Pushing Through the Pain
What I have been doing for the past three years, and what I continue to do today is to write. College writing has put me to the test, forcing me to write from terribly uncomfortable places. But even with those challenges and eventual rewards, I think college has followed much of the same pattern as high school did. I have done a lot of writing that has forced me into new perspectives and new ideas. The same standard essay with little explanation has lurked in the corners of some classrooms, but for the most part I think I have, with the help of some great teachers, been able to break out of that trend.
During my freshman year of college, there were only a few instances of true writing. For language classes I wrote the grammar worksheets and did the vocabulary sentences. I wrote notes galore in every class. In my English 1050 and 1100 classes I wrote papers. I was asked to write memoirs, research projects and movie analysis papers. I was asked to write about short stories, poems and plays. In those two classes, I wrote a greater variety of work then I had in all of high school.
I think the biggest difference between my writing in high school and my writing in college was the process I went through to get to the final product. I forced myself to make outlines when I was stuck, to reread my work and to truly edit. When doing peer edits in class I took the suggestions seriously and made serious suggestions to the other students. Now I had a reason to write papers that I cared about, even if I was indifferent about the subject. When I started college I cared about the words that I put on paper, and I wanted to make sure that I turned in my best work possible. I knew that if I didn’t put my best possible work on the page every time that it would catch up with me in a very expensive way.
This was also a time of reflection. I was asked to write about my life and the different events that mattered to me. I was asked to assess my own writing to see the process used to write. I had been asked before to write vignettes about myself in tenth grade, but this writing was different; these were papers about the deep stuff, the things that changed who I was at my deepest level. They were also about who I was as a learner, the things that helped to define me.
Memoir assignment Engl 1050 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O7wYzmK6ek3JZJPsrLf6vIxIRHPQnn7RNi5BOTiQl9w/edit
ED 3000 Critical Experience Reflection
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r_Sxhble-qxR5PoveG0kuPPpGP-NDANfRuMHrr-pgng/edit
These pieces have helped me in the process of figuring out my own life. While they have been some of the most challenging pieces I have ever written, in many ways they have been the most rewarding. I have begun to understand the different facets of my life and how they will continue to play into my future. The realization that I had to address these things if I ever wanted to be successful, threw me. I don’t like to write about myself, I never have and I don’t think I ever will. But I have learned how to do it in a way that does not make me cringe at the thought. Sure there is a bit of moaning throughout the process, but in the end I can bite the bullet and put the words on the page that need to be put down.
During my freshman year of college, there were only a few instances of true writing. For language classes I wrote the grammar worksheets and did the vocabulary sentences. I wrote notes galore in every class. In my English 1050 and 1100 classes I wrote papers. I was asked to write memoirs, research projects and movie analysis papers. I was asked to write about short stories, poems and plays. In those two classes, I wrote a greater variety of work then I had in all of high school.
I think the biggest difference between my writing in high school and my writing in college was the process I went through to get to the final product. I forced myself to make outlines when I was stuck, to reread my work and to truly edit. When doing peer edits in class I took the suggestions seriously and made serious suggestions to the other students. Now I had a reason to write papers that I cared about, even if I was indifferent about the subject. When I started college I cared about the words that I put on paper, and I wanted to make sure that I turned in my best work possible. I knew that if I didn’t put my best possible work on the page every time that it would catch up with me in a very expensive way.
This was also a time of reflection. I was asked to write about my life and the different events that mattered to me. I was asked to assess my own writing to see the process used to write. I had been asked before to write vignettes about myself in tenth grade, but this writing was different; these were papers about the deep stuff, the things that changed who I was at my deepest level. They were also about who I was as a learner, the things that helped to define me.
Memoir assignment Engl 1050 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O7wYzmK6ek3JZJPsrLf6vIxIRHPQnn7RNi5BOTiQl9w/edit
ED 3000 Critical Experience Reflection
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r_Sxhble-qxR5PoveG0kuPPpGP-NDANfRuMHrr-pgng/edit
These pieces have helped me in the process of figuring out my own life. While they have been some of the most challenging pieces I have ever written, in many ways they have been the most rewarding. I have begun to understand the different facets of my life and how they will continue to play into my future. The realization that I had to address these things if I ever wanted to be successful, threw me. I don’t like to write about myself, I never have and I don’t think I ever will. But I have learned how to do it in a way that does not make me cringe at the thought. Sure there is a bit of moaning throughout the process, but in the end I can bite the bullet and put the words on the page that need to be put down.