Writing Memoir

Writing Memoir
Early Writings
It was Career Day at my elementary school. I was in the 4th grade. I told my father I needed to dress up. He asked me what I wanted to be. The first thing I thought about was a writer, Dr. Seuss in particular. I owned the entire collection of books, something I was very proud of. “Green Eggs and Ham” was my favorite and I could recite the entire book from beginning to end from memory. I was born to be the next Dr. Seuss. My dad gave me a white button down shirt, I grabbed some books, and went to class to explain to everyone why I was destined to be the next great Dr. Seuss.

I have always had a love for reading and that love transferred to writing. In elementary I remember solely writing for class. I would read almost daily for leisure, but had not developed a love for class writings. Class writings were usually descriptive or persuasive writing, and frankly, I was not interested. It was not until my stepmother bought me a diary in the 5th grade that I began writing on a daily basis. My stepmother and I would sit in our living room and read for hours then would spend time writing (she owned a personal journal). I simply wanted to write about whatever came to mind, and I was able to do this in my diary.

I cannot recall having a difficult time beginning a writing assignment. I was a very imaginative child, so any time I was given a prompt I was able to jot down a few notes and start writing. I remember having to describe my ideal island. I cannot remember all the details of my essay but I remember it being extremely creative and detailed.

Research in middle school required time at the library, and since I had a love of books, I did not mind having to read books about facts and figures. My father helped me a lot with research. He would make whatever I needed to research sound exciting. This in turn made me excited about learning.

I do not remember a favorite writing assignment, but by the 8th grade I began writing poetry. I mimicked poems we would read in class. I kept a personal notebook with all of my poems (I still have this notebook today). I would share these poems with a few friends and received a lot of praise. My father was extremely proud of my new found hobby and would eagerly listen to my poetry. I enjoyed writing both personally and for class. Likewise my grades reflected my hard work. My grades were always above average in language arts and my teachers believed I really had a talent for expression.

Middle Years
My love for books and other writings grew throughout high school and it is here that I really fell in love with writing. I was constantly told by teachers that my writing was outstanding. They challenged me to write more and I always lived up to the challenge. Due to the nature of my high school, I rarely had time to write for personal reasons. My writing centered around school assignments, some more enjoyable than others. In high school, our writing abilities were shifted toward evidence-based writing. We were expected to support our thoughts with evidence from texts rather than from opinion and feelings. We also began reading more novels and I was exposed to many different types of literature.

Similar to my early years, I had no trouble beginning a writing assignment. I would normally ask a lot of questions about an assignment prior to beginning, but once I sat down at the computer, I instantly had a thesis statement and evidence. Where I would have trouble, however, is finishing my essay. While I understand that the final paragraph should be a recap of the information presented throughout the paper, my wording never seemed right. I remember my father explaining that he had this same issue in high school. He suggested I read the introductory paragraph again and use it as an aid for the concluding paragraph. This suggestion worked!

High school provided many opportunities for research. I remember the first “real” research paper assigned; “real” because it required a more in depth analysis of a topic and not simply a summary. We were able to pick any topic we wanted, but it had to be at least ten pages long. I cannot recall my topic, but unlike my fellow classmates, I did not loathe the assignment. I set my mind on the task and completed it at warp speed. I actually enjoyed researching.
In high school, my favorite writing assignments concerned analyzing novels. I particular liked American literature. My favorite writing was on William Faulkner’s Light in August. I used this piece as a college writing sample. My teacher was highly impressed with my work. She suggested that I major in English in college (she was pleased when I followed her advice). I thoroughly enjoyed looking at symbolism and motifs, comparing it to life during that period, and comparing the author’s life to characters in the work. Reminiscent of my 8th grade year, during my senior year of high school, I found myself writing more poetry. During this year, I read a lot of poetry, particular by African American poets, and really enjoyed the art form.
As during my elementary and middle school years, I have never had an issue with grading. Normally my work was above average, and I received a grade that I deserved. I would put thought into assignments, a work ethic that remained with me my entire life.

