Getting "Lit" with Mackenzie

  Tonight, I am writing a blog post. Also tonight, I sat in a circle with over 15 of my classmates in the English Education program at UWM and we talked about times where we felt like a writer, and times where we felt like that was taken away from us. The biggest commonality between our experiences were the feedback we’ve gotten from those whom we’ve looked up to as a mentor. Some of the feedback we’ve gotten pushed us onto this journey to help other students learn to love and develop their skills in reading and writing. Some of the feedback we’ve gotten stopped us reading and writing for years. The feedback and relationship between mentor and student is part of the driving factor for writing continuance.     Feedback is an integral part of the assessment process. It helps both teachers and students evaluate the effectiveness of their learning strategies and the mastery of the subject matter. This ongoing assessment ensures that students stay on track and make progress. F...

Let’s take a trip back to fall of 2023 when I was taking a writing workshop all about creative non-fiction in zines . That class (and my classmates will probably second this) changed the way I write, the way I think about writing, and my perspective of art in daily life. I guess you could say I am a zine super-fan after all. I never could have thought that my life was art, or had any relevancy in a reader’s mind. After being introduced to digital creation in literature, I found myself engaged more in the act of writing. I had never been so excited to do homework, and so free to take literary risks within my writing. Digital Literacy and zines have an undertone of meaning within community engagement, identity, and freedom of expression.   There are an array of ideas, colors, and textures on each page of a zine that tells a unique story, captures a moment in time, or challenges societal norms. Zine culture is a celebration of diversity, a platform where artists, writers, and activis...