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
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
Attending college at an old age, writing an effective paper is a formidable task I am trying to overcome. Although English was taught in my native country, there were no proper guidelines on writing a paper; hence most submitted essays were mostly results of brainstorming and “free writing”. Embracing such things as MLA, grammar, and structure, and exploring the limitless boundaries of critical thinking, I developed an idea of what is considered as “good writing”. Most of my papers were edited with the help of the Writing Center. I took all suggestions by my fellow peers and professors into developing my skills as a writer. From writing an essay without topic sentences or proper thesis, I developed the skills and learned the guidelines of becoming a proper writer at a college-undergraduate level.
Once I reached high school my love for writing dimmed. I was taught a formula on how to write the perfect essay. The dreaded five paragraph essay was engraved in my brain: An intro with a hook, a thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Constantly being told my creativity wasn’t formal, so when I wrote papers it was more facts and evidence and less short stories and experiences. My writing became dull to me and reading over my papers and stories was a dread because I could see the drastic amount of lost creativity. Although I still received high praise it felt as if the papers I was writing wasn’t
All the students loved Mr. Duckworth with his round glasses and semi bald head. He always wore a button down shirt with khaki pants. He would often talk about different situations that involved his family that would make us laugh. I loved going to his class and writing different papers. Mr. Duckworth one of the best teachers I have ever had. Every time we would come into his class, his teacher assistant Mr. Allen would be sitting right next to him waiting for our class to come in. they both expressed that our class was the best class that he had. As they sat and talked, and would casually lean back and introduce to us what he wanted done.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
That is why sometimes I like writing, but other times I don’t. In my life, the best thing I have ever written was a factual piece about the “Integumentary System”. I think it was the best paper I have written because our teacher
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
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.