Personal Narrative: My Writing

Frequently, in a classroom setting, when a teacher or professor mentions a writing assignment, the students will usually groan and moan. There are a few students that will actually rejoice silently that there is a paper being assigned. I am not one of those students. Papers aren’t the most fun thing to do, unless you love to write. However, I can recall a time where I composed an essay that I was quite proud of and enjoyed writing. During my senior year of high school I was enrolled in an online college course from Oral Roberts University. The course was “US Military History in Film”. My professor would assign a movie to watch and provide about six questions to answer in essay form. There were some movies that excited me and others that put me right to sleep. Some examples were Glory, Pearl Harbor, Green Berets, and Alvin York. The movie that I enjoyed and I believe was the best essay I ever wrote was on Gone with the Wind.

I sat with my government teacher, Mr. Garofalo, and we worked on my writing skills. He taught me to write more actively instead of passively. In conjunction with working with my teacher, I sat through the four hour movie from beginning to end with the questions in front of me. This way I could pinpoint the more important aspects of my answers while avoiding the more trivial parts that wouldn’t get you to the point of the paragraph. Connecting with the main characters was also a big part of my writing. Connecting with the characters helped me because it allowed me to see their points of view in each