What I Learned In My Composition Classroom

Thank you for being my composition teacher this semester! Starting this summer, I expected a class with essays due every other day―I was delighted to find out that actually only one essay was due per week. I thought this class was going to be self taught lessons about how to write. But after, I realized that everybody knows how to write, it’s just learning about using proper words and finding your own voice―which is what I got from this class.

Knowing the right verb to use was a struggle I faced at the beginning of the class. Recalling my first essay, I wrote with verbs that were unfitting and lacked meaning. To quote my essay, Read and Reflect, “Too often, my writing has been lengthy.” Cluttered with improper English, this sentence itself is lengthy. The verb used is not precise and is ambiguous. When did it start? Will it continue? Passively moving the thought forward, this sentence also included little qualifiers.

Addicted to using little qualifiers in my speech, it was difficult to remove all of them in my writing. Referring back to my quote in

I was most proud of my Name Piece essay because I incorporated own personality and creativity into writing. I turned in this essay feeling satisfied with what I wrote―something that rarely happens with my work. As a result, I received positive feedback from you―and a good grade! But most importantly, I found my voice―which apparently includes using dashes to move my thoughts forward. In this essay, I opened up to a story I’ve only told my closest friends which made me feel vulnerable sharing it. However, after receiving your praise, I realized that quality writing is making the reader feel or think differently. As a result, I wrote the rest of my essays a similar way by using my newfound voice and writing to trigger a reaction from the reader. I found your comments to be useful because I’ll know that I caused the reader to feel some