What I Learned in My Freshman Class of Composition 1

This course was the first course I took as an incoming freshman, as anyone could imagine I was scared and nervous at the same time. Also since it is a writing course; I was hesitant if I wanted to continue in the class because writing is very challenging for me as an immigrant. Returning from summer break, I found it extremely tough to continue where I left off with my writing skills from high school. The fear of writing that my old high school teacher instilled in me did not help my writing anxiety either. In contrast, I found that the professor and the course were not at all intimidating as I assumed, the professor took time from his busy schedule to help his students to further improve their writing and the writing topics were very stimulating and thought provoking. Composition 1 has helped me learn more about myself and my writing skills, which allowed me to further self-evaluate myself, find where I need improvement and become motivated to change.

As we approached the due date for the first essay assignment, the professor asked us to share our introduction paragraph aloud to the class. Since I barely knew any of my peers, I found the aspect of participation terrifying at first. However after becoming familiar with my surroundings and fellow mates, I felt at ease sharing what I my thoughts and receiving positive feedback. Suchexposures have allowed me to figure out the proper writing techniques thus giving a chance for a better grade in any writing assignment. Group workshops were helpful, along with the assessment done between two other students, all of which helped me figuring out my mistakes and improve on those points later in my revision process. The transition between high school paper and college paper has led to a dis...

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...dge said, “the more time you spend revising, the better grade you will get,” I now see the correlation and strongly believe that now.

The most important hurdle to overcome in the course was mainly myself and my old writing habits. Adjusting to the course is a goal that one needs to overcome post-haste, the more time it takes one to adjust, the worse your grade will be. A critical aspect of adjusting is the ability to change the writing requirements based on what class one is in. By figuring out the appropriate text to use in each class, it would help one adjust to the course faster. In my history class, writing is mainly facts piled on other facts with no set of techniques, while writing class involves a lot more critical thinking. I extremely enjoyed this course because I found that I can express my own personal views while maintaining the foundation of my papers.