As a freshman in college, many of the subjects I’ve taken up in the first semester are not new to me. I took Algebra, Biology, and even Filipino, but my English class is of an entirely different context. College English for me is unfamiliar. For example, I was never required to write essays on a weekly basis and be graded for it. I always took the kind of English class that we always just used to talk about novels. Nevertheless, throughout the first semester, I’ve learned a lot from my English class specifically, the noteworthiness of a scratch paper in essay writing, organizing my thoughts, and writing from the heart, rather than writing to pass.
In English 1 I learned getting to the point of my essays the hard way, I was forced to learn the significant use of a scratch paper. For example, I was not always used to writing my essays in a scratch paper, I always just thought about what I would say in my head hence, I tend to beat around the bush often.
In my English class, our professor required us to submit our scratch papers along with our essays, with this I was forced to include my thoughts in my scratch paper and rewrite. It was a hard habit to learn, but as I’m writing one of my final essays now, all the writing and rewriting made it worth it.
I also learned an important skill in English 1 that I can use not only in essay writing, but also in my daily activities. I have acquired the skill of organizing my thoughts. For instance, writing an essay outline. I have always thought that writing an essay was about whatever-comes-to-mind type of process, but in my English class I learned that before I can write an interesting essay, I have to make an outline first. True enough, my first attempt to make an outline was a disaster. It was harder than it seemed to be, but with limitless patience and a ton of practice I am now able to organize my thoughts first, put them into writing, and write a decent readable essay.
In my opinion, the most important thing I learned in English 1 is to write from the heart, rather than writing to pass. For example, when I was in high school I wrote essays with topics that I know would impress my teachers because the topic interests them. In English 1 I am very fortunate to have had a professor that had given us the privilege to choose topics that genuinely interest us. With this, I was able to learn what Writing an Essay for Dummies couldn’t teach, I learned to have a love of expressing myself through writing.
Overall, I’ve never expected to learn a lot of new things in College English, but it turns out I have learned what most grammar books can’t offer. I a m actually starting to believe what my mom always says that, College is the phase in my life where I have to expect the unexpected, weather it may be in the context of academics or experiences.
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