Alyssa Yoo/ Exercise 2(p.11)/Narrative Composition (2)/Tues. 9-11a.m.

Write about a bad experience you have had with writing. How did this experience affect your attitude toward writing?

  It was truly shocking. I couldn't believe it. It was the first time I got something lower than a B+ on a writing assignment. My score was so low, I did not even feel like talking to the professor. The reason I was so mad was because I had spent days on that essay. What did I get for working so hard? A horrible grade. However, when I decided to actually talk to the professor, things changed a little. I understood why she gave me that grade, and she gave me some advice on future assignments. This single failure motivated me to work harder. As a result, I did quite well on my other assignments. In the end, I got the grade I wanted. Although I felt gloomy at first, through this experience, I learned to be more open to failures. What I mean by this is that now I try to accept my failures and be more casual about it. It was a bad experience indeed, but I learned a lot from the experience.

When you are writing a paper for a class, do you try to please yourself or the teacher? Explain.

  I learned that pleasing myself wouldn't necessarily please the teacher. Before trying to please the teacher, I try to please my friends or classmates. Other people tend to be more objective about my writing. Although at first, I do try to please myself, if the teacher does not like my first draft, I try to do everything that the teacher wants from me. To be honest, in the past, I turned in the same assignment for two of my classes. One of the professors really liked it and gave me a good grade for it, but another professor did not like my work because he could not connect to the contents of it. It was weird because it was the same piece of work. I realized that all people see things differently. Although I had written my emotions out in a poem, the professor could not feel anything from the poem. I could have written something more traditional and suitable to the professor's taste, but I did not. I regretted not having done so after receiving my grade. In college, since getting a good grade is more important than just pleasing myself, I learned to play on the safe side by trying to write what each professor wants.

Have you ever done any writing for yourself only- letters to friends or relatives, journals, diaries, poems? If so, explain how this writing was different from the writing you did for school assignments.

  The only kind of writing I absolutely hate is essay writing. I do know what an essay looks like, how to write it, and what should be in an essay, but the thought of writing it just makes me go mad. Since I despise writing essays, when I sit in front of the computer screen, my mind goes blank. On the other hand, I can't stop writing when I'm just writing for fun. I sometimes post short stories on my blog for people read and comment on. An idea pops up in my head anywhere at anytime, and I can't stop myself from either jotting down notes or writing a story. Writing really is a great way to express myself. I'm not much of a talker. Instead, I prefer writing my thoughts out on a piece of paper. I enthusiastically write except when it becomes homework. I've rarely enjoyed writing for school assignments about a not-so-interesting topic. Although I major in English literature, when professors ask me to write about Shakespeare, I think, "Are you kidding me?" The only people who should write about Shakespeare are scholars, not students. Other than that, I do love writing.

 

Written by Alyssa Yoo (Yoo Alyssa Suhhyun)