I have changed in many ways as a writer this year. Before this class I had always thought I was a good writer, and my strengths were my use of grammar and I would go into detail about the subject, but I had problems with keeping my papers organized and I didn’t do any type drafts or notes before writing my final draft. I would write a paper, double check it for punctuation, then pass it in without revision. I’ve started to make annotations on reading assignments and when I write I make multiple rough drafts and outlines to help organize my ideas. Before this class, the only time I had written about myself was my college essay, other than that I had never done a writing assignment on myself until I did the memoir. It was uncomfortable and was weird for me to be writing about something in my life, but I made changes for my final draft and believe I did a good job on it. My text wrestling assignment “The case against high school sports, and how it negatively impacts academics,” was a paper I was very conflicted on, and made me take a step back and look at things from another point of view. Lastly my argumentative essay was my favorite assignment to write because it allowed me to talk about passion of mine (baseball) and I learned things I didn’t know about the MLB before I did the assignment. From this class, I have developed into a more focused, organized, and engaged writer.
For my memoir, I decided to tell the story of my time playing baseball in high school. It was a difficult time in my life, and at a low moment, the reassurance I got from my team and coach was an uplifting moment for me and helped me gain confidence. I would always be down on myself until I was part of that team. The friends I’ve made from my team are some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Once I made my paper more organized it was easy to write it out as I just talked about how I felt. It felt odd writing about my personal life and posting it, but once I started writing it, things just came naturally and it didn’t feel odd anymore. The assignments allowed me to be comfortable writing about myself, and allowed me to write in a style I have little experience with.
For my text wrestling assignment “The case against high school sports, and how it negatively impacts academics,” was the assignment that made me change most as a writer. It made me take a step back and look at things from multiple viewpoints, from which I made notes and annotations on the article. I made outlines and multiple drafts to make sure I was organized and was making a fair yet compelling point from the article. From looking at things from a different perspective, it even made me change my stance on the issue, from siding with school athletics, to siding on the side against school athletics.
My persuasive essay “The steroid era saved baseball, and deserves its recognition,” was my favorite assignment. It allowed me to research something I was passionate about and I did a lot of research. I used articles from online, and used data from them to make a strong argument as to why the players deserve their recognition. I organized my argument based off of three factors as to why they deserve their due credit and I delivered them in a strong concise argument. Despite it being a highly sensitive subject, especially to athletes and sports writers who believe they shouldn’t be allowed into the hall of fame, this essay provides a strong case as to why they should get their credit.
In this class, I’ve changed a lot as a writer. I put more effort into assignments, and take more time and be more focused about my work. I’m more organized and I write rough drafts and more notes. A major thing that helped me change with this class, was the fact that we, the students were allowed to choose our own theme for the semester, and that allowed me to write about things I’m interested and passionate about. Having that choice made me more intrigued and made me want to learn and be a better writer. This class changed me as a writer, and helped improve my focus, organization and my overall writing ability and style. I had always wanted to write about sports someday, and I had always wondered if I would enjoy doing it as a job, and this class assured me that I would, and provided me with help that will allow me to do so.