I Remember Taking My First Advanced Placementclass In High

In high school I was not the best at writing. I did not find this out until I was places in advanced English. I was used to writing papers that had to be simple. So when I started receiving C’s and D’s I told myself something had to change. I finally realized that I could not write as well as most of my classmates. So, what I ended up doing was making my papers more complex and making my sentences stronger. When I applied myself I became a stronger writer. As I took the diagnostic test I saw I was making a lot of mistakes. At the end I made a 70. From this I could see why I encountered the bad experiences in high school and in college.

I was pushed constantly to work harder at my writing. I studied and practiced several new techniques and methods for prewriting and organizing the essays I found so hard to create. At first, I had quite a few bad days and quite a few subpar essays. My grades would vary greatly from paper to paper. This really scared me, as I hoped to keep myself from drastically dropping in my grades. Yet, I wanted to maintain my grade point average so I had no choice but to succeed and impress around every corner. I began to pour in, even more, work and apply all of the newly learned skills from that class into my mind. I hoped that soon I would be able to find a system for writing that helped me form proper

We wrote many papers and turned in rough drafts before final drafts. Sounds quite similar right? Not at all. This teacher didn’t teach us how she wanted us to write. My A’s turned into B’s and she never specified what was wrong with my papers. Not only that, but her classroom was a completely different environment. There was no room for creativity. There was a lot of reading and papers. Nothing less, nothing more.

It wasn’t until this class, where I was told that I was not being asked to explain in great detail what has shaped me into this amazing writer that I am today, but instead to explain what type of writing I feel comfortable with. At that point I realized that this assignment may not be quite as difficult as I thought.

I have never been an excellent student and perennially struggled with English, Math, and Science growing up. These subjects would cast a pall over my day and school work. Anxiety would well up inside of me which often resulted with me passed out across my desk sleeping through parts of class. When I would return home at day’s end, I rarely completed my homework. When I did try to complete homework, it often ended in tears of frustration or the hurling of a book across the room. Taking this class has helped to quell a portion of that anxiety and frustration. It was a grueling class, seemingly impossible at times, but taking this class has given me the confidence to know that not only can I finish the class if I work hard but can also excel! Writing is something that I will exercise throughout my college curriculum and my life. It will help to convey my ideas to the instructor, peers, bosses, and co-workers. In my college curriculum, it will also show my instructors that I’m learning the information provided and how to apply that knowledge appropriately. It will allow me to complete assignments, discussions, and reports, and I will also apply writing in basic communication when necessary.

I am constantly writing. I write to reduce anxiety, to plan out my day, to jot down a hilarious joke (probably made by me) that I don’t want to forget later. Slowly, I am penning my own musical and I have written several short stories as well (which will be hidden in my room until my untimely death). One may assume that due to my love of creative writing I’m a skilled essayist and all of my former English teachers adored me. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Throughout my high school career not only did my papers never did pass an AP rubric they received harsh critiques as well. This ultimately discouraged my passion for writing.

Logan Pearsall Smith once said, “Fine writers should split hairs together, and sit side by side, like friendly apes, to pick the fleas from each other’s fur.” All be it an overwhelmingly disgusting image, Smith’s words are true when it comes the art and science of putting pencil to paper. In the classroom, students should be able to be vulnerable, honest, accountable and “real” in their writing so that they may grow to become better writers. It is the responsibility of the teacher to insure a quality learning environment that is conducive to these three factors. Observing the writing process and identifying the experiences within, be them personal, direct or indirect, contribute to how the educator teaches students using best practices.

In high school I took an honors English course and the AP English and composition course, which were both run by teachers who were very able to teach me, as a student, very in depth ways of critically analyzing prompts and texts in order to write about them effectively and in an academic manner. They were very hard on students and although I resented them often during my time in their classes, I came out of each class very prepared for my first year of college, and to my surprise I was significantly more prepared than a lot of my peers. As I begin this course as a second semester sophomore, I have been able to recognize in my other courses that my writing and critical analysis needs to improve in order for me to continue to be successful

I have learned my writing tone and style from previous teachers. The largest source of my writing style and tone comes from my 11th grade English teacher, Dr. Davis. Of course my style and tone is unique and contains influences from other instructors, but, Dr. Davis has had the largest influence on my writing. In fact, I believe my writing was even slightly altered by Professor Potvin last semester. Dr. Davis is a part time professor and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. More importantly, he works for the IB program and travels across the state, setting up and implementing the IB program. He spent a lot of his time attempting to help me improve as a writer. I also loved his personal writings. As a result, my writing has been largely shaped by his. I am unclear about your personal thoughts about my writing style because I received a D in the style and language category of my first essay. However, you never mentioned any style or language issues with my later essays. So I am unsure how you feel about the style of my writing, which I personally am proud of. Perhaps, my style simply had issues in that one instance, or perhaps my style is weak in your personal

