After enrolling in the Dual Credit English Composition 1 class, I was afraid of many aspects of the course. I was petrified of meaningless things: deadlines, word counts, and plagiarism. Although each of those aspects are important to consider and be mindful of, they are, in no way, anything to worry over. I lost confidence in myself and my writing, through my own frightening thoughts. Almost a full semester into the class, I know now that through hard work and careful, in depth writing that I can accomplish anything that I put my mind to. I learned that my silly fears were restraining me from accomplishing great things. I was able to overcome many obstacles pertaining to my writing, while in this class. One major obstacle that I was able to overcome and improve myself greatly on was transitioning; I ask myself, “How was I able to improve my transitioning skills in just one semester?” but the answer is quite clear: practice.…
Natalie Goldberg is a firm believer in the writing exercise, which is an excellent way to keep in good form. The author, a practicing Zen Buddhist, manages to address most of the problems that sabotage the process itself. According to Goldberg, it is the way we approach and perceive the craft itself that ultimately prevents writers from producing the work. She opens with a chapter labeled, “First Thoughts,” which advocates letting go of all of one’s ego and inhibition. “We must trust in our own process and voice,” she insists.…
As I look back on my progress as a writer, I noticed major improvements. I have recognized the types of errors I was making at the beginning of the course, and new concepts I have learned. At the first of this semester I had a few problems with writing skills, and it was difficult for me to understand the basic grammar and punctuation that I need to succeed in my college education.…
It seems that my hatred for writing has always existed and only grew stronger throughout my education. Even as a young child, I never enjoyed writing. Numerous elementary school teachers drilled the basic format of a five-paragraph essay into my brain. I learned how to write narrative stories, persuasive pieces, and expository essays. I never enjoyed retelling an event in my life or trying to convince readers to agree with my opinion on a topic. Even researching an animal or person seemed dull and pointless to me. Being a new learner of the writing process, my teachers required a brainstorming map or outline before hand. I never struggled to organize my thoughts and ideas on paper. Opposite to Susan Madera’s experience in “One Voice,” I never struggled to speak english but when it came to writing, it was always a challenge. Developing sentences and choosing words were very difficult for me when writing. Madera was able to gain confidence through writing, while I only gained frustration and discouragement. Through the years, the writing process evolved into an even more confusing and hated process for me.…
So everything—my reading, writing, and other experiences— started with my birth on October 6, 1996; well okay, not really—it didn’t start with my birth. They, my reading and writing experiences, started with preschool, which is the same for most people. These two skills are an integral part of my life; I use them almost every day. However, that doesn’t mean I have to like both of them. I did not like reading very much then, writing even more so; essays and paragraphs and essays and some more essays were painful. My writing skills, to say the very least, were not very developed. As time passed, however, my views toward writing and reading began to change and my ability to write evolved. My reminiscing begins with preschool and there, my first encounter with writing.…
Every day is a new beginning for more creativity and learning opportunities for everything and anything. It’s in all of us and it may take a prolonged journey to find it. For many including myself, it took going through a hardship in life to realise what type of writing style I enjoyed. Even figuring out that I actually liked writing outside of school. This style was discovered through creating a few journals. I had transferred those journal like entries into classroom assignments that were due.…
My writing has many flaws I have known that since I started writing. But out of all the problems that I have always had, the one that bothers me the most is that I know I am not producing the best work I can possibly get out. I have always been confident in my thoughts and ideas, but every time I starting writing them down they never seem to be able to go the way I want them to go.…
learned that to write an effective Essay you should first drift the topic of your essay for example make a diagram of the topic or issues you are going to talk about in your Essay. The topic should be in the middle and start to think about the subjects that are related to your topic, or subjects that will help you get your point across to your readers more affectively. I’ve also learned that by visualizing your story from the beginning to the end can help you to see the picture of what you want to talk about, what can be also helpful is while you visualizing your story you should write down as much information as possible in case you…
Writing in journals for class or writing stories for entertainment proved to be great fun. The writing level of elementary and middle school was easy to learn and work with. Arriving in high school, I felt confident in my writing skills. High school level writing proved to be more challenging. After English I, I felt unprepared for the rest of my high school writing experience. I grew to become uninterested in writing for the next two years. I procrastinated finishing any writing assignment I was given. Though I received decent grades on my assignments, I could have received better grades had I not procrastinated writing my assignments. My attitude toward writing has changed from disinterested to excited with my Composition I and II classes. I have learned much in the first semester of this course and I have grown to enjoy writing again because of this…
As a writer, I believe I have several strengths as well as challenges. Beginning with my strengths, I believe I have a passion for writing. When I write I make it easy to follow my train of thought from simple word selection to more complex thoughts. I also have my topics organized in a pattern designed for an easy flow from start to finish of what is written. While I strive to keep it simple, sometimes I have to get creative to capture and keep my readers attention. For my challenges, I believe my limited vocabulary may be a problem along with thoughts that do not convey any useful information. In order to improve my writing skills, I have to read, re-read, and re-read again to make sure I stick to the topic at hand.…
In everyday life, however much I am experienced, I will still find some fear in whatever I do. Thinker, information-gatherer, writer, students, and different employees find it difficult to some bit of writing whenever they are to do so. Prewriting, writing, revision, and editing are the process that will up my skills of writing. Before any blank paper is filled with content, there are many prewriting principles that must be adhered in order to get started. Moreover, finding the idea of what to write about is the most important aspect that must be addressed. It is important to use much of my brain to select that idea or topic that is general because I will not be limited to ideas.…
Throughout the years I have dreaded writing because I lacked the skills necessary to be an efficient writer. I would spend so much time stressing over all the skills I didn’t know that I never had the time to enjoy the writing process. By taking this course, I have learned valuable and essential skills to make the writing process more enjoyable. Furthermore, over the course of this semester I have flourished into a more confident and focused writer.…
After the initial work of conceiving ideas and thoughtfully organizing them, then it’s time to get down to work and create sentences and paragraphs that will communicate to the reader the ideas you have. Each sentence, in its own way, tells a story. For it to be effective in telling the story, you must be able to put the sentence together, scrutinize it, and correct any problems the sentence might have. Unlike spoken language, written language does not give the luxury of a back and forth exchange. It is not possible to know if the reader understands, nor is it possible to go back and fill in the…
When walking into my first period class as high schooler, I pictured myself as a well-rounded writer. My impression suddenly changed after a few weeks in Ms. Giroux’s class. As I received my first ECQ grade with a blood-inked C written in the corner, I realized I was going to have to put a lot more effort into my writing. I began to spend more time and put tedious details in my writing while doing deep revisions after my paper was complete. Towards the beginning of the year, my writing lacked creativity and organization skills.…
In high school, we grow so much as people that we tend to forget where we started. This applies to not only our personalities, but our academic abilities as well. I suppose this is obvious, as it is four years of school, but the magnitude of this growth never fails to surprise me. As I looked back at the writing pieces I created in ninth grade, with misplaced commas and awkward wording, all I can think of is how different my writing is today. The poem I wrote was created as a way to track and remember the changes I encountered each year.…