Learning to Writing

The first essays I was introduced to were argumentative, persuasive, and research. I was taught and instructed in the different forms of essays during my middle school years and first year of high school. It was my second year in middle school, eighth grade, that I was first introduced to the simple five paragraph essay. Here, I was taught that the first paragraph include the motivating sentence or “the hook” along with the thesis. My eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, emphasized the importance of writing the introduction as the most exciting paragraph(s) in the whole paper. She said and I quote, “The intro gives a preview to your readers about what your paper is going to be. You want to invite and convince your audience to read what you have to say.” Along with the introduction, I learned what should be included in the body of the paper, the topic sentences and their supporting details. In the conclusion, Mrs. Johnson taught her classes that this should me the second most exciting paragraph(s) in the essay. Mrs. Johnson emphasized, “One should strive to create a paper that begins and ends in a similar way. You want an exciting intro to convince your audience to read your stuff, but you also want to end in a way that they will remember what you said.” Looking back at this particular English class, everything was relatively easy compared to what I am required to write now, just simple argumentative and research essays the followed the five paragraph essay format. In ninth grade, the assignments became more complicated. In my Earth’s Systems science class, I was required to write a minimum four page research paper every couple of weeks. I remember writing more papers for that class my freshman year of high than for any other class I had that year. For my ninth grade English class, I was required to compose an argumentative or persuasive paper every so often. In this class, the teacher would assign the class a paper varying in different page length to be written in either the argumentative or persuasive essay form. This is where I picked up the basic blocks of writing. My sophomore year of high, tenth grade English helped me become more familiar with these different types and forms of writing. 

The high school I ended up enrolling in, NUAMES Early College High School, has a partnership with Weber State University. This high school offered an Early College. Students could graduate with an Associate’s degree by the time they have their high school diploma. Students have the opportunity to enroll in actual college classes on campus while receiving college and high school credit for the classes that are taken. My last two years of high school were spent taking college courses. The few English courses and other classes that incorporated writing put the writing skills I had at the time to the test. I was a little unsure in the area of writing when I first started my college career. In fact, I felt very much unprepared for what was expected of me. The few English classes I had taken in middle school and my first year of high school along with the assignments that were assigned were simple, nothing as complex as what I needed to compose in college. To make sure I would fail, I took to the internet to become more educated in academic writing at the college level. My first couples of semesters were hard making that transition in levels of writing. Fortunately, there were a few professors that were considerate and understanding in their grading.

I would defiantly say there was a learning curve. I had to try and progress in my writing skills to keep up and on top of things at the college level. Everything that I was taught in middle and high school, in my opinion, was not enough for what I needed to do to keep up in my college course. As a result I found a way to cope with what was ask of me by taking to the internet and learning the information and knowledge needed to accomplish what needed to be done.