I have always felt out of place in the writing world. Whether it be for school projects or trying to think of stories at home, I never had felt that feeling of whatever I just wrote was a paper worth reading. When I was younger, it seemed like everyone was just a natural writer, their ideas flowing from their minds to their fingers without a second thought. Effortlessly writing entire essays while I was in the corner still trying to think of a thesis statement. However I think one the times I have never felt more disconnected to what I was writing was during English Festival. Whether it was a combination of the environment, the type of work we had to do, or even the lack of a real tutoring or education on the writing process or format, it culminated …show more content…
Growing up I had little experience with writing. In school at the time we had learned only the basics of short papers, and only skimmed over on how to put your thoughts and contents into words on a paper. In fact most of the things that I had learned in english were more related to figurative language and reading, not writing. So when my seventh grade teacher set down her paper with her rules and expectations I was quite, well, stuck. The writing had to be extremely factual, and to me, devoid of emotion. I didn’t know what to do, what to think, how I was gonna do it and when. This feeling of being lost was very traumatic to me as a child, mostly because it was something I had never experienced before. I was a straight A’s student who never had had any trouble in any classes before, and now being thrust into an unknown situation I was panicking. It would eventually pass, but I would never fully be able to grip the concepts of writing. Then when it came time to turn in the first essay on the first book I felt sick. I was not proud of the work I turned in. In all honestly at the time I did not even know what was wrong with the paper, but when reading it felt off. My work wouldn’t be something that I would want to read, it was stale and disconnected and felt too rushed. Any attempt I made at changing these faults also usually resulted in me getting a bad grade, …show more content…
Typically they were laid back, pretty chill people who just wanted to meet you and tell some stories. Now in seventh grade, I had actually liked some of the authors and books as they were more serious and understanding of real problems and situations in real life. They had that feel about them that made you feel comfortable and that they cared. I remember my favourite author that year was Chris Crutcher. Me and a friend were assigned to a sort of “middle-schooler seminar” with him.
Since the festival takes place on the campus of YSU we usually had to walk to all the different events which were located across the campus. Chris Crutcher’s speaking event was located in a small, orange, empty auditorium like room. It was very stuffy as it was an extremely bright, hot day and it smelled of body odor and new paint. However walking into this room and seeing an older man, with ripped jeans, a button up polo and a light brown raccoon hat just lit up my day. (The Norton FIELD GUIDE To WRITING) I clearly remember the first words the announcer had said, “ Everyone please welcome Chris Crutcher, the most banned author in America”. Words which granted him a standing
Writing, is one of the most fearful and over thought piece of work. I personally, grew up struggling in writing and I had to find out how to write a “perfect” essay as I was looking forward to pursing a higher education. Throughout middle school and high school, I developed learning habits that made me write the way I write. Now writing for me is not as easy as some people think but at the same time it is not as hard as some people think if that makes sense.
We would do research on a subject or a person, and write about them. We, once again, were not allowed to be unique in our writing or think creatively or critically. This is the time when I was taught the five paragraph essay. As stated in Gray’s article, the five paragraph essay is detrimental to students’ writing. This format for writing is damaging because it doesn’t allow students to express their own ideas about a topic. It does not allow for any creativity or uniqueness in a paper. In tenth grade, I wrote many papers for my English class, but I never once got an A on them. I was led to believe that my writing was weak because I could not relate to what I was writing about. I did not have any emotional connection to the research papers I had to write, and it made it harder for me to write them. I had grown up not being allowed to think critically, and therefore, my papers in high school lacked creativity and deeper
With our first paper, a Literary Analysis, I wrote about the struggles of changing writing styles in college. I reflected on the types of writing we did in high school and how it shaped everyone to write in a passive tone to get more information across to the reader. With this paper, Dr. Schlueter let us write in our own style. This was a big change from what I was used to in high school. I was able to understand different types of writing though the research I performed to find out what kind of writer I was and how I should be writing in college. Without being given specific guidelines, besides “write about a memorable experience involving reading or writing”, I was forced to use my own creativity to write a paper that met the limited requirements (I use the word limited very loosely). This first paper really helped me figure out my style and made and impact on my other papers that I wrote for this class.
Throughout their public schooling experience, students have been improperly taught how to write. Instead of focusing on the ideas behind their writing, students are taught to intently analyze their paper to make sure they did not miss a period or spell a word wrong. Creativity was replaced with nitpicking. Students are taught to convey the teacher’s beliefs to get a good grade, instead of their own. This whole process results in a very bland and meaningless, yet grammatically correct essay. Students hate writing because they are being forced to do something that is not natural. However, Aldrich explains that this problem is not the teacher’s fault. The teachers are just doing what they were taught, and therefore, struggle with writing just as much as the students they are trying to teach do. Aldrich also believes that students do not write enough. Writing is like any other skill, and takes practice to get better. Aldrich thinks teachers are not making students write more because, “they cannot write either, nor do they know how to teach other’s to do so” (184). This all leads to a very toxic cycle where a teacher who can not write teaches a student how to “write”, and that student becomes a teacher and teaches more students how to “write”, ultimately leading
Throughout my college career I noticed how different my form of writing has become. When I came to this realization, it made me wonder why this is so. Is it that I am simply just writing a lot more than I have in the past? Is it because I am simply maturing as a writer and combining all the techniques I am picking up on my own? All these questions, along with many more, rambled around my head sounding like a resounding gong struggling to find a true conclusion. As the school year went on I came to find out the truth about why my writing has changed, which brought me to a rewarding conclusion.
