Earlier this week, I looked back on my essays that I wrote; I was not too surprised. I know what kind of essay a 2.5 is. I remember I told that score to a past student of Miss Valentino, and he asked if I wrote in Chinese. First, I am Korean. And I did not. Those essays that I wrote were just plain bad and did not make sense. I looked at a sentence I wrote on one of first few essays and realized that those words did not formulate an understandable sentence. Even now, I am not sure if I make any sense.
As I skimmed my illegible handwriting, in between those moments of embarrassment, disgust, and shame, I saw improvement. That 2.5 rose to a 3, then to a 5; it stopped at 6 and hopefully goes up from there. My view towards english has completely changed. Last year, I hated the words "so what" or "why" and refused to reevaluate my paper. Now, I still hate those red marks on my essays, but at least I think about why they are there. Slowly but surely, I am improving.
Now that second semester started, I expect nothing more than incremental success. No one just jumps from a 2.5 to a 9 in a week, especially not me, but I have plenty of chances to get up there, like a chance every single week. I am not excited for the coming in-class essays or grades, but I look forward to the next writing reflection
Great reflection Edward! I had a similar experience with my own writing. I wasn't even able to understand some of my old writing. But throughout first semester I could see a noticeable change in my writing. We're all on the quest to get a 9, and as you said those red marks on the paper to actually help.
ReplyDeleteI know what you feel like. Looking back at my essays has shown to me how much I have improved throughout the year. I also know that there is much more room for improvement.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great success story of man going from rags to riches. I have no doubt that by the end of this class, you will be a literate, groundbreaking writer.
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