Positive and Negative Feedback: Shaping My Writing Skills

My Influences in Writing
Most students learn effectively through both positive feedback and a boost in academic confidence, or through negative feedback and the chance to fix and improve your literacy mistakes. In my experiences, I have grown into the writer I am today due to both positive and negative feedback through the education system. Positive ways have made my writing skills feel validated in their worth, as well as created a desire to continue in striving for the best. Negative ways have helped my ideas and structure grow stronger, and also encouraged me to do better. Embracing my writing while truly believing it to be superior in fourth grade and accepting my sloppy writing skills while learning how to improve my mediocre papers in

my first real AP class, both strongly influenced my writing till this very day.
In fourth grade, the first major experience that changed me was that I loved writing and would come to my English class excited and always mentally prepared. I had done exceedingly well in reading and writing and began to realize my potential and achievements in comparison to other classmates in that grade. Understanding that I was an advanced writer, I felt much more able to write and compose thoughts on to paper with ease and precision. I never doubted myself, because I trusted my abilities and believed that my best would always be greater than ordinary.
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This further gave me unlimited hope for improvement in my future writing, and that I should always aim for the best. The effects of my belief that I was an exceptional writer carried on for years mostly impacting my skills in beneficial means. I only did my best and ventured to do better, while feeling confident and secure in my writing.
After doing steadily well, my writing skills became questionable and subpar in my first AP class in my junior year of high school.

This class made me face the repeated mistakes of laziness in my techniques, and created an importance to write what really needs to be said and nothing less. I had a very tough and intelligent teacher for my class in which he would not let laziness or anything but perfect slide. At first I was frustrated and lost, but after relearning how to write properly with actually needed content, I understand and appreciate his teaching. My teacher never forgot to call out any “fillers” I used out of bad habit and carelessness, in doing so changed the quality of the content that I write. Also pointing out the bad structure and overall messiness of my ideas and how they relate to one another, I gained valuable lessons on technique. I now write with purpose and intent with every sentence and within the structure of my papers, as well as spend more time understanding what I am really trying to say and prove. Without taking that AP English course and learning through my teacher that I once thought was too hard on his students, I wouldn’t be prepared for college or life in general. My knowledge now, that what you write should always be necessary to your point and how you write matters, I have reformed skills that will influence my resumes, college education, and even my career. I couldn’t be more grateful for what I learned and changed in that class and that I

am confident again in my writing due to some work and revision that one teacher finally forced me to do and understand all in the benefit of my own. These changes in my writing forever changed and
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greatly enhanced how and what I write. Facing and learning to change my inaccuracies even though there was an increase in difficulty, I now understand how actual material should be written.
Both experiences of mine relate in that they contributed greatly to the writer I have grown, and will continue to grow to be.

The halt of acknowledging that my skills weren’t what I thought they were to be as I had such a high standard for myself, I believe I became too comfortable with my writing in that I ignored the changes I needed to make. The push from my AP teacher to see what I was doing wrong and how to correct it, gave me what I required to develop proficiency. My main influences that majorly impacted my writing went from thinking I was the best to learning I wasn’t the best and moving past that to self improvement. Positive and negative experiences both affect you in ways that will always be for the better, because you learn from your mistakes and you can further your progress. Always trying your best and not being afraid of change will promote self improvement which will always help your growth in writing, and as a

person.