As I reflect it becomes clear to me that I enjoyed writing my junior year in high school. My English teacher Mr. Duckworth was a one of a kind teacher. His classroom was a normal classroom setting with the desk all line up behind one another. All of his students would face the white erase board that was located in the front of the room. He would typically sit at his desk leaning back in his chair giving us instructions on what was to be done in the class. As we sit in the class, all I can hear are my classmates laughing and joking around as he spoke. he would already have an essay topic on the board that was to the right of us that he could easily see from his desk. This was an everyday routine for all of his classes. As we begin to write, I noticed how different classmates of mine would get up to ask for help with their essay. The students who never asked for help usually would end up with a lot of red markings on their essays.
In the postmortem stages of the 12th grade paper writing process, one regales the hardships that they had overcome. These adversities include committing to a topic, the outlining of the essay, the collection of research resources, the writing itself, the revision process, etc. With these in mind, the writing process might seem daunting to a student less seasoned in the field. However, no frustration seems quite as impassable as beginning the paper writing process. This is the hardest step, as it doesn’t take research or physical attention. Starting the writing of a paper takes the willpower and focus of the writer to be accomplished. Simply put, getting the metaphorical ball of writing rolling takes mental acuity, not
Ever since I was little, I have had this strong pull to the world of writing. Controlling words and creating something that is solely your own really got my gears running. As the years pressed on, so did my writing style. With each coming year, my writing has grown to be what it is today. While it may not be perfect, I do know that I have a certain drive when it comes to style and the strength of my words. When I came into ENG 111, I was ready for some motivation, for I haven’t written in a long time. Each assignment helped me grow and learn what my writing style truly is.
From a young age, I knew that I was an exceptional student. Most teachers usually nominated me to be the “Student of the Month” because of my straight A’s and positive attitude in class. However, as I progressed throughout school, I found students who excelled at the things I didn’t -- especially English -- which is when I became discouraged about my writing. As a result, my views on my writing abilities began to change. Due to my English teacher’s constant guidance and support, my writing skills began to progress further, causing my love for literacy to develop.
I never really liked my parents. I found out in high school that if you disagree with anyone, expect detention. Now I found myself in a new setting. I was surrounded by people yearning to write, straining to listen, dying to learn. I was in expository writing 220. I looked around and noticed that everyone seemed to be sitting in the proper first day arrangement, guys on one side, girls on the other. One person refused to be like the others in the group. He crouched down on the table. I would later get to know him as Dave, the writing center guy. As I started to get comfortable a man walked in. He was slender in build and walked with authority but looked more like one of us than one of them. He walked in crumbling tennis shoes and matched awkwardly, like people used to in the seventies. Things would be a little different then I was a custom to, it turned out he was the professor. Weeks passed. He taught us how to catch errors and how not to write. He taught us that theme writing was bad, real bad. He taught us how to use our voice and how it important it was to get the feeling out of a paper. Then he told us to write. I looked around the room. I watched people with confused eyes, flaring nostrils, pulsating ears. "How do we stray away from theme writing when that's all we done our whole lives?" Nobody asked the question, "why have we done that our entire life?" I can tell you why. It's a simple way of writing and except in this classroom, it's excepted college wide as an excellent way to set up a paper. So is our professor a little confused? Theme writing and simple five paragraph papers are exactly were it's at.
My writing has always been unsteady, and I’ve come to accept that it always might be. Ideas always come in waves, in sparks, but they never stay. Ideas come, and I write them down on the closest piece of paper or homework. There are times when I’ll be sitting with groups of friends, then silently take out my phone and type. As the world passes normally to them, I’m stuck in time and swimming in ideas.
Though writing can be fun and creative, it is not really my best skill. Writing can be very challenging for me but also some time where I can write out my deepest thoughts. Through the years of writing, being given multiple assignments from classes can make it seem boring or challenging. Having to go by a certain format to focus on or even limiting all to one subject. Honestly, it wouldn’t really bother me that much since I would quickly go through the assignment.
For many high school graduates, their expectations for their very first year of college can be very exciting, but also frightening as a college-setting are comparably different to a high school. Personally, entering college was nerve-wracking; a brand new school, a brand new system, and I had to part ways with all my high school friends. I expected professors barrage me with a myriad amount of work on day one; however instead of exacerbating my worries, my new teachers gave us warm welcomes and a relatively easy week of work. Through the semester, I met many new friends and quickly adapted to the new environment. Overall, from English 1303 I developed an improved writing skill and overcame my worries and weaknesses.
In the memory that I can still remember, the first time I learned to read and write my primary language very seriously was about 11 years old. At that time, a series of novels are very famous during all ages of students. Each of my friends and I bought one of the series and exchanged to each other after reading ourselves. However, those novels are written for high school students. It was full of ancient poems.
When I was younger I was a very difficult student. Throughout pre school and junior kindergarten I found it challenging to do school work and sit still, so my mom decided to homeschool me. From what I could remember it was really beneficial for me. I could have breakfast with my mom and we would learn together and she would make it fun and so much more enjoyable, until “journaling” time. My mom believes that the best form of communication and self expression is through writing, whether that be a letter or a journal or even making lists, my mom was very keen on writing.