I immensely struggled when writing. Taking my scrambled thoughts and uncoordinated analysis and converting it into clean and understandable words on a page was arduous. I could not express my thoughts in proper academic format. I understood the importance of writing to every subject. It was essential that I learn to condense my ideas and feeling into coherent written word. After much debate, I decided that the best way to improve my writing skills was to take an advanced English course.
While taking more rigorous English class seemed, at first, counterproductive, my other classes had failed to help me. I simply wanted a new form of help and a challenge that would force me to step up and learn. So, an AP English Language and Composition course was the perfect opportunity to seek for these answers.
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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
Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.
Upon entering English 111, I knew I would be writing papers. However, I did not anticipate how much room I had for improvement. Throughout this term I have been enlightened with so much knowledge that I may have forgotten or have been exposed to for the first time. Certainly, my experience with essay writing has been solidified due to newfound knowledge of proper work citing, MLA standards and the steps of planning an essay. Perhaps, my time away from a learning environment slowed me down a bit, other times I feel as though I have an advantage due to life experience. An online environment has certainly been challenging but throughout the course I have provided solid work and consistent grades commendable of an A grading.
Throughout my experiences as a writer, I would say the issue I have faced the most is being well-organized. While writing essays I can begin to write on a topic but it gets difficult for me as I start to discuss or argue on my topic which can cause confusion to readers as they read my writings. It is a setback that I have adapted into my style of writing and has needed improvement in order to have a strong structured foundation academically. Over the past years as I encountered different perspectives from teachers that have led me to incorporate their style of writing that I have adjust to my own. Though I may have my difficulties, my ideas can be great but the lack of knowledge I have organizing my paper it has created a foundation that is not
My experience have been good but not so good. I'm not the best writer I struggle to get my ideas down.
The inevitable had happened; I, as a small child, was demanded to read. A little antisocial human being launched into a world of, at first, difficult words and lengthy phrases. While words and literacy were forced into my mind, I had reluctantly begun the adventure to enjoy and accept the art of literature. Later however, my hopes and dreams were crushed to pieces by a gruesome teacher with an interesting form of a so called “grading policy.”
The only thing I really remember about reading and writing instruction when I was little is being read to. I was in preschool and when it was time to read we all sat on the rainbow rug, and our teacher would read to us. I don’t have the best memory. I’m sure there were more attempts on getting my interest in reading and writing, I just can’t remember.
Lacking experience in writing and reading, English is my most feared subject. It is the one and only vulnerable spot in my in my mind. I hate writing and I hated reading, other than sports pages in the newspaper or sports books. My earliest time that I started reading and writing was extremely abhorrent for me. Sometimes, you could even say that some of these experiences bothered me. It was quite hard because I wasn’t able to focus on what I need to do. I was even struggling to write my own name. The young mind that I had, it was so easy to get distracted on what I need to learn and also accomplish, especially for the future ahead of me.
I discovered that nothing can be thrown together in a short amount of time no matter what it is, especially with me. With my first composing essay, I was beside myself. First of all, I insist on an absolute quiet surrounding when I write and preferably with no other humans interrupting my thought processes. While that never actually occurred, it may be the reason that my first essay lit up with blue-colored call out boxes in almost every sentence I carefully constructed. Once I began to go over the corrections, tips, and suggestions my instructor thoughtfully added to my essay, I realized how little I knew about the correct usage of simple words such as “that” and “which” and, how loosely I repeatedly used contractions when
Throughout life, writing has been one of the major struggles I faced in order to succeed as well as others. Growing up, I would envy success from others, and I would wonder why I wasn’t better than them and why I couldn’t accomplish as much. Therefore knowing my weakness, I worked hard all of middle school to avoid the image that others placed me in, based on the fact that I didn’t do better than others. In high school I tried to avoid it, and it became easier to do as well, but as I arrived to college I wasn’t ready to all of the new expectations that surrounded me. Therefore, I have begun by taking classes that were the perquisites to help my writing improve. The first class I took was English 60B. That class wasn’t as difficult as I imagined and it taught the skills I would need for English 50. After I took English 50, I challenged myself by actually doing research and having to improve my organizational skills. Now being in English 1A, and although it is
A person can read and write a great deal in one day whether they realize it or not. Whether it be texting a friend or reading a textbook for a certain class, you are reading and writing constantly and a daily basis. What surprised me the most about the reading and writing that I did on Sunday was how much I am reading and writing on my phone. Whether I am texting to coordinate plans with a friend for the night or reading a random article I saw while reading a Facebook news feed, I am constantly reading and writing on my phone. I never considered it reading and writing when I used my phone, I just saw it as looking at my phone. Just staring at this four-inch screen for some sort of entertainment. What also surprised me was how much we read without noticing it. You can walk down State Street and you will be constantly reading by looking at stores, posters, or even words on a bus that is passing by. Our eyes and brains are looking at and reading words all the time.
When I was young the last things I ever wanted to do were to read and write, I just never had the desire. When I made it to first grade it was discovered that the main problem with my lack of desire to read and write was the fact that I was unable to see clearly. I was diagnosed and sent to get a pair of glasses that I was to wear full time, then I also spent time in vision therapy so that I would be able to better comprehend what I was seeing. The main reason I was left with my bad vision so long was because I never knew that there was something wrong I only had my frame of reference on what I was supposed to see the world as and since I was used to it being fuzzy or blurry I never realized that there was a problem with my vision. Another
My last class was not a good writing experience; therefore I was hesitant to fully embrace this session’s writing course. Because I do not believe in expectations, my goals were based on previous writing experiences. This helped to support what writing confidence I had left to give this course a chance to be different. In English106, my desire was to improve my writing skills, find weaknesses in my writing, and be a better writer at the end of the course.
During my past writing experience, I have struggled with formulating and initiating interesting points of discussion, grammar, and transitions. I have often sat down to work on a paper and found myself completely drawing a blank on anything interesting to write about. Whether I am given a specific prompt or general topic to discuss, I constantly struggle with finding a starting point. Once I do, I become too focused on trying to create a poetic sounding paper, rather than focusing on the main discussion points. In some ways, focusing on making my papers poetic have added detail and depth to my writing. However, this frequently distracts me from my papers main theme. One of my biggest drawbacks with writing has always been proper grammar usage.
This fall semester in ESL 91has been pretty interesting, and so far successful. The main object of this semester was to improve our essay writing. We were taught various lab techniques that helped us to improve our English writing skills, such as using appropriate verb tense and how to write a research paper with a works cited. Through my work on the research paper I have learned how to write in an academic style, how to find appropriate sources from an academic database, and how to cite my sources. Most of all, I can say that my reading skills have improved because the research for our papers required me to do a lot of critical reading.
English has never been my strongest topic nor has the writing process been easy when faced with writer block. This challenge made writing difficult at times in where I was unable to think what should be written next. In this portfolio, I include a variety of pieces in the growth in my abilities of overcoming this challenge as a writer. As I reflect back at the end of the semester on my work in the writing 01 course, I am able to see clearly how much have improved as a writer and display my growth. I have learned about myself in term of weakness and strength and learned from them. In this portfolio , I tried to show the presence of the different style of work I completed and the peer editing of this semester. And how the feedback that I receive