NarrativeEssay: Writing Composition Experience
Ihad a negative attitude towards writing composition before takingthis course. I did not understand much about the necessary writingskills and I focused less on learning the skills. However, the coursehas changed my perception about writing a composition. In my view,the course exceeded my expectations. Initially, I thought that itwould be an ordinary course where students study, do the exams andmove on to the next academic level. However, the course enhanced myability to analyze a given topic, create an outline, and write acomposition with a superb flow of ideas.
Ifeel that the laid back, adaptive learning, and the conversationalnature of the course helped me overcome preconceived notion aboutwriting compositions. For example, the adaptive learning provided viaintelliPath allowed me to determine my knowledge status and develop alearning path. This was an unexpected outcome since I did not knowthat it could be possible to use my knowledge status to customize mylearning experience.
Inaddition, the course gave me the opportunity to discover myweaknesses and strengths in writing. One of the key strengths is thetendency to rely on the spoken vocabulary. I attribute this to mystrong belief in the fact that the standard for any type of languageis based on how it is spoken. This helps me avoid writing words thatI would rarely say aloud. Some of my greatest weaknesses include thedifficulty of introducing and ending a piece of work. However, I nowunderstand that the introduction catches the attention of theaudience while the conclusion summarizes the main ideas. In addition,at times I become quite wordy. This results from a perception thatthe idea that I wish to communicate through writing has not come outclearly.
Thecourse addressed my writing skills by providing me with writingexercises at least once a week. However, I feel that the course canbe adjusted to allow each student to have a writing partner, where apair of students will check the progress of each other throughout thesemester. The feedback provided by the writing partners helps thelearner correct mistakes that were overlooked. Although adaptivelearning that is offered through the intelliPath helps learnerscreate a personalized learning environment, I feel that the courseshould also facilitate a more social learning environment.
Someof the surprises that I got from the course include
Classmates had very different strengths and interests
A lot of emphasis was put on the writing skills
The number of assignments was relatively higher than I expected
There was a lot of emphasis on the role of social sites, such as Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google and Twitter
Althoughwe are at the same academic level with my classmates, I understandthat each student has a different capacity to acquire the skillstaught in class. I have been relying on this understanding to checkwith my classmates on the things that I do not understand. Forexample, my classmates have helped me improve my grammar and reducethe overuse of transitions. In addition, peer review has enhanced myoverall writing skills (including the grammar, sentence structure,and the flow of ideas) by heeding to the corrections made byclassmates on my write-up. This was accomplished by subjectingcomplete pieces of writing to a review by a willing classmate.
Inconclusion, the course provided me with an opportunity to track myknowledge status on composition writing skills and develop aneffective learning path. In overall, the course changed my perceptionabout writing and imparted me with important writing skills.