preview

Personal Narrative: What I Learned In My Writing Class

Decent Essays
Open Document

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 …show more content…

I knew that I could do it, and having my first paper as an example, I thought that I had it all figured out. However, once again I received a C; it wasn’t a C- this time, but it was still a C. What did I do wrong? I asked myself. I tried following the guideline but it still did not work. As Professor Bernstein noted on my paper: it lacked opposition. The essay was about the Bible and its effects in America, and as a Catholic I only wrote positive comments about it and forgot about atheists’ and unbelievers’ position. Doubt was missing from my paper, and as Sommers reveals, “having the courage to live with uncertainty, ambiguity, even doubt, we can walk into all of those fields of writing, knowing that we will find volumes bidding us enter.” Now, I understand the importance of doubt. Doubt and uncertainty are some of the most important elements of writing. Writing is about questioning yourself and acknowledging different ideas, because at the end, what one believes is not necessarily true. Everyone experiences and sees the world in a different way, and that should be acknowledged. As Emerson confesses, “writing is a radical loss of certainty.” To write means to release of all your ideas and fears, and to explore and experience new ways of thinking and new perspectives, because ultimately, thinking outside the box is what helps us grow as writers and as human

Get Access