Interactive Writing Assignment (Draft #2)
Please reflect on this draft and the one below it.
What are the major differences between the two essays?
How could we improve the structure of the essay?
What type of grade would you give it?
If you were to tutor this student, what would you suggest that he or she do?
Why might it be better to wait until the later stages of the writing process to edit text?
Writing and Me
The journey of my attending college has not been as smooth as I had earlier imagined. Fortunately, I have been given the chance to study in a national university, which has become another milestone to my life. Now I am a junior in the English department, and I regard English writing as my most challenging subject. Hence, I am going to tell a little bit more about myself, my writing experience first, and then I want to talk about what I want to learn in this class.
Here comes my short introduction: My English name is Melissa and Fenggang is my hometown. Specifically, playing the piano is my favorite thing to do in my leisure time. I am also fond of listening to music, especially classical music. Frankly speaking, I am not very interested in academic writing. However, every time I spend time on it and try my best to perfect my writing, I can feel a strong sense of achievement.
When it comes to English writing, more often than not, I can not write a composition as fluently as I wish I could. Instead of finding materials quickly, I may come up with nothing to write about or need to organize my ideas for quite a long time. In other words, it really takes me a long time to write. Thus, as long as I get a source of inspiration, I can write with much joy and fun.
However, regarding answering one of my friend’s confusion about how to write well, I did not take this kind of question seriously until one asked me. Therefore, I mulled it over and over, then I suggested that she broaden her horizon by reading as many English articles as she can and becoming aware of how writers create compositions beautiful.
As for what I want to learn in this writing class, no one can deny that English writing is one of the most important skills that students in Taiwan can acquire. Therefore, I really hope that I can improve my writing skill so that I will not feel anxious and freeze whenever I take a test. Particularly, training to write under pressure is pretty significant practice for me. In other words, in addition to assigning writing works for students to do after class, writing right in class is crucial, too.
Although it may be considered somewhat cruel or stressful for students, it is a way to force students to get ready at anytime, and through this method, students can improve their ability by memorizing transition signals or crafting useful sentences.
All in all, English writing skills should function as a weapon that helps us win
every fight we counter. I expect that in this writing class, we can begin learning how to compose academic writing in a mature way. As for the preparation of TOFEL exam, we students should seize the chance to strengthen our writing skill. Hopefully, we can all enhance our English writing proficiency as well as increasing our confidence in ourselves.