October 19, 2014
Dear Mom,
As I sit here in class and write this letter to you, I find myself thinking about my first day in this classroom: MyEnglish I composition classroom that is . I think about the work we've done so far. I think about my strengths and my weaknesses in the class. When I first came here I was very uneasy. As you know it's been so long since I've been a student. Coming back to school was so scary for me, but we all know it's what I needed to do. The semester started off pretty easy and within the first week we started our own website. This website would turn into our electronic portfolio for the class. Honestly, at first I wasn't sure what the purpose was. I did all of my assigned blog posts, but I really wasn't sure what the reason was for doing them. Now, I don't feel like I put as much thought into them as I should have. Now, I'm realizing that most of these posts will fall into the bigger projects that we will be working on. I didn't realize that these would be such "building blocks" for our essays. I have gone back and revised several of them now though.
Along with the blog posts we've also been assigned to read some short writings. Two of the stories that really stood out for me were "Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life" by Anne Lamott and "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury. You should really check them out. They were very insightful. They both really helped me when it was time to do my assignments and essays. With everything that’s there to distract me at home these reminded me that all of that extra stuff will still be there, but I need to focus on my work and take it slowly. It's easier to start something sooner rather than later and come to a point and take a break rather than try to squeeze it all in at one time and have bad work. It's all a process. Really, the eye opener for me was when it was time to do our creative nonfiction essay that had to be 3-4 pages. The essay also had to include several showing and telling scenes, which I seemed to have trouble with. I’m very good at telling, but showing scenes through writing was a little tough for me. At first, I couldn't focus. There was so much going on around me. I tried to work out back on the porch or in the basement where it was quiet, but I just kept thinking about the laundry that wouldn't wash itself, the dinner that wouldn't cook itself, the bills that would pay themselves, and the kids that needed my attention. It definitely didn't help when Mariyah ended up sick around the time the paper was due and I had to miss class. I felt like I missed very important information that would have helped me shape my essay. Luckily, I have these blog posts and some very awesome classmates that helped me figure out what I missed. Anyway, back to the essay… I sat and I thought and thought and thought and ended up with a few lousy paragraphs as a first draft. Then I realized "SHIT! This paper is due in 2 days!" So, I thought of you! You always say the mess will be there later and if not .... Lucky me right? I had to walk away from the mess and really focus. So, I took the measly two paragraphs I had written and drove Mariyah to dance class. It was her Tuesday night class that's an hour and a half. I used my phone and went into the back room just started typing. I went to "that place". Before I knew it, it was 8:00 and class was over and my 4 page draft was COMPLETE! My 2nd draft was written! It wasn't the most perfect paper I had ever done, but it didn't have to be yet. I knew there was time for editing. My professor- Mr. Mangini- has been telling is that since the start of this class. I don't know why I let my anxiety get the best of me. I just needed to focus on my six steps for writing and revising my paper. I took my 4 pages to class the next day and we had an awesome writing workshop. My classmates were very obliging and gave great advice on how to revise my paper. Now I have written a third draft and am pretty happy with how my essay has turned out. I guess I will find out at my midterm conference if my professor feels the same.
All in all I hope you have a better understanding of what my class is about and grasp the concept of some of the assignments I've done. I just want you to understand what this is all like for me.
Sincerely,
Amanda <3