Writing History Response

          Throughout school, writing has never been my strong point.  I always had a hard time putting what I had to say into words, and being satisfied with the way it sounds.  Though I made better grades on my writing assignments than a majority of my classmates, my personal expectations were never filled.  I worked hard to move past this issue and better myself and my writing. I owe a lot of my progress to teachers who saw potential in me.

            Growing up, I got a little too comfortable with the ability to write.  I would sit at home and write little books, and even draw illustrations to go along.  They were never really that impressive, and would be about pets that got lost and found their way home.  Even though they seem silly as I read over them now, I remember how excited I was back then to share them with my family.  As I went through middle school, we were introduced to the DARE program. In the conclusion of this course, each student was required to write an essay for a contest. We were able to pick any topic discussed throughout the program.  I chose to write mine on how I would always pick friends who would respect my decisions, and never pressure me. Surprisingly, I won the essay competition and got my paper published in a local newspaper.  This was a huge accomplishment for me, and made me more confident in my ability.

            I grew even more through high school.  I had small writing assignment here and there, but my main focus for the first couple years was playwriting.  I was highly involved in theatre all four years, and took many classes along with my work after school.  In my theatre classes, we learned about theatre history and genres.  We had the privilege of writing the plays we performed.  I believe this helped me develop my writing in many ways.  Before, I had trouble getting started.  I would sit in front of a piece of paper for hours without any idea of how to even begin a paper or play.  I had a theatre teacher, Mr. T, who taught me something that stuck with me even to this day.  He taught me that you need inspiration more than anything to spark a good story. 

This followed me to my sophomore and junior year. I had a teacher in tenth grade that saw my potential and inspired me. Mrs. Kendrick took the time to critique my writing and help me in such a positive way. She gave me books that she thought I could write good reports on, and helped me through the process. Following that year, I had my biggest writing project so far.  My junior paper was an intense research paper that I had to complete to graduate.  It was a total of eight pages, which at the time was equivalent to telling me the world was ending.  I wrote my research paper on the different types of deforestation and their effects on the environment.  My English teacher that year, Ms. Spearman, took time to teach me how to really engage myself in a topic and to become dedicated to my writing.  When I finished writing, I can honestly say I was proud of what was on those pages, and received the grade of a 99.

My family also highly encouraged me through school and my writing.  If they had not been there to push me, I would not know what I am truly capable of today.  I owe a lot to my cousin. She is an excellent writer, and I always look up to her for guidance.  She always teaches me in ways that do not intimidate me or make me feel insecure. I now have a good foundation to grow upon and become an even more successful student while I go through college. College writing was a whole new adventure for me.  I took Dr. Steven’s Intro to Sociology course last semester.  In this class, I had to write a sixteen page paper on a topic I was lucky to get five pages of information on.  This was extremely difficult, and I learned how to ramble about anything and everything until I had enough to satisfy the page requirement.

I am someone who likes to take the time to plan out my writing. I would like to conclude that my writing has better results when I have planned and reviewed. I also include most of my research in my outlines. This helps my thought process, and keeps me on track. Through the years, this is first time I have gotten to look back on everything I have accomplished, and the reasons I have become the writer I am today.  I have noticed that I never took the time to write until I was forced to, in school. I never looked forward to papers that were assigned to me, especially when I was told to write about a certain topic or had a specific guideline.  While writing my junior paper, I was given the opportunity to choose a topic, and expand my knowledge with research. That is something I believe every student should be given the chance to do because it made me enjoy writing.