essay topic

For my topic i picked something that i am familiar with but still have many questions about, athletics.I want to  explore athletics and show that they can take many places in the world, and even lead you to learn many valuable lessons. I used the techniques that Balangeer suggest in order to come up with my topic, I wrote different ideas out, different memories and then narrowed them down. I still want to find out  the different places athletics can take you and how they can teach us valuable lessons. Overall i feel that this topic should be good, because athletics are a big part in many peoples lives. Personally, things such as rugby and football have taken me places, and taught me things in a different perspective. 

Writers Role

After look over all my collections on writings from the previous week, I have figured out that a play many different roles when it comes to writing. My first role I came across was the role of an organized person to myself. I had many paper in the stack with check lists, and due dates for certain homework’s and projects. I made sure I knew when are where I had to turn in all my assignments, or where I needed to be that day. Next, my role as an athlete. I write down my schedules for practice and workout, and make sure that everything is neat, and is in order so I don’t get my dates, times, and numbers jumbled up. My role when I talk to friends is a bit different than my previous two. Usually this over text message or facebook and I tend to use a lot more slang things like "I dunno" or "thats frat", and very casual language that doesn’t make any sense at all, and usually is about stuff we have done, or when we are going to hang out again, nothing too serious. My role as a son is not proper at all, we are an italian family and I’m sure everyone has seen the sopranos. We use a lot of slang, but it tends to be more casual and we talk about a lot of different things, no particular order and it is usually over the phone or in emails, occasionally over instant messenger. My role as a friend to girls is different than it would be to my friends. I talk a little bit different maybe, maybe a little less slang and joking around that I would use with my other friends. My role as a student varies from class to class. If it’s a math class, I tend to write very few notes and mostly its just scribble with numbers all over the page. However if it is a pre 1877 history class in which that teacher gives 5 pages of notes a day, I usually write every word that comes out of their mouth, and make sure that it is neat on my page so I can understand when I go back and attempt to study later. My roles vary greatly throughout the day, and I can easily switch from a student that pays a lot of attention and takes down every note, to a friend that be very casual and use a lot of slang. I think it is important to have different roles in your life, because you sometimes have to act different around different people. I know for a fact if I came up to friends and started to act punctual and proper they would probably look at me as if I was crazy. I think it makes a better writer if you are able to switch from one role, to another in order to grab the reader’s attention, and I also think it allows you to approach different audiences as well, which is one of those most important things to being a good writer.

Second Entry

I believe that I can learn to write well because I have confidence I'm my writing ability, and know that I can correct my mistakes. My writing tends to be good but I usually have minor errors, such as making sentences flow together, and grammar. All of these problems are very correctable and I can change my bad habits, and begin to learn new, better habits. Also, I think that I need to do what Ballenger says in chapter one and that is to forget all previous learning or nit picky rules and to throw them out the window. I think I should be more open to new techniques even if I am not familiar with them, and hopefully that will have a positive impact on my writing skills. Also I believe through all our small class writing exercises, and discussions I can become more comfortable with my writing style. This will help me to write better, and a think be a little bit more relaxed when I am writing, rather than being a little apprehensive and hesitant on what I say and if it sounds good or not. However, I think that I should look at my papers more tentatively before I turn them in, because I tend to read them and they usually sounds alright to me, and I think I need to reread them multiple times, and get other to read over them as well. Overall I think that if I am open to changing, my writing will improve a great deal.

First Entry Letter

My name is Chris Ferrante and I am a freshman at Texas Christian University this year. I am from Houston, Texas and I am majoring in Business (not sure what type), and hopefully I can find the time to Minor in Psychology. I am into all sports, especially rugby and I play for number of teams including the TCU Rugby Team, and also the the USA U19 National Team. I have had the privilege to play overseas in England representing the US, and also outside the country in Canada.
I am interested in taking this course because I do enjoy to write, and I also like to see what other people thing of my writing. The majority of the writing I do now is probably things such as emails, text messages and conversations of instant messenger. I have always liked writing made up stories or something that takes a little bit of creativity to write. I'm usually not of fan of writing about something that has a ton of facts to it, and that you feel like you absolutely need to cover everything. Another thing I highly dislike is trying to interpret poems, or novels because sometimes it is very difficult to see eye to eye with authors or poets. Early in high school I had an awesome English teacher for two years and she helped me a ton with my writing skills. When I first start to develop ideas on major essays, I tend to make a list or an outline over things such as a thesis statement, main points, and closing paragraphs and then gradually put them into paragraphs and attempt to make them flow. When I writing things like facebook messages, emails, or text messages I usually just write what i think in no particular order. I think writing is important in our lives because it allows us to express what we feel, and to learn what other people think and feel.
Overall I think my writing is pretty good, but could definitely use some major improvements. Along with creative writing, I like to write about sports, or anything else that I am pretty knowledgeable about. I usually have difficulty developing and essay and making it flow with the rest of the essay. I can get my ideas down and plan it out, but usually have trouble with writing them out into paragraph form. I would like to improve on closing out my essays strong, and making them all flow , so that all the thoughts and ideas fall together in the end. I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus, which I see as a contract for our course.