Vanessa: This semester in my essay writing class, I had to write a literacy autobiography--two of them. So, my first one, I did well. It was really good. And the second one, same thing. And those aren't really what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is another story of my journey through literacy, and that is, we had a writing assignment we had to do, on the similarities or differences between Thonny and Williams and McEnerney. And so, throughout the class we were learning new things, and at first it was so hard, I couldn't understand anything I was reading. It took me a long time to get through the passages, the essays, and I was just like, "What are they talking about? I don't understand!" I just wanted the class to be over with.

So I guess without paying attention, I didn't really realize how I was learning things, and how I really come to enjoy writing and putting my thoughts down and... creating an essay. So I learned to read an example of my growth. So we had to write about the similarities or differences with these two essays, and on my first--on my introduction alone, it's like, from the first one to the second, it's completely different. So, here's what I wrote on my first essay, on February 10; I wrote:

"Writing is an artistic expression. It's an outlet, a way an individual can express themselves. It is a form of therapy. In writing, a person can put their feelings into words. Beautiful words. Songs/music are made up of words. Instead of saying words or even speaking them to express a feeling to someone else, a person can just play a song. When a person is sad or angry, they write the words down in a journal. Some of the most famous poems are from writers such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, and Edgar Allen Poe, who rest their despair, their happiness, and their hopes into words and share with others. Writing is ageless and a big part of life. Without words, without writing, we would be lost. With that said, who knew it would be so difficult to write? Who knew that writing would have to be taught? Writing is an art. There should be no right or wrong way to write. But in the world of academics, there is. It is the world we live in now, so it has to be taught. There are many conventions in writing, and even more conventions in teaching writing from high school to college. In the two essays, 'Teaching the Conventions of Academic Discourse' by Teresa Thonny, and 'Writing in College' by Williams and McEnerney, the authors discuss the different methods of teaching and learning to write in college. Both essays are about writing in college, and are both how-to. One essay is directed towards the audience of teachers, and one is directed towards students. They have a lot of similarities, as both use vocabulary to the instructor in the delivery of information."

So that was the end of the introduction. And in rereading this, I was shocked--I couldn't believe I wrote that. Because the whole introduction didn't really make any sense. The assignment was to write about the similarities and the differences between the two essays. And so--there's no thesis in there, really, like you can't pinpoint which one it is. So, now I'm going to read to you the revision essay. So, I put:

"If you haven't already read..."

Oh, and the title of my--the second one is "Thonny, WIlliams, and McEnerney--semicolon--Similar Differences." Or colon, yeah. Cause I wouldn't want to--we had to either discuss the similarities or differences, and I chose to discuss the similarities. But there... the differences in the two essays are what makes them similar. So, I begin with:

"If you haven't already read, writing is complicated and so complex, and apparently there are different ways to learn and teach writing. As we grow, so does our writing. From grade school to college, writing differs and changes. Therefore, we have to be prepared for new styles of writing, and gradually transition into the change. In the essay by Teresa Thonny and the essay by Williams and McEnereney, the authors discuss the process of how to become a better writer in college. These essays are informative and have many differences, but what makes them interesting is those differences are what makes them similar."

And that was it. Simple and to the point, and really, that's what my whole essay's going to be about, where I discuss the differences first, in the first paragraph, and then talk about the ... main similarities. Such as, like, vocabulary and tone. How those are the main differences, but that's what makes them similar. So, this paper, my revised one, is a lot more informative and it... all my thoughts are gathered, and it's just well written, I feel. It's completely different from my first, and is only about 4 1/2 pages, and the other one, the original one, is 8 pages, and it's scattered, and it's just everywhere, and it's embarrassing--it's actually embarrassing to share. But I am, because I was all over the place at first, and I didn't understand it, I didn't like it, I just copied and pasted and didn't know what I was talking about, didn't know what I was reading.

And so, I didn't know what was going on. But as time progressed and I was writing more in the class, I--and then having to do a revision of this essay, I was forced to go back to read those other--those two essays again. And reading those essays, both of them I could understand completely. Before when I was reading it, the first one by Teresa Thonny, like I could not understand it at all. I was, "This is definitely not for me--I have no idea what she's talking about." But the second time around, I read it and it was so easy. I understood her, I knew what she was talking about, I was actually able to retain some information, and I knew what to discuss. Versus on the other one, I did not.

And the second one, I already understood it, but it was even more easy to follow, and things like that. So without even knowing, I was able to think differently and just understand more. And that's all because of being able to write and gather my thoughts and just have a plan. And that's what this class has taught me. And Ong says that writing restructures thought, and that is completely true. I find that that is a fact, because in looking over my work, you could definitely tell how my mind has changed, how my way of thinking has changed, how it's more structured and it's not scattered. And it's just an amazing story.

So, that's all I have to say about that.