Dear Portfolio Committee,
At the start of this semester, I was very nervous to be taking an English class. In the past, writing has always been very intimidating to me. If I have a topic that I enjoy, I can usually write pretty well, but that isn’t always the case, especially in school. Then there’s another challenge, getting started. I’ve always had a hard time starting essays, or really any type of writing. Even this cover letter was difficult for me to get started, because I wasn’t sure where I wanted to begin, or how I wanted to introduce myself.
This semester hasn’t been the easiest for me. I graduated from high school five years ago, and college wasn’t something I saw myself doing. I work full time as a medical assistant, and I absolutely love the medical field. However, I don’t want to stay where I am forever, so I see no other option but to advance. To advance requires one thing, more education. So, here I am. I’m back in school, and trying to get back into the swing of things hasn’t been easy, especially with balancing homework and a full-time job. However, if I want to be a nurse (I do) then I guess I’ll just have to work hard!
As far as my writing goes, I’m very thankful that for this particular class, we got to pick a topic for all of our assignments. I picked Health and Medicine. What better topic to write about, than something I am already familiar with, and also hope to go further in? I saw this as a great opportunity, knowing my own personal history with having difficulties in writing.
Our first assignment was to write a memoir. We were to choose a specific scene and describe it, in detail. I though long and hard, and decided to pick my first day at my first job as a medical assistant. It was my first “big girl job” and made a big impact on whether or not I liked my career. My first job was at an OBGYN’s office, and it was a wonderful job. Although it was hard to remember specific details, I knew that that was exactly what I wanted to write about. Writing about myself though, was harder than I thought it would be.
Our second assignment was the most difficult for me, the ethnography piece. This piece made me feel the most “out of my element.” I chose to observe my coworkers, and how they interact with one another on a day to day basis. I chose them because even though I see all these people every day, I thought that if I observed them in a different way, I might learn something new about them. I was right in that aspect. This assignment was particularly difficult because it is a writing style I was totally unfamiliar with. However, these are the types of things that help you learn and grow. Although this piece was the most frustrating for me, and took multiple drafts to successfully complete, it was probably the most rewarding. I say this because it made me step out of my comfort zone more than any other in the course.
The third assignment was my favorite. “Text wrestling” is was introduced to us as. We were given an article to read based on our theme, and had to read, summarize, and analyze said article. When I saw the length of my article (it was long, VERY long) I couldn’t help but cringe. However, as I got to reading the article, I realized how interesting it was. I didn’t want to stop reading until I finished the whole article in one sitting. The topic of the article was hospice care, end of life treatment, and overall “Letting Go” (which was the title of the article.) I loved the article, and this assignment seemed to come naturally for me.
In conclusion, I definitely learned a lot about my style as a writer during this course. I have strengths, and weaknesses. Although there are things that I still struggle with, such as in-text citations, which I’m still trying to work on. There is always room for improvement as a writer, and I’m no different. I’ve definitely improved over this semester. I hope my chosen portfolio pieces successfully demonstrate that.
Thank you for your time,
Courtney