Engl 130 - In-Class Creative Writing

As my assignments are completed, the sun's heat warms the ground beneath me; I begin to rise into the summer. Soon I will be released from school's cold grip.

- Doug Carroll
Emmanuel Garcia
Ted Harris

Engl 130 - Reflective Essay

A Beneficial Semester

In writing such essays as “Today’s Digital Divide,” which was a compilation of smaller essays, the skills I learned in this academic writing class really became apparent, and their importance is clear. In all stages of putting the paper together, there were methods that I learned that improved on what the essay would have been had I not taken this class. But my improvements were not only in writing. I also can read essays and books with more depth and clarity, because I know what active reading is, and this helps me identify key words that make a passage unclear to me. My new abilities are all related to the five goals I wrote out when this class began. Those goals were actually a very accurate predictor of what this class was about.

The first goal I had listed was because I like to do writing outside of class, and I always want to improve on my form. The goal was “sometimes I like to write in my spare time, so I hope to gain some better writing structure.” This was not very specific, but still is an important goal for a writer so that his writing doesn’t become stale. There are always ways to reword something, and we did exercises in class that showed that. The activities in which we combined many short sentences into a single long sentence were incredibly useful to me. In my blog I like to write my entire story in one sentence paragraphs if possible, because when I’m thinking of the story, I’m not thinking in sentences, or even words, but in ideas. This quote from my recent blog Lactic Acid demonstrates my prowess.

Since her arm was weaker than his, she let him hold the door open for more than mere minutes, extending his willing chivalry on into the night; and such a special night it was, for there was about to be a ceremony to crown the new president of the group of students (who refused to call themselves a club) that like to create and learn, adding to and expounding upon the cultures that already existed in their domain; and yes, his arm would weaken and ache, but he would not flinch in his duty, even if it was an arbitrary one, for that is the law of propriety.

This isn’t just a skill that can be used for creative writing though. I could use it if I ever needed to delegate work as a manager, because although there are some people who work better when they are micromanaged and all their tasks are bulleted out, others would like to know my overall idea all at once and decide what needs to be done in what order. If I can get all my ideas out in a coherent sentence, then I would feel more confident that we have a mutual understanding on what needs to be done, and as a manager, my time would not need to be spent watching over this person anymore.

Another goal I had from this course was to improve my vocabulary so that I could improve my writing and become more articulate. By reading works from various authors and doing the standard vocabulary exercises, I have found that there are many words I don’t know. There are a few words I have picked up that I feel I could use, and with more practice I will incorporate them into my repertoire and use them effectively. The right word can really change the meaning of a passage, and a thesaurus is not a good substitute for an expansive vocabulary. I’ll continue to help it grow by feeding it various works that might seem beyond my level, and then I’ll have a nice range of words to choose from.

In this class, I wanted to read compositions from varied authors to see their styles, and so that I could become more cultured and sophisticated. We have definitely gone over a variety of works from authors of different viewpoints by reading from 50 Essays. From these articles I have learned that it’s not just one type of author that can write to a broad audience that includes me. Any author can come from a specific circumstance, but the good authors can apply their experience to others, and let them know how applicable it is to them. Just writing isn’t enough, I need to give each paper a specific purpose or the reader won’t feel like they are in the audience, they’ll just feel like an outsider who happened upon my essay. This isn’t what I want, so I’m going to start out with a purpose before I start writing, and then I think the main point will show through when I want it to. This is what the authors in 50 Essay did, and I can get into their stories and learn from their mistakes, or at least see an issue from their point of view.

One of the problems I had before this class was that I didn’t read actively, so I would sometimes become uninterested and I wouldn’t realize it until a few paragraphs later. By then I had wasted time by reading a passage that I had to reread, and once I got into that cycle with an essay it was hard to get out of. The introduction to 50 Essays that went over active reading was helpful, and just that fact that we talked about it in class was important. The different techniques like SOAPStone, plus the SVEs are ways that I can stay tuned in to what is on the page, because I have a goal other than just getting to the end of the reading. The new goal is to be involved in the reading before getting to the end.

At the beginning of this semester, we had started reading, and I wanted “to be able to understand the reading better.” Better understanding came through the standard vocabulary exercise. By doing the SVEs, I didn’t just learn the words that I looked up, but I learned to be aware of the words that I don’t know. I can read a paragraph and know specifically which words are making it hard to understand, instead of just feeling like overall it was unclear. This is going to help me understand everything I am reading, and save time that I used to reread the passage. Now I can read with a dictionary nearby and get through things quickly.

This class has been beneficial in helping me complete my reading and writing related goals. We talked in class about the different levels of illiteracy, and how its meaning can change according to the situation. At the beginning of this semester, I was not illiterate, but I am certainly more literate now. I have learned abilities that have improved my reading and my writing. I plan to keep these skills of analysis and continue to use them and learn new ones as well to always improve my literacy.