There comes a time in life where we see an impossible obstacle, and do the best that we can to overcome it. For me, this was my AP English Language class in high school during senior year. The time was now, summer is nearly over. I analyzed my strengths and weaknesses, giving a full re-evaluation of myself. In the end, I consider myself an average writer. There have been times in the past when I’ve written letters or personal stories. However, those have never been my strongest set of skills. While I have been serious with my writing, I never recognized the unbelievable advantages that good writing has. Therefore, I’ve made it my goal to improve my literal skills and become a great writer. Maybe this new class will assist me in becoming that …show more content…
Little did I know that it was a trip to a tutoring hall? I looked at her “surprise” as an offense. I was not so unfortified that I needed someone to help me, I thought. Although I was a bit naïve and put up an impressive show to shrug off going to the tutoring hall. In the long run, I came around and decided to give this aid a try. Later that day, it came to be that I was introduced to the most extraordinary people that I have ever met. Not only were they friendly, they assisted and heard my struggles, and provided actual useful techniques that I can easily get accustomed to. Within weeks, I was reading far better than I have ever been. I was writing and reading more than I usually did. The confused and jealous looks of my peers powered my desire to keep practicing my literal skills. Things carried on like this for a while throughout the year, we were given assignments, essays, book reviews, things of that sort; nothing I couldn’t handle. Around the end is where things got really interesting. Coming into the end of my senior year, I was petrified. As I skulked into my classroom, I took a momentary glance around, trying to get a quick view of the people I would struggle with. After all I went through in high school; this is how I began to see my English class, a journey. I took my seat, across from a guy I knew from grade school. I knew I greatly improve at the subject, and everyone else
I feel that I have evolved as a writer in unimaginable ways. I always had such a difficult time conveying my feelings or sharing them with others; this semester changed that. I started out by writing poems that were very impersonal and lacked depth and emotion. As days and months passed I would remember feelings I had experienced and use those as inspiration and use the numerous techniques learned through this class to form those feelings into a poem. I had dabbled in writing poems prior to taking this class but I had never actually sat down and written one. Once I wrote my first poem for this class I was hooked; I couldn’t stop. I would wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and scribble it down to turn into a poem the next day.
Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.
Reflecting back on this pass semester, I can see how I have come a long way. In the beginning of this semester I was not confident about my writing skills. I always I struggled to find the correct grammar and punctuation that would express my ideas so that they can flow on paper. Upon arriving to this class which is instructed by Dr. Shirokova, I am now recognizing that my writing skills could enhance to a new level. Even though my grades on my essays are not the best in the class, I can see an improvement of growth at a rapid pace. I truly feel the devolvement of writing skills within myself, even in the fifteen minute writing journals opens creative in my mind. Allowing me to focus on different topics has pushed me to write in detail
When I look back on these last weeks I have to smile. I have to say that this class has been a much needed and long awaited step toward reaching a higher goal. I have not been to school in thirty-seven years. I had to leave school when I was fifteen years old. I was a fairly good student and loved to read. I never stopped learning, I never stopped trying to improve, however, I didn’t have any way of knowing whether what I was self-teaching was correct, and whether or not I was improving. I didn’t have a computer, the internet, google, wikipedia, or any of the tools I feel so lucky to be able to utilize now.
I've always had this fascination towards writing because it envelops an entirely eclectic discipline where one style of writing can be assimilated to create another, and be described as remarkable as the other. However, I let this penchant get the better of me. Before I enrolled in this course, I thought my writing abilities were beyond spectacular- boy was I wrong. I soon found out, with the help of Professor Payte and peers, that my writing is light-years away from "spectacular".
Although blessed with excellent teachers, I discovered my main weakness was minimal teacher feedback. I am aware that my writing skills are well through praise and grades; however, that is all I know. As a student, achieving success through my writing has always been an ambition. I strive for greatness but, unfortunately, I am unaware of my strengths, let alone my weaknesses, as a writer.
Being aware of my strengths and weaknesses in the writing realm informs me of areas that allow me to succeed and areas where I need to fix and improve. By having goals that center around educational goals such as getting good grades and enhancing my current writing abilities, I am able to remain focused and determined throughout the school year. I am certain that taking this course is entirely beneficial to a student because it teaches us essential composition skills that we will be able to use throughout our
My junior year was a tough school year for me. I decided to take American Studies, and, at first, I thought I had made a huge mistake. We had stacks of summer work in both classes and I struggled to understand what Ms. Gilly and Mrs. Gobel wanted from me. I progressively worked day after day to get my homework done. Throughout the school year, I became a better writer than who I started as. Both Ms. Gilly and Mrs. Gobel helped me get to where I am today. American Studies taught me to become the best writer I could be.
