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Arcy Fuentes

Professor Batty

English 101

December 13, 2019

My Journey with English Classes

Before college I considered my last “real” English class to be in my spring semester of

freshman year. I was assigned writing prompts, reading logs, and journal logs to try and expand

my reading and writing skills. I appreciated that the teacher understood that not everyone could

write a 3-4-page essay in one sitting. That teacher was patient and cared for the students'

educational growth. After that class, I had two other English teachers who were either a

substitute teacher or a teacher who wouldn’t normally teach an English class. After my

sophomore year, I was sick of just sitting in a classroom and not learning anything. In my junior

year, I signed up for my first AP course, and it was way more challenging than I expected. The

teacher never really explained anything to us and made it seem that we were already supposed to

know all of this material. I was lost because I didn’t know anything, and I was too scared to look

stupid to ask any questions. I felt as if I wouldn’t be a successful writer.

Coming into college I didn’t believe I was well equipped with the right tools to succeed

in a college English class. I was scared to jump straight to feeling insecure about my writing

skills to writing several essays every day. I felt that I was too stupid to take a college class and I

didn’t think I was going to be able to succeed. What helped me gain a bit more confidence over

the semester was having so much time in an English class. Having English 72 along with English

101 helped me have more time to learn the writing process and take it all step by step. I also
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appreciate how Professors Batty used class time to get students started on the beginning steps of

writing an essay. I also appreciated how she would walk up to a student to talk about any ideas

that they are trying to put down on paper. This was all very helpful as well as encouraging.

Because of this project I was able to see how my writing process evolved and grew. I was

able to see that I was taking more steps to write an essay. I learned that pre-writing activities like

outlines or just writing anything down helped me get ideas down and start writing a paper. After

letting my mind wander, I would take the best ideas and try to create a well-developed essay. I

like that because of this class, I learned how to use these tools to become a better writer. This

project was quite enjoyable and a bit stressful, but it was a fun learning experience. I was amazed

at myself on how I was able to start with an outline with this project and just start writing. I

didn’t think that I was going to see a big change from my writing skills in 11th grade to my

writing skills now.

Being able to see how much I’ve grown as a writer, I’m excited to continue this

educational journey. I want to be able to write more academic papers with a stronger

performance as well as vocabulary. This class was not only helpful but inspirational, I went from

being scared to then pushing my limits to become a better writer. Thank you, Professor Batty, for

helping my academic career advancement.