When I first started this class I was not very confident about my writing abilities at all. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing and like whatever I did do was all wrong. I was actually terrified of writing, especially essays. When we all started this class and I was learning about the assignments and found out that we had to write a weekly blog for the entire class and possibly even world to see I totally freaked out. I’m really self conscience about other people reading what I have written. I guess I’ve just never been confident about it. Then I read that our blogs had to be a minimum of 500 words and I thought that was so long. I remember in week 1 writing my first blog, it seriously took me like an hour and a half. Now fifteen weeks later I can write a blog in about 20 to 30 minutes depending on the topic. If it is something I really and enjoy and feel passionate about I can write it in even a shorter time. I know some of you probably think that is still a long time to write only 500 words but that is major progress for me, believe me! I think I am also a lot more confident about my writing because of the blogs. I am not so self conscience about other people reading my work and even thoughts for that matter, and I am also a lot more open to critique. I actually went in looking for help on something I wrote which is something I would have never done before, no matter if it could have helped my grade or not.
Another thing that I think has opened me up to letting other people read my work is the PDRs. I was also terrified of this LOL. The thought of other people reading my stuff to try to tell me what I did wrong about it made me REALLY nervous, even if it is people I will probably never meet in person. I was just as nervous as doing a PDR for someone else as I was someone doing one for me. At first I didn’t feel like I knew enough myself to try to tell someone else what they did wrong and what they should fix. But after doing and receiving a couple of times I realized that it was a good thing and that everybody else wasn’t out to get me or make me feel bad. It really helps to have other people look at your paper because they usually catch something you didn’t and have very useful and helpful advice.
As for writing essays…well it still isn’t my most favorite thing to do and probably never will be. I am a lot more confident about it. I don’t think I’ve ever put as much effort and time into any essays I have wrote in the past as I have done for this class. I have learned so much and am really thankful I took this class as one of my firsts. I think it has given me tools that will help me throughout the rest of my education.
You and me both! I was very skeptical about my writing skills for this class. But a few weeks in I realized that this is a 101 class, so in theory there shouldn’t be anyone that is years ahead of me, so that was comforting, we were all on the same level. The blogs still take me about an hour to get to the level that I want them at, but that is just me being overly picky about my wording. I know that it is my view on the topic at hand, but I still like to write something that does not offend too many people. I have always been the guy that said my peace and left it at that, but this class has shown me that others may have a different point of view that could alter my view (sometime in a good way).
ReplyDeleteI will never like writing essays that must follow format, but I am far more confident in my writing skills after this course. It does help that in high school, I was required to write 12 page papers for my senior class. Length of the essays is not what intimidates me. I have always been weary of rambling on and losing the focus of the essay, wandering off on some tangent that distracts the readers. It seems that you have come a long way in this course though, keep up the confidence.