Reminiscing With Regard to Rhetorical Erudition

             My introductory English class this semester, Expository Writing, was one of the best experiences with writing in an academic setting I’ve ever had! It felt like my professor truly cared for the learning of the students and encouraged us to form our own views and express our own ideas. This cannot be said for my previous classes in writing, as I always felt as if I was writing simply to fulfill the duties of the assignment, and nothing more. Get the grade and move on. As a first experience with writing in a college environment, I can say with certainty that I am excited for the future of my English classes on campus! I think there are a myriad of reasons as to why this course was so enjoyable, but I will detail the three that I believe had the largest impact on my experience.

Why I did well.

            It is clear to me now that the reason for my wonderful performance in the class is because the assignments and attitude of the course made me want to do well. I have always loved writing, whether that be poetry, creative writing, song, or even sessions for Dungeons and Dragons, but that never mattered in classes in the past. Every teacher I’ve had up until this point was so infatuated with how to grade and criticize, that I never felt as if what I wrote was actually being understood, it felt to me like they just wanted to grade the paper and be done with it, and this attitude towards the assignments made it difficult to really pour effort into something I knew I could be lazy about and still come out with the same grade. Because of my past experiences, I went into that room on day one ready to bullshit my way through the course, only putting in the bare minimum so I could focus more on things I really cared about. But that notion changed when I realized she actually cared, and I feel so relieved knowing that writing academically can be so much more than simply passing.

What I learned about me.

It is because of the environment I thrived in this class. I forgot I had the skill to convey my ideas properly and tell a good story through text. I learned a lot about myself and my way of learning over the course of the semester, and I owe it to this class. One such example was my ability to enter a flow state when writing and overcome writer’s block way more easily than I once was able to. Now that I was writing about things I actually cared about, and I felt like my professor actually wanted to hear what I had to say, it was much easier to get my thoughts on the page.  Another habit I picked up was getting people around me to proofread and give feedback. I was excited about writing and when I’m excited about something, I share it with everyone I can! This not only was fun simply because I enjoy sharing things I enjoy, but also practical as it gave me a chance to view my writing through a new lens, something I only did when asked of me by my teacher. This really helped me refine my ideas further and morph my papers into things I was proud of.

The actual learning.

            Outside of the things I learned about myself and my rekindled joy of writing, I genuinely learned a lot about how to properly format, structure, write, and revise a project. I want to specifically expound upon the revision process, as it was probably the concept I had the worst notion of prior to this class, I had no idea the scope of revising! Before, my idea of revision was simply checking for spelling errors, grammar, better way to structure sentences, double checking for inconsistencies, etc. In classes before, once I had edited my paper, that was it. I didn’t spend any more effort on it because, well frankly, I didn’t care. The effort I put forward never felt valued, so why should I put effort in to begin with? Now that my work DID feel valued, it made me much more inclined to rethink large portions of what I had written, not just simple “error-fixing” but complete restructuring and metamorphosis of the core of the work. Not only moving things, but adding new ideas, rethinking old ones, or even completely ditching things I now realized didn’t fit quite as well as I had thought. Deleting things I had written? I wouldn’t have dared do that before now! “I spent the effort on writing that, so it stays.”, I would have said. I simply cannot understate the relief that I feel knowing not every academic writing environment has to be so transactional.

Why I care.

            Truly, this is the best first experience I could have hoped to have with college writing. I know not every class will be as inspiring as this one, but the fact that I know now that it can be this way gives me strength to put more effort into what I write. That looming dread of the impossibly large paper, the strict grading, the absolute meaningless assignments, and the professor that doesn’t care, were all lifted, as if the air was cleared after living in a gray haze of disappointment ad indifference for the better part of my academic writing career. I truly feel hope for the future, and I can’t help but be excited for what comes next. Thank you, Expository Writing.