My Thanks to Professor Payte

Ever since I can remember, I’ve struggled with writing. It just wasn’t something that came natural to me and always resulted in a very uncomfortable process. Throughout this class, I have become more comfortable with writing and its components. Though, this is only writing 101, my skill level has increased immensely. Before starting this course, writing was uncomfortable and confusing, but towards the end, my knowledge has expanded and I can more comfortably take on the majority of writing assignments.

At the start of this course, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a goal for myself to improve and learn skills that would make writing less daunting for me. I have learned so many things about my writing that I didn’t think much about before. Another goal I had was to break the cookie-cutter mold that was set upon me throughout high school. During the process of revision, I discovered many things about myself as a writer and techniques that have been effective for me in the writing process.

Before this course, my writing exceeded above an average level, but now my writing has developed a sophisticated technique. This course pushed me to include higher comprehensive words into every piece I wrote. Continuously, I would be searching the internet for synonyms of verbs, adjectives, and nouns I wanted to include in my writings. This technique forced a maturity to emerge into my writing. As a writer, my options and understanding of diverse types of writing has improved immensely. This course allowed me to discover what forms of writing I write best, and what difficulty each type brings. My writing is strong with formal pieces, like the Prairie Meadows Scholarship Essay; pieces where I am allowed to use figurative language and make

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.

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

As my Writing 39C course comes to a close, now is a great time to look at the journey I have taken to get here. I’ll start with my high school experience with writing. Although, I wasn’t a terrible writer, I didn’t strive to be the best writer I could be. Although I had a decent writing skill, enough to pass the AP English exam at least, I never really pushed my writing abilities to anything beyond the minimum amount needed to pass with a decent grade. Once I got to college, however, writing was a different story.

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

While I’m relatively comfortable and confident in math, the sciences, and in foreign languages, it’s always been the art of writing that’s been my Achilles heel. Throughout high school this has caused me the most concern and self-doubt. My writing skills are adequate but I want more than mediocrity; at Williams, writing well will be central to my success in whatever I choose to study.

Earlier in this course, I stated that my sentiments towards writing could be summed up by a single image: that of an unfilled page, ever supplanting my stream of consciousness with blankness, nothingness, before I could transcribe it into words. Hyperbolic as that may have been, composing something substantial has always been, and still is, my greatest struggle when attempting to write. I have not done a lot of academic writing in my life. I hardly attended high school, and, save for the writing portion of my GED years ago, I have never had to write under a time constraint before this class. As a college student I

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

As the years continue to pass, writing gains more importance and becomes unavoidable in our daily lives. Whether the task is to create a groundbreaking law or to verify one’s personal identity, one must write it down in ink or type it out on a computer. For me, writing has settled down as an important aspect of my life. If I’m not typing down an email for my classes or composing another article for the newsletter committee at my high school, I’m writing down the fictional stories that wander around my head. I constantly jot down what pops up in my mind or what’s imperative at the moment. Whether I’ve mastered the art of writing or not, however, is another story entirely. My writing skills still lack in some aspects; I can’t help but wonder

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

abilities as a writer in such a way that I have not yet experienced. I, Joanna Valentine, a college sophomore, consider myself to be an acceptable writer; however, I was given numerous challenges during the duration of this course. I was allowed the opportunity to use writing techniques such as: a memoir, rhetorical analysis, creating a blog review with a self-made visual chart, and incorporating “new media” within my text; thus, practicing such techniques has allowed me to grow not only as a student, but as a writer. I believe it is important to have such college courses because it allows us to expand our knowledge as individual writers, it also improves not only a writer's abilities, but a readers as well, as I now have the knowledge to identify what writing techniques are being exercised within a text and what I am supposed to understand within an article, novel, or review. I have learned throughout the course that “good writing” is far more than the length of a text, whereas, it is the connection being made between the writer and the reader. Allowing students to understand the importance of transmitting information between the writer and the reader is, in my opinion, good writing.

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.

Before I started this course, I was anxious and was not confident in my writing. I struggled with contractions and repetitiveness, causing me to doubt my ability to succeed in this course. But despite my worries, I was able to succeed during this course, due to all of the skills I have learned and refined. This new knowledge has made me more confident in my writing and more hopeful for the future. Throughout this course I have grown immensely as a writer and have acquired new skills, allowing me to move onto future college classes and career opportunities.