I, one of millions of first-year college students, believe that I write bland essays due to the fact that my high school English teachers failed to teach me how to think clearly and creatively. For instance, with my twelfth English teacher, Mrs. Tuttle, there are many cases to which I felt she could’ve improved her teachings not only for me to understand how to write a well-developed paper but as well as others students. First case scenario being how she gave class activities and her teaching style. She had a way of giving activities based on the feeling of how she felt would be a good way for us to learn the material versus what we felt would be the best way to learn the material. These ways included little to no group work. Writing a bunch of illegitimate papers that would be graded by my peers who had little to no idea of what right or wrongs they were looking for. Thus for leaving me with an ambiguous reason to what my writings were lacking or why I never made anything higher than a C in her class. Another way would be the fact that she lived off the teaching theory of “if one can do it then all can do it”. This hands down was the number reason why I could never write a well thought out, clear and creative paper. With this method she felt that if Amanda Ho, class valedictorian, could write an outstanding paper, then the entire Class of 2015 could write one just as well. Never coming to an understanding that everyone wasn’t Amanda Ho, everyone didn’t have the brains

A learner’s ability to communicate effectively through writing to his/her target audiences is a major prerequisite for academic success. It is also a major pillar of success in one’s career across all areas of practice. Even though, writing clearly is critical to one’s academic and career success, I have not always loved writing. In fact, for a long time I despised writing. At one point, I had a feeling that my writings skills were bound to remain stagnated throughout my life. However, time has proven that I was wrong. My attitude and outlook towards virtually all genres of writing has changed positively. The various helpful methods I have been exposed to by my English teachers through different grades have helped me

Throughout middle school my classes were all the same, I showed up, learned, received my assignments, and left. There was one class that was different; it was my Language Arts class. The teacher’s name was Mrs. Lorentsen and she was not the average teacher. For example, in her class we rarely had lectures and I can remember vividly my adventures with her. We completed assignments that were called Independent Study Projects (ISPs), Common Place Books (CPBs), and completed 3D book reports. These are all different ways of presenting information through creativity and problem solving. These foreign type assignments seemed strange at first, as they are different from a traditional classroom setting. I quickly adjusted to her classroom, and learned that I enjoyed this style of learning. Throughout the class Mrs. Lorentsen and I both noticed a commonality in my writing. Putting my thoughts and opinions on paper became a struggle for me.

The framework for success is intended to serve as a foundation for college- level credit- bearing courses emphasizing habits of mind and experiences with writing, reading, and critical analysis. The ability to write well is basic to student success in college and beyond. Teaching writing and learning are central to education and to the development of a literate citizenry. Writing development takes place over time as students encounter different contexts, tasks, audiences, and purposes. To know more about these habits and experiences, let’s talk about how they acquire these tactics to teach and learn.

I am a person who can remember never having read more than two books in a year, and in fact I did not read one book in ninth grade. One of the memories that upsets me most is that in English classes where students were expected to develop or improve their writing skills, teachers would grade my essays “Excellent.” The reason why I am upset is because currently I am having difficulty with fragments, agreement, and other grammar issues that take forever to sort out. Back then, I really had been led to believe that my writing skills were excellent. Needless to say, most teachers in public schools are just trying to survive, and sometimes they can be careless about how they lead students on. This has a lot to do with why the majority of public school students do not attend elite colleges such as Yale, Harvard, or Princeton. We just never had a chance. Those doors were closed on us a long time ago.

His classes were so active and engaging that I couldn’t help falling in love with English. Me, who once hated English and could not write even a proper paragraph, am now writing an organized, well-formatted college paper. I count this as one of my greatest achievements. Learning is now more about bringing out my potentiality on the piece of paper rather than having to focus and stick to the teacher’s ideas. When the class is raised to a discussion on a particular issue everybody is working on, ideas pop out from all around the class forcing me to think from different perspectives. There is always room for me to rectify my misconceptions. The learning experience was suddenly crafted in a way which encouraged me to compete with myself. I found my writing skills getting better and better with every class I attended. After 15 years of ineffective education, I finally found out the reason for my failures in the past and my way in to academic success.