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Blair Gibson English 1103 Megan Keaton April 29, 2013

Writing History Response Writing is not something that we are born knowing how to do. We must learn how to physically pick up a pen or pencil and move it across paper, creating shapes and lines we know as characters and words. Anyone can learn to physically write, but can they use their words eloquently to prove a point and create something that catches and holds a reader's interest? I am not ashamed to admit that I used to despise writing. Before I went to high school, I dreaded each paper I was assigned. Journal entries with random and boring assigned topics did not interest me. Because of this, it suggested that I was more interested in writing about things that I enjoyed versus things that were seemingly pointless. I was homeschooled from second grade until eighth grade. As much as I loved being home schooled and as much as I learned, there was something missing. In the fall of 2007, I started high school at Highland School of Technology. Ranked second in public schools in the state of North Carolina for overall test scores and mean grade point averages, students were required to maintain a GPA of 3.0 for at least two consecutive semesters in order to graduate. Given the nature of these standards, it only made sense for Highland to employ some of the best teachers in North Carolina. The teachers at Highland that were writers were passionate about it. They showed me how enjoyable writing could be if the

proper techniques were taught. It was because of these excellent teachers that I have expanded my writing horizons and become the writer I am today. The ninth grade was a pivotal year for writing. I had a teacher named Janie Peak. She was very quirky, but she had incredible and seemingly endless knowledge of writing and literature. If there was a question about writing or books or plays, she knew the answer. Mrs. Peak was the first teacher to push me with my writing. Every week, we were required to complete two journal entries. Unlike previous years, we were told to write about absolutely anything we wanted as long as we wrote with a purpose and a passion. Because I had a tendency to be a timid writer who was not used to free-writing, looking for topics wrecked my brain. When I found the courage to write about exactly what I wanted the words came freely to me. Mrs. Peak told me that I was a good writer who could be excel at writing if I pushed myself. I believed her, and to this day I follow her advice. As a writer, I learned how to pick appropriate free-writing topics. Mrs. Peak spoiled her students by letting them write what they wanted. Ms. Weaver, my tenth grade English teacher, had different ideas. Tenth grade English is mostly based around classic literature such as Oedipus Rex and Antigone. The writing assignments that came along with these pieces were along the lines of "analyze the characters in this work" or "what are the themes of this piece? Even though I did not want to write them, I remembered Mrs. Peak's advice and did my best on the assignments. As a writer, I learned how to make uninteresting topics more interesting to me, so I could write them well. In the eleventh grade, my English teacher was Jamie Pritchett. During this year, it was required for us to complete a research paper. My topic was "The Dangers of Plastic Surgery", which went along with my pathway at Highland. Pritchett was the kind of teacher that

approached our papers with an "I am not going to hold your hand, but I am here if you have questions" kind of teacher. This was scary for us because we were just learning about research. It was because of this research project that I really first learned the proper way to research, such as using notecards and finding reliable sources. My senior year of high school and my first year of college were less-than-stimulating to my writing. I had to write an essay for my acceptance to my first college, Salem College. Depending on our score on the entrance essay, we could be waived from taking English classes. Because I was waived, I did not write my first college paper until my second semester of college. I believe that this was somewhat detrimental for my writing career and skills. It is inappropriate for a first year college student to not have to write any papers at all. Before I left for college, I had never written a work (longer than a shopping list) that was not going to be graded. Because Salem was two hours from my hometown, I didn't get to see my family very often. Instead of picking up the phone and calling me, my grandmother chose to write me letters almost every day. She would write three or four pages in her beautiful calligraphy-esque penmanship. I would write back to every letter she would send. The things we wrote about weren't necessarily things I wanted to write about, but I was sure to cover and respond to everything she would say. By writing letters back and forth to my grandmother, I learned how to write conversationally yet professionally. My grandmother wrote beautifully, and even though the letters were lighthearted she expected me to write her appropriately. I do believe that this kept up my writing skills while they laid dormant to assessment by a professsor. After my second semester, I transferred to UNC Charlotte where my writing skills are becoming much more polished because they are actually being used. I used vocabulary appropriate to academia and wrote in a more mature style. It was during finals that I had my first

extremely bad writing experience. I was in an Intro to Sociology class with Dr. Dennis Stevens. We had the choice to either write a final paper, which was sixteen pages long, or take a multiple choice test that had an average fail rate of eighty percent. Our topic obviously had to be on sociology, and must be approved by him prior to beginning our writing. By page 9, I was exhausted from the topic. There was nothing more that I could write without talking in circles. I asked him desperately read what I had and decide if it needed more, but he refused. I finished the sixteen pages reluctantly. It was most definitely the most drawn-out paper that I have ever written. I got an A+, but it was very much earned. This A+ taught me as a writer that hard work always pays off. Over the years, I have learned tremendous amounts about myself as a writer through my writing experiences. I have my excellent professors to thank for pushing me to write and test the waters. Without their help, I would not be the writer I am today.

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