Beginning the Writing Journey

Hi, my name is Ray and I'm from Toronto and Dubai. I crave thrills and adrenaline, and also love singing, playing guitar, and writing my own music. I'm a very social and outgoing person. For the last three years, I went to a New England prep school with a rigorous English program that developed and polished my reading and writing skills. As a senior, I enrolled in three elective English courses. For the fall quarter, I took Literature of Scientific Discovery that entailed the literary analysis of texts such as The Time Machine, Parable of the Sower, and The Bicentennial Man, through the lenses of gender and humanity. For winter, I took a college level creative writing course, in which I developed a portfolio with various pieces based on different prompts, including a final twenty page short story. During spring, which was online because of COVID, I took a graphic novel course with our brilliant department head. The course emphasized the value of illustrations and the adequate usage of text in order to craft a complex and compelling storyline. My senior year English courses taught me the importance of time management given the rigor of classes and the college process, as well as the benefits of feedback, so that I could build a stronger argument or incorporate a more persuasive piece of evidence. As a writer and communicator, I feel confident in my abilities but because I haven’t actively practiced my skills since the end of senior year, I’m somewhat rusty. My writing efficiency has diminished since my prime days of senior English. Before, I could complete a quality three hundred word assignment in under ninety minutes, but currently it takes me over three hours. I’m not too worried though, because I know that with more practice and experience, my efficiency will improve. In terms of my strengths, I am confident in my memoir and narrative writing skills, as well as my ability to craft compelling analytical essays with the practice and experience I had in high school. On Connect’s Language and Grammar Diagnostic, I performed surprisingly well, with only one careless error. While I felt fatigued by the end of the fifty questions, grammar rules remained cemented in my knowledge, especially with all of my recent SAT practice.

The course syllabus addresses the class’ question of interest, Dr. Haas’ contact information, and the required texts and platforms. It also includes her academic policies and guidelines for success. For course objectives, Dr. Haas’ lists a variety of goals that she's set for the students of Writing 39A, to be achieved by the end of the course. The objectives include, enhanced collaboration and teamwork skills, the development of productive writing habits, and progression in the “Habits of Mind”. The Grading Contact explains how students will receive an 84 (B) for meeting the course expectations, which include participation, turning assignments in on time and collaboration. The process of scoring above and below an 84 is also described through the point system, where an 11 goes above the B and a 9 goes below.