“Don’t go through life, grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth. If we keep coasting through life knowing our problems then we’ll forever remain stagnant. Before taking this FIQWS class I was a scholar who was okay with constantly making mistakes and not fixing them. I struggled with writing for some time because I always took criticism as an attack towards my writing instead of seeing it as someone trying to help me become a better writer. My relationship with writing has been very difficult because of how I perceived feedback, which led to my confidence being low. Eric Butterworth’s quote has reminded me to not live life aimlessly but to live life intentional. If I don’t grow through life then I’m doing myself a disservice. This English class  has helped me in numerous ways. I remember writing my last essay which was a research paper. For that paper I had to analyze peer reviewed articles and this helped me have supporting evidence for my claim. I reviewed articles and highlighted quotes for each article so that when it would be time to write I can fly through easily. After quoting evidence I would put it in ASA style. I never knew what ASA style was, but I learned that citation this semester and have implemented it in my writing. Learning this new citation skill has been useful because my other classes require me to use it. When my other teacher told me I had to use this citation form I was already fully equipped. This made me confident in my writing because I knew what I was doing. Next, having to look for articles on my own helped me learn a new skill of learning if a source is credible or not. I learned how searching up articles using the words peer reviewed would lead you to credible sources. One of the course objectives was to strengthen students’ source use. I feel I have achieved that because I developed skills that I am using for my other classes. Also, understanding if a source is credible or not is very imperative for writing. Learning a new citation style has helped me cite evidence at a faster pace opposed to other styles which require more research. Being able to add new skills to my english tool kit will help me feel more equipped in my courses. This semester I have participated in peer reviews which has played a crucial role in my growth. Having a chance to receive feedback from my peers has allowed me to tweak my writing numerous times. From a scholar perspective, my perspective and my professors. This has helped me with understanding the value of a rough draft. I have learned that rough drafts are so important for the writing process. They help organize your thoughts and create structure. 

Throughout this course my perception of writing has changed. Before I thought writing was so boring and tedious. I found writing boring because my teachers would give me an assignment with a syllabus and have me complete it. In this course the material was presented to my peers and I followed by lots of directions. After the work was presented we would spend about a week discussing the essays during class, which would give me an opportunity to ask questions from my peers and professor. During class we would go through each expectation of the professor point by point and this helped us better understand the material. Having my professor give us assignments and help us with them have allowed me to engage more in my work. Before I was receiving assignments and would need help, which would discourage me and  force me to lose confidence in my writing ability. Next, learning new citation styles, how to write a research paper, and reading strategies has changed my perception. Not having these skills left me feeling not equipped as a writer, but now I feel more equipped to read, and write without doubting myself because I have practiced these skills over and over. I have learned a numerous amount of skills in this course that have built my confidence and changed my perception of writing. Before this course I wrote in my narrative that I had so many people look over my writing pieces because I knew I was lacking skills. In this FIQWS class my professor reviews my drafts and gives me constructive criticism and I go back and tweak those mistakes. I feel more prepared to complete writing assignments on my own so I no longer need multiple people to look over my work. Feeling more equipped to write has drawn me in more to writing. I journal a lot more often and read more because I have found writing more interesting. After every assignment completed this course I wrote a reflection. These reflections allowed me to reflect on the topic I wrote about. In my reflections I was able to point out possible better ways to write a rough draft such as gathering evidence or even annotating a text to build structure. I have learned how to formulate a claim and do my own research to find evidence that supports my idea. I set goals for myself throughout my writing and that is  to always accept as much feedback because it shows me a new perspective of what the reader noticed while reading my writing. I also set a goal where I write aimlessly on the topic to help me get a start. Then, I circle back and make adjustments to turn my thoughts into sentences. These goals have led me to not feeling stressed on where to start for my writing. Also, it has helped me critique my writing numerous times to help me become a better writer. 

Lastly, in my course I completed journal entries which were very therapeutic for me. My journal entries allowed me a safe space to vent and for my professor to see what I’m experiencing. Having these journal entries allowed me to go back and see how I was feeling during my writing assignments. My journal entries helped me process my emotions and inform my teacher on how I was doing with an assignment. These journal entries being a part of the course also helped me engage more because I felt as if my professor was super involved in wanting to understand me and my peers.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.