Some people are lucky enough to discover what they are meant to be at an early age.
I was lucky enough to find out what I was not meant to be—a writer.
I first suspected that my writing abilities were subpar during the regular assignments I was given in the fourth grade. While my classmates easily filled up sheets of notebook paper with descriptions of their summers and weekends, I could barely (and sometimes didn’t) meet the minimum length requirement. I struggled to find the words to express what I wanted to say, and I often found myself hastily scribbling down a conclusion to a half-finished argument as my time ran out. As I got older, this inability to communicate effectively and efficiently slowed me down to the point where I would get extremely anxious whenever I was assigned an essay because that meant several hours of work to complete what should have been an easy one- or two-page paper.
By the time I was in middle school, I had come to the conclusion that my brain was not wired for composition. There are just too many variable factors in creating an
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The first was the rejection of my North Carolina Governor’s School application. Though the application also consisted of other information, I know that my weak essay was likely a key factor in their decision. The second was the arrival of my ACT scores. The majority of my scores were quite satisfactory until I read the essay score. Despite my best efforts, my essay had received a score of 6 out of 12, which fell below even the 50th percentile of scores. These two failures brought me much disappointment, as well as fear and stress because in a few months, I was going to take the SAT with Essay and AP exams which had multiple essay portions. I knew that it was absolutely necessary for me to strengthen my writing
When I read “Proficiency” by Shannon Nichols I really felt for her. I understood and resonated with her story perfectly, especially when she stated “After I failed the test the first time, I began to hate writing and I started to doubt myself. I doubted my ability and the ideas I wrote about.” (83). After I failed my writing assignment I was so embarrassed and didn’t want to write again but obviously, I had to. I always doubt the things I am going to say or which order I am going to organize the essay in. I try so hard to make sure all my sentences are cohesive and all my ideas connect to each other and the main concept but sometimes it just seems that when I keep messing with one little sentence or paragraph I just makes things worse.
I was very dull in the English language, and it was very difficult to learn. Simple things, such as “May I go to the restroom” was a challenge to say. In the third grade, I moved from Toronto to Siloam Springs. Here I would progress to learn more and more. I would finally understand that there were parts of speech as well as grammar to go with it than just words. Going on into elementary school, I was getting better and better. Not only I loved to read, but I absolutely loved to write. During the mandatory state tests, I would continue writing from the start of the 50 minute period to the end. I was a very creative writer. I could pull out anything and make it sound like a wild Disney Pixar movie. Progressing through elementary school, I signed up to enroll into an advanced literature course in the 8th grade. I learned more about the structures of writing and I ended the course with an
I knew I wasn’t bad at writing but I never thought I was great at it either. I think one of these reasons is because I had never really cared about and/or related to the subjects I was writing about. But because of Mrs. Shaw’s class I was taught that I couldn’t just write, I could take joy in it. This argument is supported in Lenhart et. al.’s article, “Writing, Technology, and Teens,” stating:
Academic Failure: One academic failure I encountered through the years was not taking my dental admission test for dental school at the time I was supposed to. Typically, students that are applying to dental school take the exam in junior year of undergrads. I however, did not take it until two years after that and I am currently applying this year instead. This mistake wasted two years for me. I could have been in dental school today if I had taken the exam at the time I was supposed to.
I constantly find it a challenge to write about myself. To write me, I, myself- is always more difficult than it first seems. However, writing and storytelling forever seem to go hand in hand, and I know I have stories to tell and the ability to tell the stories of others. To be able to communicate those ideas, stories, and experiences in a way that can convey all the most important themes from these topics is my dream. For this very reason, learning the skills to expand my writing and create relatable content would benefit my goals.
Throughout the past five years my passion for English literature and writing has been ignited thanks to the many teachers that have guided and introduced me to this intriguing world. Viewing this subject as a necessary evil in the beginning, I am astonished that I have come to say that although time consuming and tedious, I am thankful for everything these courses have provided. My weakness as a writer that I am looking forward to improving, are my grammar skills. There are three pivotal writing experiences that have impacted and shaped me into the writer I am today. Reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” by the talented Harper Lee, exploring many of the poems by the creative genius Langston Hughes and making my own poetry portfolio have all been both instrumental and enjoyable.
I’ve had a lot of things in my life that I’ve taken for granted; we all have. I never considered the fact that my ability to read and write would be one of those things. I’ve always considered reading and writing a basic human task that everyone in this day and time knew how to do. While I grew up in a relatively poor community, the majority of people my age had common knowledge of reading, writing, and other elementary level skills. At least, that was what I thought.
There isn't much of a history for me, when it comes to my writing experiences. As I have grown up, I was never much of a writer, and no different than any other student when speaking in terms of my homework, or any school work for that matter. I didn't ever want to write papers, and my homework was something which I both dreaded and procrastinated until I couldn't ward it off any longer. During the Junior year of my high school experience is truly when my inner writer began to come to fruition. As the reality of the fact that I wouldn't ever get out of doing my work became ever increasingly apparent, I finally grasped the concept of what it meant to just sit down and take care of business, especially when it came to writing papers.
As my eleventh grade English teacher, Mr. Tuminaro once said, “Writing isn’t just something you do; rather, it’s a way of expressing ideas and emotions.” This statement has stuck with me ever since I graduated from high school. It has especially encouraged me to be more confident in what I write. My teacher made reading and writing enjoyable. I got to express more of myself through writing in his class.
If you spent a month with me, you’d probably never catch me reading a book or writing on my free time. I had many difficulties staying focused when I would read, and understanding the purpose of most pieces I’d read. There’d be too many words that I didn’t know the meaning to, or even be able to pronounce, so I would simply close the book and go on with my day. I had difficulties building outlines, and being creative when I would write, it would take me a week to write a simple narrative of what I did during my summer break. Reading and writing would get me frustrated, so I would always give up on reading a book or writing an essay.
I enjoy writing and am confident in my abilities as a writer, using proper grammar, being organized with my ideas and having a broad vocabulary. Writing is a practice, and although I am confident in my abilities, there are certain aspects with which I struggle. The biggest aspect that I struggle with is transitioning between either sentences or paragraphs. I find it difficult to find the right words to piece the sentences or paragraphs together. Another difficulty is my precision or my level of abstraction.
I have been highly involved in language arts, reading and writing, ever since I was young. It has played an important part in my life as I’ve always been an avid reader. Books were my portal to the bigger world, a world full of imagination and different peoples and places. I transitioned from being a reader to a writer, and a big part of my growth as a writer has come from an organization called Writers & Books located in New York State, a group that aims to help young writers bloom through different classes that approach writing and words creatively. The people there have greatly encouraged me as a newbie artist writer with their enthusiasm for both writing and teaching.
Every child grows up in school learning the basics such as the alphabet and reading simple books like Dick and Jane. As children grow older, they either come to love or hate reading as a hobby. There is really no in between. I was fortunate enough to have parents who encouraged me to read and write outside of the classroom which cultivated into a love for reading and later in my life writing. My early reading and writing experiences have helped shape me as the person I am today.
The classroom is filled with soft whispers and chatter from the students. The soft noises are drowned out by the teachers booming voice reading a book out loud to the class. It feels as though the teacher finds a reason to stop every two seconds to explain what is going on. I roll my eyes and tune out her voice while continuing to read ahead. ‘We are juniors in high school, we know how to read.
When I was first developing my writing skills my first couple years of high school I noticed that I wasn’t a very good writer