Sabrina Kinsey

13516 E. 19th Ave

Stillwater, OK 74074

Mrs. Davis
Northern Oklahoma College
615 N. Monroe
Stillwater, Ok 74074

6 December 2023

Mrs. Davis,
Hello. I hope this letter finds you well. I want to thank you for the time that you have
spent helping me become a better writer. Writing has never been my favorite pass time. I never
felt that I was good at writing, and I do not like spending my time doing things I am not good at.
With that being said, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the time and effort you have put
into teaching me. I feel that my writing has tremendously improved over the course of this
semester. I have included four artifacts of my writing.
I chose these four pieces so that I could speak about my improvement. I did not choose
these pieces because I was proud of them. In fact, most of them remind me of how much I
struggled to even put words on paper. The first paper, “Highschool vs. College,” was one of the
first papers I wrote when I started English Comp I. I did not choose the subject to write about.
The subject was assigned to me. I found this subject hard to write about because I am not a
typical college student. I am in my late thirties, dangerously close to forty. It was hard to write a
paper encouraging a college education when I was so ashamed of waiting so long to get a college
education for myself. When I read that paper, I see many of my writing weaknesses. “Liberty in
America” is also one of my earlier writings. This paper was a comprehensive paper on what I
learned in Early American History. I chose to include this paper because I love America. I love
this country with all my being. I really enjoyed taking this class. I do not feel that I portrayed that
in this paper. I think one of my writing weaknesses is that I feel I must write what my people
want to hear. I could have written pages about this, but the assignment was limited in length. Not
that I disagree with what I wrote in the paper, I just wish I could have written much more and a
whole lot more personally. I do not feel that these two writings were my best work.
“How a Motorcycle Accident Changed my Life” is also a paper I wrote in English Comp
I. I struggled with this topic because I am a private person. I wrote this paper about a very
difficult time in my life. When I look back, I am glad my teacher made me write about
something personal. I was still struggling with writing skills, but I am glad that I finally wrote
about something from the heart. My experience was hard to compact into a short paper, but I was
able to speak about something that I knew. “Food Waste in America” is one of my later writings.
This was a topic that I did not know anything about. I dreaded writing this paper. I did not think I
was interested in the topic, and I thought the research would be boring. I was surprised that I
enjoyed writing this paper. I learned a lot about food waste. This was my most challenging paper
but after it was finished, I realized that I enjoyed the process.
I am positive that my ability to write started with my love of reading. As far back as I can
remember, my Granny loved to read. It did not matter what she read, she just enjoyed reading.
When I started kindergarten, I was so excited because I would finally learn to read like Granny.
On my first day of school, I remember asking my teacher, Mrs. Clift, when I would learn to read.
I was very disappointed when she laughed and said I had to learn all the letters and their sounds
first. I went straight home and told Granny that she had to hurry and help me learn all my letters
so I could read too. She laughed a little bit too, but she helped me every day to learn my letters.
On the first day of first grade, I told Mrs. Wilson that I knew all my letters and sounds so I
needed to know how long until I could read. To my dismay, she also laughed a little. I think she
felt a little bit sorry for me when she saw how bad that disappointed me. She promptly and very
seriously promised me that I would read by the end of the year. She kept that promise and by the
end of the year I was reading anything that had words on it. When I got to second grade, Mrs.
Adams showed me how to put those words that I was so eager to learn, on paper. I started to
learn so much more and it made my reading so much better. I learned how to hear the words I
was reading. Adjectives and commas and exclamation points, they all played a part. I was
starting to hear the writer's tone and feeling what they were writing. It was a whole new world. I
could not read enough. In third and fourth grade, I started to learn even more. How to write
letters, address envelopes, write checks, and even the beginning of small essays. These early
years of my life shaped my writing with tools I will never forget.
I still struggle with starting to write. I overthink everything. I will think about every part
of my paper for so long. I will know exactly what I want to say but struggle with how to word it.
I know that if I can just start putting words on paper, my essay will work itself out. I do not know
why I struggle with this so bad. The hardest paper I had to write was the timed writing
assignment. I knew what I wanted to write about. I knew every topic and even knew what I
wanted to put in each paragraph. I just did not know how to start the paper. I think the biggest
thing that you have helped me with is making me do an outline. When you made me turn in an
outline, I was so discouraged. I did not know how to write an outline. Honestly, I wrote most of
the paper before I could make the outline. I had to fill in a lot of it after the paper was written.
After I finished with the entire project, I realized how much the outline could help if it were
written first. I also realized that it can help a lot to start in the middle. On this last paper, you
assigned us paragraphs that were completely out of order. I did not know how it would work out,
but it helped tremendously. I am slowly learning how to make writing easier.
I know in life and in my career, I will be required to write many things. I am thankful that
I have learned so much. I know I still have a lot of weaknesses to overcome. I have learned that
my papers will be better if I write from my heart. If I am not pleased with my writing it will
show to other people. I hope that when I look back on things that I write, I will be proud of them.
I have also learned that you do not have to start a paper at the beginning. I can start in the middle
and have most of the paper written without the hours of trying to start writing. The one thing I
need in my toolbox is an outline. I also need confidence. I am slowly learning that.
I have come a long way in my writing. I am so thankful to you for all you have taught me
this semester. It is my hope that I will still be able to speak with you and learn from you after the
semester is over. I am available at any time. My email is sabrinkinsey@yahoo.com. I would
welcome any conversation.
Sincerely,
Sabrina Kinsey