This English class has been an amazing learning experience for me. It made me grow as a writer, I am now more convinced when I write and can express myself more effectively, so readers understand what it is exactly that they’re reading about. Although I didn’t get off to a great a start in this course and if I had to do it over again, there are definitely some things that I could have done better. Interacting with my peers on the discussion board, made me learn a few things about working with others and the Smart thinking was helpful as well. However, above all the things I learned from this course, the most was about myself. The knowledge
Writing is an art that improves through time with consistent practice and exploration of one’s skills. Prior to this class, I have always considered myself to be an efficient writer. However, my writing was limited in the scope of academic writing, due to the fact that throughout my high school career, that is the most of what was expected to be written from me. In this class I was able to dive further into my writing and explore with my skills in the context of creative writing, poetry, as well as fictional writing; something I had little to no experience in. With the correct guidance from you, my professor, and consistent practicing, I was able to create five pieces that I believe to be some of my best work in these particular genres of
I have acquired so many new skills and habits this school year in Ms. Dibernardo's English class. After discussing and analyzing all of the topics we read and learned about, I have developed an understanding for new concepts that I didn't even know were important. This class has helped me grow in various ways that will help me in future classes and high school. Some examples of what we went over are To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gathering Blue.
There is a magic in beautiful writing that makes it delightful to read. A good writer’s medium is the written word. He or she is able to weave a story, and capture the essence of an idea with ease. As of now, I am not that kind of writer. Truthfully, I am lost, scatter-brained, and unaware of how to make my point in most cases. I ramble on for sentences before realizing my writing is one big mess. But, I give myself credit for taking time to write, and accepting feedback and criticism with a “thank you”. I listen to the external and internal voices that drive me. Although I am not a remarkable writer, I am willing to learn and improve. As author Stephen King wrote in his memoir On Writing, “While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it’s equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible to make a good writer out of a merely competent one” (142). I am not afraid of putting in work only to fail. In the end, I want to write to be understood, and commit to my writing, regardless of skill.
I walked into second period on August seventh and was greeted by my teacher, Mrs Key. She was straight to the point, telling me, “This class will make you work; if you cannot handle it, get out.” I began to question my decision to take her class, doubts seeping into my mind as I knew myself too well as an awful writer. I thought, “Should I really take this class?” Ultimately, I determined that I could manage the work in the class and make it to the final paper. As a student with a four grade-point average, I expected the class to be effortless. However, the weekly papers combined with such a challenging class resulted in a constant bombardment of low grades, making me realize that I was very wrong. I started to put forth more effort in the class, and although I started the year writing atrocious pieces, I can proudly say that my work has improved significantly. I had a tough start to the year, struggling in the areas of my theses, introductions, transitions, and conclusions; however, my effort has been rewarded by their obvious improvement to further emphasize that even the most terrible of writers can experience success.
Following some time spent on reflection, I realize I learned to appreciate more than I expected from this class. I enrolled in this class with the idea that I would most enjoy reading stories, watching movies and analyzing each of them. Before attending this class, I honestly did not give as much consideration to the writing process as I should have. As a consequence, most of my efforts to adequately express my more passionate ideas failed. Essentially, like Sheriff Bell from the book No Country for Old Men, I felt overwhelmed and I had to accept that I was not prepared to obtain the result I had envisioned. Understandably, I admire writers who can effectively present their ideas and produce the outcome they chose. If I eventually master each of the steps in the writing process, not only will my writing improve but also my enjoyment of writing will increase because I will have the skills to satisfactorily share my perspective. Accordingly, I came to understand I need to increase my proficiency within several areas of the writing process if I want others to fully comprehend and appreciate my efforts to communicate my ideas. Though I cannot claim that my other cross-circular outcomes, such as critical thinking skills, are perfect, what I came to appreciate from this class is the importance of the writing process.
Let’s rewind four years back to my freshman year of high school. I’ve always been a struggling writer throughout my adolescent years and as high school approached, I knew I would have to write my fair share of papers. The only difference between writing in high school and college is now I actually care. Writing used to be a chore to me, something you did because your teacher told you to and you didn’t care how it turned out as long as it got done. When I arrived in my EN100 class I had no idea how much my perspective on writing was going to change. My go-to motto of “I’ll do it later” came to a dramatic end because I learned that all my paper required my full attention. My bad habits of procrastination and inadequate papers were over. Throughout this semester, I was able to obtain skills and knowledge about writing that I did not even know was relevant. I will be looking back and analyzing my literacy narrative and informative essay while discussing my overall outlook of the class and what I have learned.