Professor Padgette,
This year of English has been interesting and has made me reflect on the kind of writer that I was, and the writer that I am now. The required readings and the prompts that I was required to complete seemed to provoke a deeper thought process and have in turn made me more thoughtful. I hope to continue thinking in this thoughtful way as I complete my education here at the University of South Carolina. At the beginning of the semester, I was worried that my writing skills wouldn’t be advanced enough to be acceptable. Now, after completing the course, I feel much more confident in being able to succeed. However, my writing is far from perfect, and can be improved upon. As I write more and more, I realize that my writing style greatly reflects my inner thoughts and opinions. It seems as though the prompts provided were designed to provoke such writings. Either way, I have discovered that I enjoy writing about something that I feel strongly about. For example, I felt very strongly about This is Water. Being a freshman new to everything going on around me, I felt that the message of the speech was designed for me. So when assignment number one was assigned, I wouldn’t say that I was thrilled; but as I began writing, I was enjoying myself just putting down my thoughts about the piece and using textual evidence to support my claims. I also enjoyed blog post number two; I was able to choose an image that had strong connotations. I automatically thought of the picture of the firemen lifting the flag in wake of the September 11th attacks. I felt strongly about the picture, and again found myself enjoying the assignment. To enjoy writing was something that was foreign to me, and not something that I expected. Being a computer engineering major, I came into the class with a tiny amount of bitterness that I had to take an English class. I wanted to get straight into programming and algorithms. It’s safe to say that I still wish I had rather done those things, but I do have a greater appreciation for my own writing and understand the importance of taking such a course. To effectively portray my exact thoughts through writing is something that I will aspire for. Being able to effectively and accurately portray a certain subject is something that I value in writing. While doing this, a good writer will input his/her own thoughts on the subject at hand. This kind of writing is admirable, and I also find it very personal. I tried to take this personal approach as I wrote this semester. I find that an insight into someone’s train of thought is special, especially if it’s about something that I’m passionate about. I believe that this search for understanding is ultimately what communication is about; constantly trying to experience the thoughts and feelings of another human being. We may never truly understand what another person is thinking, but a good writer can begin to explain and justify their thoughts. Without proper writing, it would be hard to effectively get people to understand how you think about a topic. They may get the wrong idea, or take an entirely different approach to your writing that you did not intend. This is not something that I had previously appreciated about writing. I feel the need to be a better writer so that my writing will be fully comprehensible to anyone who reads it. This sort of writing is also important in the world of science and engineering. And I hope that as I continue to write, it will help me in courses outside of English. Ultimately, I’m glad that I took this class. I feel that it has helped me develop skills that will continue to aid me as I complete my education. Hopefully, I will continue to develop skills as I move onto English 102. I hope to be a very skilled writer by the time that I finish up that class. The progress that I was able to make in this class was definitely a step in the right direction. Thank you Professor Padgette for always providing feedback on all the work I’ve turned in. And thank you for always being engaged in class. Sincerely, Nathan Pecoraro |