a new project, I "uptake" the skills and concepts that I have learned in order to effectively do research and produce a text in a new genre.

Through my projects I used my antecedent skills such as forming sentences and paragraphs, grammar rules, and taking notes to help me. I also learned how to set aside other parts of my antecedent knowledge such as the 5 paragraph essay format. My projects represent the knowledge that I've gained as evidenced by my ability to produce text in different genres. My projects also show how I adapted my antecedent knowledge about writing in general and about each specific genre to fit into the conventions of the genre that I was writing in.