Post #1

My relationship with writing hasn't always been too great. All through high school I hated having to write papers and everything to have to do with writing them. I have also never liked to read. I think the biggest reason for this was my junior high years. We were all forced to read books that were in no way interesting to me. Ever since then I don’t think I have read a book all of the way through unless I had to for a class. Last semester I took Comp. 1 and decided that I didn't mind writing too much any more. I think I actually turned out to be a pretty good writer; I don't think I got below a 90% on any of my papers. I struggled a bit on a research paper, because of the MLA formatting and the parenthetical notation. I'm not sure what Comp. 2 will bring to the table, but I'm sure it will be tough.

I seem to have a bad balance of weaknesses to strengths. A few of my strengths would be grammar, spelling, and organization. I have always been a good speller, and I have never had a problem with grammar. If I ever learned anything from my high school teachers it was how to organize a paper. The things I have had problems with would be punctuation (semi-colons vs. commas), and MLA format. I have a tough time with parenthetical notation as well. I think my biggest problem with English is simply applying myself. I have found that I do a lot better if I make myself interested in the class.

My English teachers haven't always been the greatest at working with students. I just never really connected with any of them; I think I was just trying to get through classes with as little work as possible. Most of my grades for English were C’s or lower, mostly because I just didn’t care about my grades too much in high school (big mistake). A couple of my English teachers were pretty good, but I would have to say my best English teacher thus far would be my English 105 professor from last semester. She was the most helpful English teacher I have ever had. I think my high school English teachers actually drove me away from reading and writing more than anything.

In this class I am just hoping to continue to learn more technical things about writing and maybe a few new things about English in general. Also maybe work in a little fun here and there. The book for this class seems to be right up my alley as well, I like to argue.