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Aicha Elizabeth Guisse

Dr. Bob Gibney

English 101

April 26, 2021

Conquering English 101

I came into English 101 under the impression that this class would be an easy “A”. I was under

the impression that I knew everything when it came to writing - I often thought to myself,

“Writing is a task I do at least once a day so how could I possibly fail this course?” The very first

assignment would serve as a gut-punch to my inflated ego, a humbling dose of reality. This

course has taught me numerous things, but the most important lesson would have to be the 10

Writing Concepts. There are three concepts in particular that resonated with me and my writing

journey, the first, ninth, and tenth concepts.

The first writing concept, “writing is not natural” helped me with my writing insecurities at the

beginning of the course. The very first assignment managed to completely dismantle any

confidence I had regarding writing. In Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, the quotation “writing was

born as the maidservant of human consciousness, but is increasingly becoming its master”

(Harari 132) encompassed my feelings toward writing at that moment. Writing is not a natural

activity that comes to us innately. Like any other skill, writing takes practice and repetition in

order to refine and perfect. Coming to the realization that no one is born a talented author helped

me overcome my fears submitting my first assignment.

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The ninth writing concept, “failure can be important to one's writing development” assisted with

my first writing critiques. Reading the comments left underneath my first essay made me feel

like a “bad writer” despite having a perfect score. Personally, I thought “how could I not see that

myself?” Donald Murray wrote, “most readers underestimate the amount of rewriting it usually

takes to produce spontaneous reading” (Murray 612), providing some comfort when I was down

on myself. Writers are meant to make mistakes and from those failures, we are able to evolve

and progress. The assignments that I view as failures and all the feedback that I’ve received have

helped me to grow into a semi-professional writer.

The final concept, “all writers have more to learn” is a perfect summary of my experiences in

this course. I came in thinking there was nothing new to learn but quickly realized there was a

side to writing that I never explored. Writing goes beyond the bare necessities that I once used it

for in the past. It grants the opportunities to express, persuade, and create new identities outside

of your daily norm. This course has taught me valuable concepts that I will carry throughout the

rest of my academic career and beyond.