Personal Narrative: What I Learned In Composition

The first few years of college student’s lives are not necessarily the most enjoyable time, having to take the basic core classes. Unless someone is planning on getting their degree in something that involves the basic core classes like; Math, Psychology, any Humanities, or English. English has not been my strong suit and I know that I still have work that needs to be done to make me a better writer, but I believe that I was able to meet and achieve the goals and requirements of this Composition two class.

I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.

My writing experiences have been minimal. So far I have only learned the basics of writing, like forming sentences and forming sentences to put into paragraphs. I can tell that my writing has improved throughout the years. I hope to improve in writing essays, paragraphs, stories, and speeches so that I have no errors with editing and creating the final product. I predict that I will be a well rounded writer when I graduate from Newman University.

When I started the English Composition course I expected an entirely different type of writing. I expected more of a story telling writing, novelist, story and screenplay writing. To my surprise, it was a different world of grammar, style, voice, sentence mechanics and structure guidelines. I was afraid of something new and challenging. I expected more of a three act structure to write a novel or a short story but the course was different. Different in a helpful way that it opened my eyes to how the overall writing process works.

I believe I have grown a lot since the beginning of this course. My writing was severely lacking grammar and punctuation. I didn’t use any punctuation other than periods and very few commas spersed throughout my papers. My papers still need help in that area, but I have improved. I now know where they need to go and when it’s appropriate to use them. My papers aren’t exactly flawless but they are better than before. I would write how I speak at times and I knew it wasn’t right, but I would still do it because it allowed my papers to flow better in my mind. I read my papers out loud to help avoid my problem with writing how I speak. I’ve learned my writing style in this course, or lack thereof. I found a program that would benefit me now and

I have learned a lot in just 16 short weeks. I have learned how to organize my thoughts on paper, even when I have a fear of a writing assignment. I learned about pre-writing, outlining, rough draft, and finals. In each of these steps, I have learned to depend on each of them. They also help me find out what I need to do next. I always try to reflect on what I have written, even if it may be terrible. I use every bit of information I have to make sure I keep my thoughts in order. My strengths have increased as a writer. I love to write, and I know what to write about when given a topic. I feel strongly capable of writing more assignments, and essays in the future, especially in my Composition 2 class next semester. Having 2 English classes this semester really helped me with being able to

Throughout my high school career, I have been exposed to many different elements of writing and, although some teachers have emphasized certain areas more than others, I feel I have come a long way as a writer. Despite this I also know I have much further to go. This fact became very clear to me as I was taking my previous course of English, Accelerated English Three. Within this course I was introduced to the MLA method of citation, I experienced disappointment due to receiving a lower grade than I had desired, and I discovered difficulties such as my impatient tendencies to look over errors and mistakes during the editing processes.

My experience with writing has been very up and down because I have a hard time focusing on the topic. I would say that’s something I need to honestly work on because my attitude is if I'm not into it then I'm not doing it simple. Some of my past teachers in high school said that I could write but I honestly don’t know about now. I'll admit that I've gotten lazy in the sense that if I'm not into the work then I'll just pass it with a D or just retake it. I need to get out of that and just suck it up and get it over and done with.

I can still remember my heart pounding out of my chest. It was my first time in Writing 1, and my nerves were mostly the result of a friend’s advice. Winter quarter, my friend told me about her struggles in her writing class and she advised me not to take Professor Bernstein for Writing because as she said “he is really tough and a very hard grader.” However, I had no other option but to take writing with Professor Bernstein because all the other writing 1 classes conflicted with my schedule. Nevertheless, nine weeks have past since I first stepped foot in Writing 1, and I can certainly say that I have learned more than I ever expected. Yes, it is true, this class has been a challenge like no other, especially for me, being that English is

On the first day of class, having forgotten how to write over the blazing summer, I had high hopes I would gain some writing skill. Over the course of the last 10 weeks I learned not only that I am an extreme procrastinator, but that I had a lot to learn in the writing world. I learned many things about writing, including grammar, organization, and expression. Through late nights studying and practice in class, I can proudly say I'm a better writer than I was before.

Writing has always been a tough subject for me. As long as I can remember, I struggled with reading which, reduced my ability to find words for writing. I tend to have awkward sentences and find it difficult to have my ideas flow from one to the other. I was nervous to take a college writing class but, I’m glad I started with Writing 95 because it has helped me prepare for Writing 121. Overall I feel like my reading and writing skills were high enough for this class because I found the work to be feasible. My work has improved from the beginning of the class and I feel more confident in my writing and reading skills.

In the six weeks summer class, I learned a lot about the writing process. I learned that it has five steps. I learned that before you start to write an essay, one must do the following things Prewriting, Drafting, Revision, Editing, and Publishing.

What is your relationship with writing? We all have to write, whether we like to do it or not. Writing is a crucial element to a normal, functional life. This touches work, school, family, and interpersonal relationships. Everyone’s personal dynamic with writing is a little different.

I believe my approach with writing has drastically changed throughout this semester. I have learned to become more prepared and take my time in writing my essays rather than just jumping into them without a clue of what is to come. I grew even more than I had originally expected. I’ve been able to share some things that have happened in my past, and I have been satisfied with how I was able to write them. I’ve learned more about commas and sentence structure this year than I’ve learned in the last two years combined. Two areas that still need improvement are my grammar and my commas. I do not always pay attention to what I am saying, and I just ramble on without going back to check what I wrote. Most of the time it gets pretty crazy.

During my first semester attending Auburn University, I took an English Composition class. This course taught me many things not only about necessary writing skills, but also many things about myself. The class also showed me how important it is to research and embrace unfamiliar subcultures and communities. English Composition required me to produce three papers –two of them I am very proud of. Throughout the course of writing each assignment, I developed a connection with the subject matter of each piece. I believe I have learned what is expected of a college level writer. All of the skills I have acquired from this course have molded me into an adequate writer and a well-rounded student.