Personal Narrative: What I Learned In My Writing Skills

After completing the Composition I class with Mrs. Gelwicks, I have learned many things about writing and also about myself. Three key takeaway points that I inherited, include the importance of time management, peer revision, and putting “heart” into each paper I write. Gaining confidence in my writing skills during this class has made me feel prepared for writing papers in college. Managing time wisely is a helpful skill to remember when writing. With each essay you have to block off time to brainstorm, form an outline, write an intro and conclusion, form body paragraphs, and peer revisions. I began brainstorming as soon as possible when starting a new essay, because without a main focus point it is impossible to start writing the paper. After brainstorming, moving onto the outline is the next step. Within the outline, I made bullet points for what I wanted each body paragraph to contain. By doing this
saved me time in the long run because I had a plan for how my paper would be set up. For me, writing introductions and conclusions was the hardest part of the whole essay. In order to manage my time, writing my body paragraphs is the first thing I started, so I was not wasting work time on the intro and conclusion. The introduction is important because it is the first way to get your reader’s attention, and I did not to randomly throw something together. The concluding paragraph is also important it is a way to wrap everything up and not leave your reader hanging. When I turned in a solid first draft to Mrs. Gelwicks, I noticed that it will help minimize the corrections needed for the final draft. Throughout the class, I learned how to manage my time wisely in order to write strong and effective essays. When looking back on all of my essays, I also realized the importance in peer revision.
Without the help from my peers, I would have left careless mistakes throughout my paper that I had not caught myself. After reading my paper several times, I had skipped over mistakes, including grammar, sentence clarity, and diction. Every time the class did peer revision I was thankful that my peers were honest with me and did not sugar coat what needed to be fixed—it only helped me in the end. Getting a fresh set of eyes on my paper helped me brainstorm different ways to set paragraphs up or add in new ideas. Not only did I learn new things from my peers editing my paper, but I also gained suggestions from editing other people's essays. For example, I found new ways to correctly punctuate and quote facts that have been pulled from research. From taking this class, the importance of having a couple of different people read your paper before turning in the final draft has become vivid. This is a concept that I will take with me to college in order to become a better
writer.
Along with peer revision and time management, putting “heart” into every essay is another key importance I gained from taking Composition I. When brainstorming topics for my papers, I needed to consider how passionate I was on the topic. Writing about a topic that you are not passionate about will not be easy or enjoyable for the reader’s to read. With the page requirements being as long as they were, I knew picking a topic I could elaborate on was important for each paper. For example, for the autobiographical essay, I chose to write about my trip to Haiti. During the trip, I went through many different emotions and experiences that it was easy to express those feelings into words. Choosing a topic I was passionate about made it easy to add “heart” into my papers, and it also made the writing process not as difficult.
Overall, I am thankful for everything I learned throughout the course. Whether it was learning time management or something simple, like picking a topic selection, I am more confident in my writing skills. Composition I prepared and exposed me to what college writing classes will be like. Having this experience will benefit me in the future when I am trying to tackle college-level writings.