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assignment was to write about my personal experience with becoming literate in a particular
subject. The topic I chose was cheerleading; being that my cheerleading career started when I
was in the fourth grade, I knew this assignment was going to take deep thought and effort. At
this point, I started putting more energy into my writing and into the course itself. The next
assignment was the Altered Book Literacy Narrative. This required me to transform my Literacy
Narrative paper into a book filled with illustrations and visuals. As I dove into this task I became
overwhelmed and anxious. I knew the only way to overcome this anxiety was to replace it with
courage.
Courage is essential in expressive writing to conquer the fear of failure. I recognized that
I was struggling with this assignment and I felt as if failure was inevitable. Thoughts of defeat
due to my assumption that my writing ability was inferior to my classmates led me to seek help
through peer review. To participate in peer review each student had to complete two out of nine
pages of the altered book. I was not confident with the pages that I produced, but my peers put
in genuine effort to help me improve the content of the pages in a way that would guide the
illiterate reader to a better understanding of my topic. I had to gain courage so that I could
diminish my fear of failure and create my altered book without the restraints of anxiety and fear I
had within me. I was not only concerned with failure, but that because I did not have Mrs. Hartle
by my side, I was going to regress back into the battle I had with writing during my high school
career. I knew the only way to overcome this fear would be by reflecting on John F. Kennedys
motivational quote that Mrs. Hartle had introduced me to and find a way to implement it into my
current situation. I had put forth effort and courage in this situation, but those things, when
standing alone, are not enough.
At this point in the semester, I had to step back and look at the bigger picture. I needed to
discover what the purpose was for putting effort into developing my personal writing style and
determine why I had courage to keep pushing through. I realized on the Found Genre
assignment that there was a purpose to personalizing my writing. To complete this task I had to
find a genre that I was going to use in some aspect of my life and then create examples of that
genre. I chose the Facebook group, Outback Family, which was created by my coworkers to
announce that shifts needed to be picked up or released. The goal of this assignment, for me
personally, was to help me formulate a better proposition to get my coworkers to pick up my
shifts when needed. I noticed that the effort I was putting into this assignment had a purpose
because it would help me not only on my creative writing skills but, also, my personal life. This
assignment was the first step towards the realization that the effort and courage I was putting into
this class was not enough; I needed, not only purpose behind my writing, but somewhere to go
with it, as well.
Due to my recognition that purpose is critical in finding my personal writing style, I had
to take a step back and look at where I was focusing my effort and courage. The last topic in this
class, that all the other topics and assignments led up to was the Ethnography. The Ethnography
assignment was meant to inform the readers about the subculture of the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Program. This was the largest project out of all the assignments I had
completed in this class because I not only had to use personal experience to educate the reader,
but primary sources and quotes from people currently in the subculture, as well. This assignment
showed me that with the effort and courage I now had consistently flowing within my writing, I
needed direction to keep my writing focused. I realized I needed direction alongside purpose in
order to plant my personal writing style into other aspects of my life. The Ethnography
assignment gave me the tools I needed to guide myself towards the peek in my writing career
where I am overflowing with courage, effort, purpose, and direction.
One can put forth effort and have courage in any situation, but if they do not have a
purpose or direction they will not be able to advance their writing skills. I began this semester
and this course thinking I could get by while putting little effort in and still get good grades. I
soon understood I not only had to put effort into my writing and have courage to find my
personal writing style, but I also had to find a purpose to my writing and direct that purpose to
lead to something bigger and better. I believe that this college writing course helped me gain an
understanding of my personal writing style and how to incorporate it in all of my assignments.
This new knowledge of writing I received this semester is going to help me, not only in future
writing courses, but also in other classes I take in college and in my personal life. This writing
course has led me to see exactly how I want to proceed to write future papers and has guided me
to express myself in every aspect of my life - from my college career and courses to my future
job.