College Years
During my sophomore year at Florida State University, I majored in English. My original plan was to do the creative writing track. I had a professor that took a liking to my poetry. However I did not want to deal with some of the political aspects about the program (writing samples that reflected the African American culture were frowned upon). Nevertheless, during college, I mostly wrote for class. I became a English major, Political Philosophy minor, thus, writing essays were a constant. There were few opportunities for personal writing, although I did find time write a few poems here and there.

Once I determined I would follow the literature track, my writing assignments transformed from personal stories and poems to evidence-based analyses of works of literature. Similar to high school, I was able to tackle these assignments with relative ease. However, I did encounter works that I was not fond of, in particular, romantic literature. Writing about romantic literature was very difficult for me because I was simply uninterested. I found myself despising some of the required texts and having a lot of difficulty analyzing those works. I had to finally learn to have an unbiased eye (at least from a personal standpoint) and try to find something interesting to write about. This idea helped me in literary theory, romantic literature and old English literature.

Due to the nature of my major and minor, most of my research was geared toward supporting personal ideas about a particular work. In college, my research papers needed to be very in depth and highly supported. I had a few bumps along the way (I believe my biggest issue was having enough to say about a given topic). I learned how to explain a point quickly without being loquacious. I honed in on my organization skills and began paying more attention to detail. I definitely matured as a writer during my junior and senior years. I became a lot more comfortable with research papers, especially with topics that I knew or cared little about.

My favorite writing assignment was on Gloria Naylor’s Bailey’s Café for my African American Traditions class. I compared the sections in the novel to an orchestra, to summarize very quickly. The paper was over ten pages and took two weeks to write. Prior to submitting, I took the paper to the Writing Center to be peer reviewed and then typed the final draft. I felt very good about this paper. I can attribute the success of this paper to my sincere love for and interest in the novel.

I definitely encountered some hard graders during my undergraduate experience. Once I learned what was expected, I was typically able to meet those expectations and beyond. I rarely received Bs in my major coursework. If I had a question, I was not scared to make an appointment with a professor and ask for help with assignments. I feel that this type of perseverance has shown itself in my work.
Beyond College
Writing in graduate school has been drastically different from what I was accustomed to during my undergraduate experience. I had to balance between writing about issues in education (usually based on facts and figures about academic achievement) and writing about literature (analyzing the Harlem Renaissance and its effect on the African American community) I was able to quickly adapt. I believe my major coursework helped me with this adjustment. However unlike college, graduate school left little time for personal reading, and even less for personal writing.

The easiest part about beginning a writing assignment was that I was familiar with the content. I had taken a broad base of literature courses during undergraduate, so I was very versed in many genres of literature. However, writing about education proved difficult due to the abundance of data and my comfort in bringing personal beliefs to assignments. Luckily I quickly learned how to write for different assignments. I became good at separating myself from the work when needed.

Graduate school has offered a span of research assignments. I took an Educational Research class my first semester of graduate school where I learned about different types of research. Most of my research has had to deal with looking at research done by others and coming to new conclusions, or supporting my own ideas. I feel that graduate school has made me a much better researcher because I have had a lot of experience with it.

My favorite writing assignment was an assignment for my Secondary Education Curriculum course. We had to create a curriculum for an imaginary school. My project, which was a curriculum for a Special Education focused school, was very detailed. I had ample research to support my coursework and methodology for my curriculum. My peers were very impressed with my work and I was extremely proud of the outcome. Similar to my favorite writing during my undergraduate, I put a lot of time and effort into this assignment. I plan to use this assignment as a sample of my work.

My view of grading has not changed dramatically throughout my educational career. I work hard to receive good grades, I take criticism and corrections well, and I revise to make sure that I put the best product forward. This work ethic has been reflected in my outstanding graduate work. I feel that the amount of research I have encountered during graduate school has adequately prepared me for working towards a doctoral degree. I understand the amount of time and research it takes to earn a Ph.D., yet I feel confident that my experiences as a writer will enable me to earn the degree.