Reflective Essay: My Growth As A Writer

Throughout the term there has been many writing assignments —big or small— that helped reflect my writing process or the process itself. In the beginning of the course I felt like I was an “ok” writer, but lacked some skills such as: organization, sentence variety, and vocabulary. Also, I did not like to write and had a feeling of dislike when forced to write. I felt like I improved on everything I wanted and was seen throughout the semester.

Over the course of the semester, my main goal was to become a more precise writer and develop my identity as a writer. According too, the Portfolio Letter assignment sheet, becoming a better writer consists of precise planning, draft and revising. It also includes understanding a variety of academic genres by examining the basic characteristics that defines each type. In order too efficiently meet my goal of becoming a better writer, it was very important to have my work evaluated by others and myself as well. The use of rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading and writing all are the important aspects in this course. All of which helped tremendously with becoming a more precise writer and developing my identity as a writer.

As a former AP Lang student, I feel that this class has been very beneficial for me in that it has allowed me to apply the techniques and strategies I learned last year toward more relevant subjects. Having the freedom of choosing topics to write about for our various essays made this class more enjoyable than the other English classes that I have taken. AP Lang focused heavily on the techniques of writing solid essays, but instead of writing about useful topics, we analyzed the short stories provided on the exams. Writing a personal narrative essay was very helpful in my college application process and allowed me to employ the same kind of strategies that I learned in class into my college essays. Likewise, creating a cover letter taught me many useful strategies that I will definitely put to use when it comes time for me to submit an official cover letter to a company.

Reflection is a powerful thing, I can still remember how it felt being asked to write an essay on my first day of class. I was so scared, would I be able to use correct punctuation and how bad will it affect my grade if I am not? I was so excited when the professor said it was just to see that we can write conformed sentences not to critique our grammar and punctuation. I knew I was bad at writing properly and if I had to worry about the punctuation I knew I would fail. It

In my spring semester of English 1301, I was required to view reading and writing in a drastically new way. This steep learning curve highlighted my weaknesses as a writer and textual analyst. I have learned a great deal in my time as an English student, however I have much to learn about professional and colligate writing.

My experience in English 1010 was great. My writing skills were very poor at the beginning of the semester. I did not know how to write correct sentence structure. I had great difficulties making my sentences flow smoothly and clearly. I was not able to edit a paragraph for mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I also had a problem in balancing the words in a pair, so that they have the same kind of structure, this will make a sentence clearly and easy to read. Parallel sentences that follow read more smoothly than the nonparallel ones. I have a great problem putting matching words and ideas into matching structures. Some of my sentences were fragments with incomplete phrases. English 1010 class helped to improve and change my level of writing.

Whenever I think about what I have learned since the beginning of this course—English 101, It always gives me a great pleasure to tell myself and people around me that I have learned something great; something that can make me a better writer. However, I have learned some writing skills based on the course’s teaching learning objectives that can help me in my future courses. Also, I’m glad, because my strength in writing essays have increased. Most especially, writing narrative essay in MLA formatting. I might not be an excellent writer, but I know I have not stopped learning, and I know I will get pay-off in the long run if I can keep the ongoing pace of my learning—guaranteed.

The pain and agony due to the fact that I might not be prepared for college class was on my shoulders. Since day one of highschool, my biggest desire throughout school was to be engaged in learning while being well prepared for the next step in life: college. What class was the answer to this class desired? It was in a meeting with my guidance counselor in eighth grade that struck me and sparked the interest in my heart to do well. All of my highschool career I have never known what it actually meant to do well and be ¨successful.¨ The abstract idea occurred to me, in room 201, in the front row of Dual Enrollment English 111; this idea regarded what it means to be successful and obtain a good work ethic while producing a high quality essay.

During the course of English 102, I took this year of the spring semester. I have accomplished a variety of goals I once thought were impossible. I have not only grown as a writer and a student but as an individual as well. I feel that through my experience of this English course, I have achieved knowledge and self-confidence to step out into the real world. In putting together my portfolio, I could definitely see that I have made an incredible progress from the foundation of this class. My practice of grammar, words and the general structure of my papers has improved massively. Reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, as well as things I have learned in my own writing process is a big accomplishment.

Writing has always been an issue but yet interesting subject of mine. As hard as I try and write essays, and papers I just can’t get the hang of writing. But after taking this class, I did learn different writing technique and improved my writing proficiency, material body of formatting, and how to uncovering and properly use sources. Through class exams, essays, and a research paper, I was able to learn new writing skills. Although I have learned a variety of things, my writing still needs improvement. Skills such as proper grammar and MLA format still need some adjustment. Even though I have things to improve, I was still able to improve some areas of my writing skills regardless even if it was a small improvement.

My instructor Jennifer Jackson said this time “ Bravo! This is one of the strongest revisions I’ve seen yet.” This essay gave me so much confidence and made me feel I can actually write something interesting. Also, I sent my paper to The Writing Center, after I submitted my paper to my instructor to see any other mistakes I could have to improve my writing skills. I received a very good feedback from them after three or four days of submitting my paper, they said, “ my paper was pretty good. I needed to work on some minor mistakes such as spacing, omitting the work “that” when I did not need

I am taking this class because I need an English credit, but I am not just taking it because of that. I want to further my writing skills and feel more confident when I write. Also I want to be prepared for the more

An experience that has really molded me into the person I am today was growing up with my alcoholic father. My dad was a crazy teenager. He was the typical naughty boy who got himself into many stupid situations. My grandparents, the parents of my dad came from Holland in the 30’s to get away from the war. My Opa (grandpa) made a great living for them here in Southern California. They were upper middle class and they were the fun parents, that had let my dad get away with everything. My dad started drinking and doing drugs at the age of 14 and it only got worse from there. He met my mom at a Hennessy’s bar, when they were in their late 20’s, and although my mom knew about my dad’s problem, she thought she could cure him and decided to marry him. Fast forward a couple years later after my parents’ divorce I remember going to my dad’s drug deals with him at the age of 3 or 4. I’m sure my dad thought I’d never remember that, but I do. He’s admitted to taking me to

Writing essays and other types of posts has always been difficult for me. But, throughout this composition class, I have learned many interesting and new things about the different types of writing styles. When starting this class, I considered myself to be an average writer with run-of-the-mill vocabulary, ordinary sentence structure and typical finished products. This class has helped me greatly improve my writing skills in a variety of ways. I have learned multiple things by taking this class, such as new ways to approach writing and that there is much that I still need to learn about composition.

The art of argument persuasion I’ve learned in this course is so beneficial for my marketing major. Other than that, it made me develop the essay writing skills necessary for success in my studies at the university level. This English course also taught me how powerful written words can be, and how the delivery of the tone is important for the reader. The tone of a narrative is different than the tone of a research, where the difference makes the paper. Also, the power in written words tells how much it is crucial to mankind. Written works tells us about our past, present, and future. Literature painted the image of the past of our ancestors, how they lived and what they’ve done. Literature teaches us about ourselves, and the universe surrounding us in the present. Literature predicts the upcoming events and gives us wings to fly into the unknown future. These are the powers written words can give the writer and provide the