Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Class

I used to be a good writer, what happened? I’ve thought about this every time I’ve been in the middle of a paper struggling to finish it. Attending the Minneapolis public school system for most of my life I had never taken a writing oriented course before college. My English and history classes were the closest thing to a writing class. Things like grammar and mechanics weren’t a high priority in these classes, as long as you got your main point or summary across and it made sense you’d get an A. This created a false sense of confidence in my writing skills which were quickly challenged when transitioning into college. The transition into college came as quite a shock. In both my history and writing class, we were quickly assigned papers, my old high school habits quickly returned and I procrastinated until the night before it was due. Hastily, I would write an average paper, look over it

Words tell so much more than a story. Literature teaches about the self and the world surrounding the self. My first paper allowed me to go in depth about the surrounding world/environment of my trip to the Arctic tundra over the summer. From this one class I’ve learned about different styles of writing and becoming proficient in applying my writing skills to other subjects. By writing about what we learn and/or what we believe in many of our papers, we are learning how to express ourselves.
All throughout my life I was never motivated when it came to writing, as a result there was a lot of resistance transitioning in college level writing. Growing up I was more of a science and mathematics type of student, I love writing about factual information that has a clear and straightforward answer. When it came to writing thie inquiry paper in which I could pick a historical topic of my choice and research upon it, I feel I was able to spread my wings and go in depth with my vast knowledge on the