Lucky

I feel lucky to have the knowlege of writing that I do, because I definitely did not walk onto Weber State University’s campus knowing how to write. (See previous blog for more information on why) It was a baptism by fire when I walked into my first English class. I was very lucky to have such a good teacher. She was very willing to help and did not put up with any crap in my papers. I remember that the thing she did that helped me the most was when she taught me to look critically at what I was reading. She let us write anything that we wanted to in response to what we where reading in class and encouraged us to be creative. The freedom to be creative was a fun challenge to me and really helped me personally to start to enjoy writing. I remember every paper that I wrote with great fondness. Because I have blocked out most of my memories from my first two semesters in college that sums up my memories of English 1010.
English 2010 is a little more fresh on my mind. I loved this class!! I felt that every time that I left that class I had learned something new and exciting. The teacher taught us the format of argumentative writing and then taught us how to critically think through our paper. I would get so excited every time I would write a paper . It turned into a game for me. I would read carefully through my paper as though it was not mine, tear it to pieces, and then go through and fix it.
I can not give all the credit to my teacher and my unnatural sense of play, I had a brilliant friend that would look over my papers with me and not only tell me what mistakes I had made but work patiently with me until I figured out why I had made them and what I needed to do to fix them. He would never do the work for me but would help me to learn and to see what I needed to do for myself. If everyone who has had a hard time writing had the teachers that I had and a friend like mine I am afraid that we would all be out of jobs. I am a lucky girl.
For me learning to write better stemmed from learning to read and to think. The more my understanding of language grew the more I was able to apply that knowledge to my growth and development as a writer. Learning to read and think critically has to come first when learning to write. I only wish that the university offered a class completely devoted to teaching critical thinking. I would take it.