How I Learned With My Writing

Throughout my whole life, I really struggled with writing. Every time the English teacher gave the class an assignment to write an essay, I was always felt terrified because I never saw any improvements in my writing whenever I got my essays back from the teacher. However, I wanted to change that this year. Writing 101 has been a very interesting class this year, especially since the theme of the class was “tai chi on paper”. In this class, I learned many techniques that helped me improve my writing like I learned how to take time and revise my writing a lot before I turned in my final draft to my professor.

All throughout my years of schooling, I’ve had just about, one paper that was about one page long, due every year. My papers never had to be more than one page in length. Therefore, I did not have to do much writing or do many essays. Surely not enough to remember any of the assignments. Writing has never been something I enjoyed doing, so I never bothered to many any memories of my writing experiences. I did not think it was necessary to remember any of them since I only had to do them to get a grade. The only writing experience I remember was the first assignment I had in this English 100 class about a writing experience. All week long, I sat there thinking about what to write about, but nothing came to mind as a topic. Then, one thing came to mind, but it was so very vague, I could not write the length that was needed for the assignment. I could only think of a few sentences to write for it. After sitting for a few moments longer, I thought, how about I write about how difficult it was for me to write this essay before it was due.

I discovered many strengths and weaknesses through this semester, especially in this latter half. For me, my most instrumental papers were the collaborative essay, my essay on circumcision, and the research essay. These really highlighted some key ideas for me on things I needed to work on or had down already.

This class has taught me multiple things other than improving my writing. I learned how to work with different people for a common goal, which was to complete our project and pass this course. However, things didn’t go as smoothly as I had expected, all of my partners were taking a few different courses and time was crucial to us. Summer school being a fast session did put us up against great obstacles but in the end we all prevailed and completed our portion of the work.

Some of my weaknesses with clarity and conciseness are making the two aspects participate in my writing assignments. Weakness that show, during my initial writing phase, are being too long winded. Not breaking my sentences up. Forgetting to place a pause where a pause should be. Commas, I hate them.

This semester has been full of ups and downs. At the beginning of the semester I thought Writing 102 was going to be very similar to other writing courses that I have taken. However, as the semester wore on, I came to the realization that this course would be challenging for me. I have always thought that my writing was fine and that I could skate by with mediocre papers. This thought process could not have been further from the truth. To be successful in writing classes such as this one, I needed to follow a writing process. I needed to utilize the information I learned from class into my writing. In previous courses, I would usually do my own thing and come up with a mediocre paper at the last minute. This semester I figured out that to be successful, I need to use all the resources around me. I needed to start papers early so I could efficiently write, review, and revise my writing. Having a writing process has helped me improve my writing in all facets this semester.

What I learned this week from reading is to look at my writing situation and focus on the key elements (like purpose of your writing and the audience). I also have a habit of overthinking what to write and it sometimes takes me longer with writing which results in errors. I am learning to just write and go back and proofread my writing. If I have second doubts about my writing I will ask someone else to review it. When writing you has to discover your purpose and what you would like to accomplish in writing. Also know who your audience is; when writing a paper a person must know the audience that they are writing for.

Last week we wrote a blog and one of the questions was “How did you learn to read and write?”  I found this question interesting because I never had really thought about the moment when I actually learned how to read and write. My mom was the first person to expose me to reading and writing. A popular tactic she did to make sure I was staying engaged was to read aloud stories and make me follow along with her. My mom would read me many different stories like Tarzan, Bambi, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Hercules. whatever I wanted to listen and follow along with, she would read with me. This really helped with my want to read. The books contained a lot of adventure, which made it easy as a kid to follow along with. I became to gain an imagination and then all of a sudden reading was easier.

I had been able to generate ideas by finding input that is inspiring throughout the course in my writing. This helped tremendously to keep me going without running out of what to write, which I have encountered numerous times before. Furthermore, creativity enhancement this semester helped fill my brain with meaningful ideas. Moving a little toward curiosity to make me explore deeper to answer questions for audience has not been easy. However, I have come to realize that sometimes ideas are right in front of me. Thus, I have grown more confident and prolific as I work on attentive generating idea habit.

This semester I was surprised by how much I actually learned and developed my writing skills. I was given the opportunity to learn the many steps that it is required to become a good writer. Writing requires a lot of work. It consists of various steps; prewriting, drafting, rewriting, proofreading and publishing. . All of these components are extremely important, and necessary, and will need to be follow to improve student’s writing.

As this semester progressed I became a much stronger writer. I have taken more time to create solid essays. I have become more aware of the mistakes that I continuously made and correctioning myself on them. The essay I did the best during second semester was visual criticism essay. It allowed me to write about a painting in a creative way, that other people might not see it the way I do. Between both semesters my best essay was the creative essay. It was a very meaningful topic to me. It allowed me to write about a subject that was important to me.

This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I

Writing is a process that I have struggled with throughout my entire life. Last semester in ENGL 1101, I slowly began to understand the writing process. However, I still struggled with developing my essays. One aspect of writing effectively, that I feel I lack, is confidence. Last semester, I was slowly becoming more confident, but as the due date for this semester’s first essay approached, that little confidence seemed to disappear. The structure of the course, however, helped in gaining my confidence back. My first official writing was a biography for the portfolio. This allowed me to introduce myself for my professor. In less than a week, the major writing assignments started. As I finished one essay and began the next, I slowly gained confidence as my teacher encouraged my writing ability. One aspect of the writing process that was extremely helpful for building my confidence was the revision stage. Although personal revisions were helpful, the peer revisions were the most helpful for me. After the final essay, I felt much more confident in my ability to write. I believe I have become a much more effective writer, and through the structure of my portfolio, this will become evident.

This semester I believe my writing has improved and expanded immensely this semester, which I am very grateful for. In late 2015, I was tasked with writing a press release for Girls Inc. and I struggled organizing and structuring a press release. At first, our first press release assignment was a challenge. I was having trouble getting into the swing of things. However, when I wrote the press release for this final project, it was a breeze writing and the organization of the piece came naturally. I think this is because of all of our practice writing this semester. My understanding of press releases, their purpose, and the planning behind press releases has deepened and I think this will benefit me in my career.

Throughout this semester I believe I have grown a whole lot more than just being a better writer. I have become a better researcher, interviewer, and observer. In all of my previous English classes, the writing process was a four-hour typing session followed by one other person quickly reading through my paper. It really wasn’t much of a process at all. Over this last semester, I can honestly say I have learned a tiny part of the “process” of writing.