Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Class

To me, writing is just ok, nothing special. It definitely isn’t something I get excited about. My first formal writing class was in 6th grade, where we followed The Institute for Excellence in Writing’s curriculum. My fellow classmates and I mainly wrote short, 1-3 paragraph reports on various historical topics. I did well in these classes, I just never really enjoyed the process of writing. Because of a five paragraph paper I had to write in this class, I learned that writing is never as bad as I think it will be.

At first, I thought IEW’s curriculum was hard and boring. Of course, as a ten year old I didn't see when I’d ever need to write a long essay about a certain topic when I could just talk about it. When I’d get sent home with a three paragraph paper on some historical topic due then next week, I didn’t ever look forward to it. Soon, key word outlines and writing papers became a routine. I walked into the small, windowless classroom with my long brown hair all tangled from running in the green field outside. I saw my mom, who was our teacher, writing on the whiteboard about that week’s assignment. Then, I spotted the three words I had hoped to never see; “Five Paragraph Papers”. “This is horrible! It’s going to be so hard! How could they make us do this?”, I thought. To me, it seemed as if the world was ending! I mean, a paper with five whole paragraphs? That was impossible! Finally, the rest of my classmates arrived, their eyes widening as they spied those nerve-wracking words on the board. The course started, and our teacher instructed us on how to write the essay. Then, she told us that we could pick any topic we wanted for the essay. This news definitely cheered us up some. During the car ride home, I …show more content…
It’s especially fun when I can pick a topic that’s interesting. Even when the topic isn’t my choice, I know now that writing isn't so bad. So, I “put on my big girl pants” and get to