Fanuke 1

When given the task of writing a reflective essay on my own writing I thought it would
be fairly easy, but now starting it, Im thinking otherwise. I have trouble with writing in the area
of length and content, I can never seem to fully develop and complete my thoughts. My strong
suits are spelling and grammar, the mechanics of writing, mainly because there are rules in place
and in all aspects of my life I excel when I know the rules. Through English classes, working at
the Early Childhood Education Center, and other courses in school, I will show how I have
developed, more fully, my writing skills.
We begin with English, which has proven to be quite a daunting class for me here at
Concordia. I have previously taken English 1100 twice here and have not been able to pass. The
first time that I took it I had put little to no effort into the papers and found myself with a very
low grade. The second time, though still partially my fault, was aided by a teacher who was
sexist and did not offer any opportunity for retribution. Having a professor who encourages you
and fully explains the assignment is key to passing any class, and I finally found the right
English teacher. I wrote three papers this semester for my English class and received higher
grades on the first two then ever before; the third hasnt been graded yet. However, I am sure that
the third paper will be no different than the others and I would hope that it will be no different
than the others. I have truly grown to enjoy this class, and even though I may be a pain in the
butt at times, I do love going to it.
My favorite English class ever though would have to be my Expository Writing class that
I took senior year of high school. That class challenged me just enough to where I was writing
two to three page papers each week but did not feel overwhelmed. I wrote letters to the editor,
and to congressmen. I wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, which are very different. I
also had to write fiction and a research paper at the end, but my teacher was voted top teacher in

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Michigan just two years prior to me taking the class and was a wonderful man as well. Another
great English class was my British Literature class my senior year; I took both classes at the
same time. That class was a blast, from reading Hamlet and Macbeth, to Grendel and Chaucer,
that class challenged my reading comprehension and truly showed me how to become a
competent, fast reader. The first English class that really inspired my love of English was my
eighth grade English class. My teacher, Mrs. Wesenberg, had an amazing way of teaching
pronoun/antecedent agreement and prepositional phrases. She explained them so clearly and
concisely that they almost never caused me any problems, then or now.
The Early Childhood Education Center, or ECEC for short, has taught me more than I
had ever expected to learn about writing. Not in any formal or fancy ways, but working in the
office has shown me that a mastery of letters in a non-flagrant manner is one of the most
important skills in any writers arsenal. I am constantly writing receipts, which are not wholly
letters, but when I need to write a name, or even read one for that manner, it is of the upmost
importance that I take my time and carefully check each and every letter. In my job, precision is
the name of the game, whether it is writing the name of a parent or child, copying a credit card
number, or calling out any of the 200 children that pass through the doors each day. I love my job
and that is one aspect that I happen to be very good at, I do not know all of the kids, nor do I
claim to, but I do know quite a few.
There are other subjects and courses that I have taken that I believe have helped me in my
writing. The first one that comes to mind is New Testament, I am taking it this semester with Dr.
Bayens, and it is a challenge. I have written four papers for it, each with a different spin on it,
and they all seem to challenge me very well. Just recently I completed a paper on the Gospel of
John incorporating the hymn The Royal Banners Forward Go. There is also my DCE courses,

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which have me journaling constantly but they are only graded for mechanics, i.e. spelling and
grammar.
Thanks to English classes, my job at the ECEC, and other courses in my life, my writing
skill have grown much over the years. I feel that I still have more to learn and implement, but
this is a great start and has set me on a wonderful path.